Ger Lyons' Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas favourite Siskin will sport a hood for the first time when he contests the opening Classic of the Irish Flat season on 12 June.
Unbeaten in four starts as a juvenile, the son of First Defence blotted his copybook in the Group One Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket last September, becoming fractious in the stalls and eventually having to be withdrawn.
However, his handler viewed the incident as an aberration, but one that is even less likely to reoccur with application of headgear.
Siskin has had plenty of experience of the starting stalls during lockdown, as Lyons told Game On listeners on RTÉ 2FM.
"What I tended to do in lockdown, rather than gallop the brains out of them every Wednesday and Saturday, I sort of turned the Wednesdays into a schooling morning... we put everything through the stalls.
"So he's done plenty. He's great. We put a hood on him and he seems to be at ease with a hood on him, so that's what we'll do.
"It was just one of those things, because it's not in his nature."
Siskin maintains his unbeaten record after taking the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes in strong style for@gerlyonsracing and @ctkjockey 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/6XBkzFjJX1
— The Curragh Racecourse (@curraghrace) August 9, 2019
Siskin progressed up the two-year-old pecking order last season via a maiden win at Naas, followed by Listed, Group Two and Group One wins at the Curragh, with the latter victory seeing him edge out Monarch Of Egypt in the Keenland Phoenix Stakes.
All four wins came over six furlongs, but Lyons believes his leading light can stay a mille in elite company as a three-year-old after pleasing in his work this year.
"He did well," the trainer said of his charge's physical progress over the winter.
"All through spring, if you put a gun to my head, I would have said that his optimum trip would be seven furlongs.
"But his work has thrived and I would say now I'd rather go a mile than drop him back in trip the way he is going."
The coronavirus pandemic has scuppered the best laid plans of those inside and outside the racing world, but the rescheduled date for the Irish and British Guineas has left Lyons with a headache in regard to Siskin's second race of the season.
Racing in the UK is set to resume on 1 June, with Irish racing beginning a week later. A similar time lag exists when it comes to staging the English and Irish Guineas meetings, with the Newmarket Classics taking place on 6 and 7 June.
Runners in the opening colts' Classic are often pointed at the St James's Palace Stakes for their next start of the season, but the chances of any Irish 2,000 Guineas participants lining up at Royal Ascot look remote, with just eight days between the two races.
"That's the negative," Lyons admitted. "It's a high-class problem. But where do you go with him after?"
If the Khalid Abdullah-owned representative wins or runs well at the Curragh, an engagement in the Sussex Stakes may beckon.
"We'll probably take a view that Goodwood will be his next port of call," Lyons added.
Racing is one sport that is suited to a behind-closed-doors format and the master of Glenburnie Stables believes now is the right time to return.
"It's a top class industry, it employs loads of people, we shouldn't be apologising for going back to work."
