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Roger Varian pleased by Belardo effort in Irish Guineas

Gleneagles
Image: Belardo (right): Stayed on nicely for fourth.

Roger Varian hopes there is further improvement in Belardo after he got his season back on track in the Irish 2,000 Guineas.

Last year's Dewhurst winner finished down the field on his return to action in the Greenham at Newbury last month, but showed his true colours by finishing a close-up fourth behind dual Guineas winner Gleneagles at the Curragh on Saturday.

Varian believes his charge would have finished even closer but for a tardy start and a potential rematch with the winner in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot - for which he is a 16/1 chance with Sky Bet - is a possibility.

Varian said: "We were really pleased with his performance, although it was a little bit frustrating that he was slowly into stride for whatever reason.

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"Because of that he missed out on getting a midfield position and if he had, I think he would have been right in the mix with the first three.

"He obviously raced poorly at Newbury and while we were fairly confident that was ground related, he nevertheless had to bounce back and you are eager to see them perform on the track again.

"He certainly did that yesterday and although things didn't pan out perfectly for him he was still beaten less than two lengths, so I think he deserves to be taking his place in the top races over a mile for the rest of the season, so long as the ground isn't fast."

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Varian raised the Prix Jean Prat at Chantilly as another potential target for Belardo should fast conditions prevail in Berkshire next month.

"That (Royal Ascot) is the next possible port of call for the St James's Palace. It's difficult to make plans because of the weather, but we've all been to Royal Ascot with our umbrellas before, so who knows? He can race on good ground, but we just have to be disciplined enough not to run when the ground gets firm," said the trainer.

"There is also the Prix Jean Prat at the end of June, so I think they are our two targets and we'll see what happens.

"He's come out of Saturday's race well and given it can almost be considered as his first run of the year as Newbury was virtually a non-event, you'd like to think there is a bit of improvement there."

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