Innisfree building towards racecourse return

One-time Classic hope has been sidelined for over a year.

Innisfree (left) winning at the 2019 Galway Festival (PA Archive)

Innisfree, not seen since filling the runner-up spot in the 2019 Vertem Futurity Trophy, is reported to be on the comeback trail by trainer Aidan O’Brien.

As a son of Galileo and high-class mare Palace, the four-year-old is a full-brother to High Definition – a leading fancy for Saturday’s Cazoo Derby at Epsom.

Just like his sibling, Innisfree won the Beresford Stakes at the Curragh as a juvenile, before chasing home subsequent 2000 Guineas hero Kameko in the final Group One of the British Flat season at Newcastle.

Any hopes of a Classic campaign were dashed by injury, but O’Brien has given his colt top-level entries in the Coral-Eclipse, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – and hopes to have him back on the racecourse before the end of the summer.

He said: “He got an injury last year so we took our time with him and we had him nearly ready to run again in the spring, but he went a little bit off on us again.

“We had to back off him again. He’s done very well physically and I’d imagine he’s six weeks away from running.

“We’re looking at the second half or quarter of the season.”