Kingsbarns© Photo Healy Racing
Aidan O'Brien concedes he is "fighting time" in his bid to get Kingsbarns to the Investec Derby.
Already ruled out of the Qipco 2000 Guineas, it is hoped the winter favourite for the premier Classic could still make a Derby trial but the Ballydoyle trainer revealed any prep race would be left as close to the June 1 Epsom showpiece as possible.
O'Brien told At The Races: "We dreamed he could have been a Triple Crown horse this year, but that wasn't to be.
"He was always the horse we were dreaming about but things haven't gone well with him, we hoped to have him at the Curragh (to gallop) a couple of weeks ago, but he didn't make it and we are just struggling a little bit to get him 100 per cent.
"He's in the pool a lot and we are trying to catch up. He's no chance of making the Guineas, anyway.
"You can never be confident (of getting to the Derby) and I'd imagine it (a Derby trial) will be a late one, because it is time we are fighting with him. It (a trial) will probably be as close to the Derby as we can get because we want to give him as much time to get back as we can really.
"It's far from ideal that we got stopped when we did, he was totally stopped for 10 days. We are forcing as much as we can without risking the horse because we always thought he was very special."
