Aidan O'Brien could run five in rearranged QIPCO 2000 Guineas at Newmarket

The former is shortest in the betting having been a very useful juvenile and chased home Pinatubo in the Dewhurst on the Rowley Mile course with his stablemate back in third.

"We had our eye on the first weekend of May with Arizona and he was getting ready for that but we just eased back a little bit. He seems in good form and everything seems well. He's a big, rangy scopey horse and we always thought he'd improve from two to three, or it would suit him being a three-year-old," said the trainer who is chasing a fourth successive win in the Classic.

“He ran a good race to win the Coventry at Royal Ascot and some good races after that. He's in good form and looks ready to start."

Arizona will be racing at a mile for the first time next week but the master of Ballydoyle is confident it won't be an issue.

“You’re never sure about the trip until you try it but we always felt he’d get a mile but we were never sure how much further he’d get. He travels well and is usually coming home in his races. We always felt a mile was well within his grasp so we’ll find out at Newmarket."

New World Tapestry, who ran at Kempton shortly before the lockdown, Royal Lodge winner Royal Dornoch and July Stakes victor Royal Lytham could also head to Newmarket with Vatican City and Fort Myers bound for the Irish 2,000.

“Arizona would be the horse on everyone’s mind all along. Wichita won his group race at Newmarket and ran well in the Dewhurst. You’d be very happy with both and they haven't worked together," the trainer added.

“New World Tapestry ran a nice race in the Vertem Futurity Trophy and Royal Dornoch won the Royal Lodge (from Kameko) and is a very legitimate horse. Royal Lytham won the Group Two and never went beyond six furlongs. We always felt he’d get further. We’re going to learn a lot about these horses when they start and we’ll have an idea of what sort of races we should go to at Royal Ascot.

“When they go together everyone learns together, we don’t expose them too much at home if we can help it.”

Given his record in the race it's little wonder O'Brien places so much importance on the QIPCO 2000 Guineas. So what sort of horse do you need for it?

“Horses have to be precocious, they have to stay and they have to handle the contours of Newmarket, it's a very important race. The Classics are so important for the thoroughbred breed going forward. To win a Guineas you have to be a sprinter who stays, it’s a very tough test very early in the season and that's the way it should be.

“Nowadays horses have to mature early. They have to run at two, have to be very competitive all the way and people don’t want to wait on horses being mature at four and five anymore, that’s for the jumping horses. This is the ultimate test of the miler, we’ve always viewed it as a seriously important race."

Preparations this time around have been less straightforward with the Guineas being pushed back a month - but O'Brien won't be using that as an excuse.

"Everything has gone well. The targets have been moving which makes things more difficult but everything seems good at the moment and everyone seems happy. We won’t know until we get going where the horses are but so far so good.

“It’s very hard not to set a sight on a target when you think you have one – but you’re three-quarters of the way there and the target moves and you have to take aim again. It’s a little tricky, the horses feel that really, but the weather’s good which is a big help. Horses call fill up very quickly when you back off them. It’s unusual, strange, all we can do is our best and see where they all land. When we get racing we’ll get a better picture of where we are."

O'Brien could be triple-handed in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas, his team spearheaded by the well-backed Love.

"We've always liked Love, she's a very straightforward filly and we always thought she'd stay much further than a mile. She ran at Newmarket in the Fillies' Mile with the view that she might go back for the Guineas and she ran well, we were very happy with the run.

"Peaceful won a maiden at Thurles and was second in a Listed race at Newmarket on soft ground at the back-end and she's a possible and So Wonderful would be the other one. They're the three fillies we're thinking of entering at the moment."

Last year's Investec Derby hero Anthony Van Dyck could be one of the first big names in action as he's to be put in Friday's Investec Coronation Cup at Newmarket.

"We're going to enter Anthony Van Dyck, Broome and Sir Dragonet and it's very possible one, two or three could run. It's very possible two could anyway. It's a very different race not being at Epsom. I don't know much about the mile-and-a-half at Newmarket, I'd imagine you need to get the trip very well, we haven't had a lot of runners over that trip there. You'll have to stay and it can be a tough race."

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