Aidan O'Brien delighted with Dante run of High Definition

Aidan O'Brien was delighted with High Definition's comeback run in the Dante Stakes and has confirmed that he and stablemate Bolshoi Ballet are on course to meet for the first time in the Cazoo Derby at Epsom next month.

Speaking to Johnny Ward on Racing TV's On The Wire video podcast, O'Brien also gave upbeat bulletins on Santa Barbara and Snowfall, who are leading contenders for the Cazoo Oaks 24 hours earlier.

High Definition was the winter favourite for the Derby after winning both his races last year, including a striking success in the Group Two Beresford Stakes at the Curragh in September.

However, he missed his intended return at Lingfield last Saturday after a mystery ailment and was re-routed to York on Thursday, where he finished a staying-on third to Hurricane Lane. In the meantime, Bolshoi Ballet had usurped him in the market for the premier Classic, which O'Brien has landed a record eight times, after successive wins in the Ballysax Stakes and Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial Stakes.

"We were happy with the horse," O'Brien said of High Definition. "Obviously he didn't have an ideal preparation, but we were very happy with his run.

"He had to travel and he had to run if he was going to run in the Derby. He did both those things and now it will depend upon how he comes out of the race.

"Hollie [Doyle] just went an even pace in front [on the O'Brien-trained Roman Empire], but the horses in second, third, fourth took back off her and then they sprinted to try and catch up with her again. It probably wasn't ideal for High Definition because in the position he was in, he was always going to be getting there late, but we were delighted with the run."

Asked about the problem which ruled High Definition out of Lingfield five days earlier, O'Brien said: "It was showing up that he maybe had some little infection or some little inflamation somewhere in his body, but we couldn't find it. So if we couldn't find it, there was nothing we could treat. It slowly disappeared itself, whatever it was but we don't know what it was.

"We always wait a week or ten days to see how a horse comes out of the race before you put them on a schedule for their next race, but the plan was always Epsom."

By contrast, Bolshoi Ballet has had a near-impeccable build-up to Epsom and he could not have been more impressive at Leopardstown last time. He is a best-priced 7-4 for the Derby, with High Definition next in the betting at a general 9-2.

"We were very happy with everything he's done," O'Brien said. "He went to France at the end of last year for the experience of travelling and the plan was always to give him two runs before the Derby if that's the way we were working this year. He's had those two runs and we've been very happy.

"He's very straightforwrd, good mind, relaxes, looks like he's going to get further than a mile and a quarter, quickens very well, very good-natured horse. I suppose he quickens very well, he has quickened in both of his races.

"He was very happy to make his own running [in the Derrinstown], but there was another horse that made it for him so that was fine too. He led him into the straight, but when Ryan asked him to quicken up, we were very happy with the way he quickened.

"From last year, they both showed us that they were nice colts. Tactically, they are very straightforward with good minds."

O'Brien also trains the first two in the Oaks betting, with Santa Barbara the 9-4 favourite after her comeback fourth in the 1000 Guineas. Snowfall ranges betwen 9-2 and 6-1 after her emphatic win in this week's Musidora at York.

"It was always the plan even before her maiden that her next race was going to be the Guineas. She was never going to race that much," O'Brien said of Santa Barbara.

"So obviously it wasn't ideal that the ground was quick ground and the pace was slow, so that wasn't ideal, but we knew she had to learn and she had to run, especially if the plan was that the second run was going to be the Oaks so she definitely had to run for experience.

"I suppose she is a filly with a lot of speed, so with any horse you're never sure until you see them do it. She's by Camelot, but she has a lot of natural speed.

"I thought she handled Newmarket all right. She was maybe a bit green going into The Dip on fast ground, going very fast. Listen, The Dip in Newmarket on fast ground after going slow is a very difficult place to be and we felt she coped well enough with it."

Snowfall belied odds of 14-1 in the Musidora and had been a general 33-1 for Epsom before her all-the-way win on the Knavesmire, when she put several other Oaks aspirants firmly in their place.

O'Brien says she is finally fulfilling the promise she has shown at Ballydoyle.

He said: "We always thought she was very nice last year. She's always done everything very good at home. She was always a bit disappointing I suppose, but she had a winter under her belt and a spring and stepped up in trip a little bit, but we always felt there were big races in her so we were delighted.

"If everything is right between now and then and the lads want to do it, I'd say there's every chance she will go there."

He added: "There's a filly, La Jaconde, who ran at Chester, we think she's a nice filly. Then there's a sister to Found [called Divinely] who ran at Lingfield, finished fourth, we think she's nice as well. They're all possibles."