Alpinista pencilled in for Saint-Cloud return

Group One hat-trick heroine Alpinista will make her seasonal return on the continent after plans for an intended comeback in the Coronation Cup were shelved.

Trained by Sir Mark Prescott, the Frankel mare has done nothing but improve since taking a Listed race at Salisbury as a three-year-old.

Though she has had just five starts since April last year, they have all been winning efforts.

Last season the Kirsten Rausing-owned grey completed a hat-trick of top-class victories in Germany, each over a mile and a half, signing off with success in the Grosser Preis Von Bayern at Munich in November.

Hopes were high that the six-year-old would continue her winning spree upon her return at Epsom last month.

However, she failed to make the line-up.

“She wouldn’t come in time for the Coronation Cup, which was the opening target,” said Prescott.

“She worked fine this morning (Friday) and if I’m happy with her, she will go for the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on Sunday week, rather than the Princess of Wales’s Stakes (at Newmarket on July 7)

“It was a shame, as I was very disappointed not to go to Epsom. She wouldn’t come in her coat and she just didn’t look well enough.

“There is no point forcing them – it has never worked for me, anyway.”