by Patrick Reed

Giovanni Martone’s Estejo is scheduled to face a competitive field of nine challengers on Sunday at Rome’s Cappanelle Racecourse as he seeks a repeat victory in the $440,564 Premio Roma At The Races (Ity-G1).

The five-year-old Johann Cruyff horse posted a three-quarter-length win over Permesso in the 2008 edition but tailed off badly in his next three starts against Group 1 company through early summer 2009, in Hong Kong, Italy, and England.

After a nearly three-month layoff, Estejo gained a much-needed win at Milan’s San Siro Racecourse in a conditions race on September 6 before finishing ninth in the Qatar Prix Dollar (Fr-G2) at Longchamp on October 3.

Godolphin’s international traveler Balius will likewise attempt to recapture his best form on Sunday. The six-year-old Mujahid horse second in the 2008 Prix Exbury (Fr-G3), Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup (HK-G1), and Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup (HK-G1), and third in the Singapore Airlines International Cup (Sin-G1) but regained his winning stride in his 2009 debut in the Daaher Jebel Hatta (UAE-G2) on March 5 at Nad al Sheba.

Since then, Balius won the Anadolu International Stakes in Turkey on September 2 after he was well-beaten against top-flight competition in the Dubai Duty Free (UAE-G1) and the Singapore International Airlines Cup. He will try to rebound from an 11th-place finish in the Qatar Prix Dollar (Fr-G2) on October 3 at Longchamp. Ted Durcan is slated to ride Balius in the Premio Roma for trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

Other top contenders in the Premio Roma include multiple group stakes winner Sri Putra, a three-year-old Oasis Dream (GB) colt who won the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano (Fr-G2) on August 16; and veteran campaigner Voila Ici, who has scored two Group 3 victories in Italy as well as a win in the Prix Maurice de Nieuil (Fr-G2) during 2009.

Patrick Reed is a Thoroughbred Times contributing writer