Sooner rather than later this month, on Royal Ascot Trials day at Naas, Bucanero Fuerte is set to make his much anticipated comeback.
During a successful two-year-old season, Wootton Bassett's son made history by winning the Phoenix Stakes, which made him the first Group One winner for both Amo Racing and trainer Adrian Murray.
His decision to abandon plans to target this year's Classics in favour of a sprinting-focused campaign was largely influenced by his defeat in the Vincent O'Brien National Stakes, his final start as a juvenile over seven furlongs.
The colt is now scheduled to begin his season at Naas' equivalent fixture, where the Group Three Goffs Lacken Stakes is expected to be his likely assignment. He was originally scheduled to make his reappearance at Ascot last week, but connections changed their minds and wanted to stay closer to home.
Bucanero Fuerte will be ready to resume his Commonwealth Cup engagement following that six-furlong event, as Amo Racing looks to build on their successful double at the summer showpiece in 2023.
Murray said: “He might go to Naas (May 19). We were going to go to Ascot, but we decided to stay put and wait for something closer to home. He’s ready to rock and he’s bouncing at home. We’re going to go sprinting with him and he shows us an awful lot of speed at home. A mile would probably be pushing it for him and his brother (Wooded) won a Group One over five furlongs so it’s in the family and he has shown us he is not a slow horse as well. I think we’ll be sticking with the sprinting for a while.”