Johnny Murtagh's Ebor hero Mutual Regard could return to Yorkshire for a tilt at next week's Doncaster Cup.
The five-year-old ran out an impressive winner of Europe's most valuable staying handicap on the Knavesmire last month, leaving connections dreaming of a possible Melbourne Cup bid in November.
Murtagh considered letting his charge head to Kempton for this weekend's September Stakes, but has decided to wait and he could instead make the trip to Town Moor before being prepared for his journey across the globe.
Murtagh said: "We just felt this Saturday was going to come a bit soon.
"I spoke to Andrew (Tinkler, owner) about it last night and we've entered him in the Doncaster Cup. That is the next option, so we'll see how he is in the next few days and have a look at it.
"Australia is still the main target. It's just a case of working out the best way for us to get him there."
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Brilliant sprinter Sole Power and defending champion Gordon Lord Byron star among a maximum field of 17 runners in the Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock on Saturday.
Eddie Lynam's Sole Power has already struck twice at the highest level this season, turning in devastating displays in the King's Stand at Royal Ascot and the Nunthorpe at York to confirm himself top of the tree in the five-furlong division.
However, the seven-year-old steps up to six furlongs for the first time this year, a distance over which he has never previously won.
Gordon Lord Byron was a hugely impressive winner of the Group One contest 12 months ago for Tom Hogan and returns as a major contender following a narrow reverse on his return from a break at the Curragh recently.
Hogan said: "Gordon Lord Byron is in great form. He needed the run (at the Curragh) and it has really brought him on.
"He has done very well since and would be somewhere around the same condition as he was before he won this race last year. His work rider even thinks he has got better."
Wayne Lordan, who has ridden Gordon Lord Byron on six previous occasions, winning three times, gets back on board on Saturday.
Sole Power and Gordon Lord Byron are joined on the trip across the Irish Sea by Aidan O'Brien's Cougar Mountain and Evanna McCutcheon's stable star Maarek.
Henry Candy runs Hackwood Stakes winner Music Master, as well as Dinkum Diamond, while Dean Ivory's July Cup runner-up Tropics enters calculations following his Listed-race win at Newmarket a fortnight ago.
Other contenders include the Olly Stevens-trained Nunthorpe third Extortionist, the mount of Pat Smullen, David Barron's Beverley Bullet winner Pearl Secret and Clive Cox's Lennox Stakes scorer Es Que Love.
Michael Appleby's highly regarded three-year-old Danzeno is first reserve.
The sponsors have trimmed Sole Power to 3-1 favourite from 4-1, with Gordon Lord Byron out to 5-1 from 9-2 after being drawn in stall 18.
Betfred spokesman Andrew Griffiths said: "The money has been coming for Sole Power all week and we've been forced to take evasive action with his main market rival drawn on the wide outside."
Betfred Sprint Cup, sponsors bet: 3-1 Sole Power, 5-1 Gordon Lord Byron, 7-1 Music Master, 9-1 G Force, Tropics, 10-1 Extortionist, 12-1 Cougar Mountain, 16-1 Hot Streak, 20-1 Es Que Love, Pearl Secret, 25-1 bar.
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Kool Kompany is to stay in training with Richard Hannon having been bought privately.
The dual Group Two-winning juvenile was offered at Doncaster's Horses In Training Sale but failed to meet his reserve.
However, he was subsequently acquired by Neil Werrett, well known in racing circles as the co-owner of superstar Australian mare Black Caviar.
Speaking at Salisbury, Hannon said: "He didn't meet his reserve, but he has been bought by a man called Neil Werrett who was involved with Black Caviar.
"It was a private sale, but luckily he is staying with us and will be aimed at something like the Middle Park.
"I don't know if he will want to take him to Australia later on, but we're pleased he's still in the yard."
Formerly owned by Middleham Park Racing, the son of Jeremy has enjoyed his finest moments to date in the Railway Stakes at the Curragh and the Prix Robert Papin at Maisons-Laffitte.
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Aidan O'Brien believes that Dick Whittington's victory in the Phoenix Stakes offered plenty of encouragement that he will stay further than six furlongs.
In his six runs to date, the Rip Van Winkle colt has only tackled one race in excess of that trip, when he finished third to Richard Pankhurst in the Chesham at Royal Ascot.
O'Brien feels he had a viable excuse that day, though, and he may be tempted by his entry in the Dubai Dewhurst Stakes back over seven furlongs more than the Vision.ae Middle Park Stakes over six.
"He's had a few quickish runs so we gave him a little break after that (the Phoenix), but we're very happy with him." O'Brien told At The Races.
"He's a horse with a lot of speed who travels very strongly, but we were very happy the last day as it looked like he'd get further than six.
"We ran him over seven at Ascot but he was drawn badly in the middle of the track, so we were a bit worried that he wasn't going to get seven or a mile, but you'd imagine looking at him the last day that he probably will."
O'Brien's string suffered health-wise early in the season, which meant his juveniles were slower than usual coming to hand, but he has unleashed some very promising types over the last few weeks.
"Our horses were sick in the spring and when the older horses got over it the two-year-olds got it, it just slowed up everything. It looks like there's some nice horses arriving now," he said.
"I was very happy with Highland Reel at Goodwood and I'm obviously very happy with Gleneagles. He quickened very well the last day - that's what you like, when they travel well and quicken well.
"They are all in the National Stakes and it's very possible Gleneagles might go back for that if everything is well with him.
"I was delighted with Ol' Man River at the Curragh, and John F Kennedy might go to Leopardstown for the race that Australia won on Champions Day (Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Trial). We look forward to seeing him run again and he seems to be in good form since.
"We find out on the track, like everyone else. Obviously Gleneagles has a lot of speed so he might be a Guineas-type horse rather than a Derby horse. John F Kennedy might get the Derby trip."
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The owners of Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe favourite Sea The Moon plan to keep the unbeaten three-year-old in training next season.
Niko Lafrentz, whose family bred and own the son of Sea The Stars, has turned down numerous offers for the 11-length German Derby winner.
He is due to have his prep race for Longchamp in the Grosser Preis von Baden this weekend and speaking to
www.GermanRacingReview.com, Lafrentz said the Markus Klug-trained colt would not be sold at any price.
"It's hard to find time to watch the Derby again because my phone will not stop ringing! People will not accept that Sea The Moon is a member of our family and is not for sale," he said.
"No amount of money will make us sell him. We keep rejecting bids and any additional amount of money offered will not make any difference; he is our horse.
"He will have three or four races next season. We would love to bring him to England. It would be a dream to have him run at Royal Ascot."
Sea The Moon is one of 11 declared for Sunday's Group One, with Lucky Lion an eyecatching contender following his recent victory over Noble Mission in a Munich Group One, although he was left toiling by Sea The Moon in the German Derby.
He is one of two runners for Andreas Lowe with Sirius, who recently triumphed at the highest level at Hoppegarten, also in the line-up.
The Klug-trained mare Berlin Berlin was second that day and reopposes, along with third-placed Lucky Speed.
Terrubi beat Brown Panther in a Group Two at Longchamp on his most recent outing and he tries his luck again.
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Hugo Palmer's second Group-race winner arrived in quick succession thanks to a narrow victory for New Providence in the Country Gentlemen's Association Dick Poole Fillies' Stakes at Salisbury.
The young Newmarket trainer's reputation continues to grow, with his high-class colt Aktabantay giving him his breakthrough in last Saturday's Solario Stakes, while another promising juvenile stablemate Home Of The Brave targets this weekend's Sirenia Stakes at Kempton.
New Providence (4-1) has had a busy summer, netting more than £60,000 when second in a valuable sales event at the Ebor meeting, and she could yet be pitched even higher after short-heading Richard Hannon's 11-8 favourite Marsh Hawk in an exciting finish to the newly upgraded Group Three.
Palmer said: "The first main aim was the sales race at York, where she was on the wrong side. William Buick wished he had raced with the winner, and who knows what might have happened then. The next aim was to get some black type, and we've achieved that.
"I didn't put her in the Cheveley Park as she was a maiden at the time, but the owner Chris Humber might want to supplement." Humber was asked if this was a possibility and said: "Of course. It's entirely up to the trainer."
Division two of the Virginia Walwyn Memorial EBF Quidhampton Maiden Fillies' Stakes looked the stronger and it was interesting to hear Barry Hills immediately nominate a big-race target for Fadhayyil.
The 11-8 favourite was second to Marsh Hawk herself on their debuts at Newmarket last month, and after getting slightly intimidated when Paul Hanagan went for a gap a couple of furlongs from home, picked up nicely to score by a length and a quarter.
Hills said: "She got in a bit of trouble there but has done it well. Everything we've asked her to do at home, she has done easily. I'll have to speak to Sheikh Hamdan (owner), but my immediate thought was to go for the Rockfel Stakes."
Hanagan doubled up on the same owner's Felwah (11-4) in the EBF Stallions Breeding Winners 'Lochsong' Fillies' Handicap.
A first-time-out juvenile winner for Dominic Ffrench Davis is not a regular occurrence, but it happened in division one via 66-1 bargain-buy Jelly Monger.
The Lambourn trainer said: "She is a nice filly, she works well. I only have one other two-year-old, and that had only been in for two weeks, so I took her to work with a couple of Sylvester Kirk's. We paid three grand for her. I think the last time I had a first-time-out two-year-old win it was ridden by Richard Quinn, which tells you how long ago it was!"
Rosalie Bonheur (8-1) defended her unbeaten record in the Quality & Value At Irish Yearling Sales Nursery.
"She's nice - we fancied her first time," said retired jockey John Reid, representing trainer Clive Cox. "I'd actually ridden her myself. We thought she'd be more suited by seven furlongs. She'll get a mile next year."
Owner John Manley is already in Turkey to watch his classy performer Pether's Moon compete in a valuable event this weekend and missed the Hannon-trained Tom Hark (4-6 favourite) controlling the Whitsbury Manor Stud EBF Stallions Novice Stakes.
Hannon's father, Richard snr, said: "If you look back at his races, the form was very good. He's a nice, genuine horse."
Rawaki (15-8) was another winner for Andrew Balding and the Kingsclere Racing Club when just doing what was required by Thomas Brown in the four-runner CGA 'Persian Punch' Conditions Stakes.
The trainer's mother, Lady Emma, said: "It wasn't a given, given the weights range there, but he has done it classily. He does need that bit of give in the ground."
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Lord Ben Stack set himself up for a crack at the Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket on September 27 after winning at Haydock.
The Karl Burke-trained youngster (6-1) stepped up on a promising debut when beating Sir Michael Stoute's Dissolution by a length and a half in the Betfred Jack Berry MBE EBF Maiden Stakes.
The pair pulled five lengths clear of the rest as the Derby entry lived up to Burke's hopes.
"He's a very nice horse. We'll just see how he comes out of this, but he didn't have a hard race there and I'm thinking of the Royal Lodge," said the trainer of the Danny Tudhope-ridden winner.
"He's all about next year, but he's very mature so he can take another race, maybe another two.
"At the moment I'm thinking the Royal Lodge and then we'll take it from there. If he's not right for the Royal Lodge, we might go down an easier route.
"The Derby entry was speculative, it was made in April, but he's got the pedigree, the size and the scope for it.
"He's always shown us plenty at home and the first two pulled miles clear, which you like to see."
Burke has enjoyed a tremendous season with his juvenile team and has a number of nice prospects.
He added: "That's 18 individual two-year-old winners we've had and I think only three of the colts haven't won and they've all been placed, suggesting they are capable of winning. We've got a lovely crop."
Tudhope doubled up courtesy of Berlusca (9-1) for David O'Meara in the Betfred Supports Jack Berry House Handicap.
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Champion jockey Joseph O'Brien paid a rare visit to Laytown for one ride on the strand and punters who sent off Sister Slew the 9-4 favourite for the Marquees Nationwide Claiming Race were rewarded with victory.
The unique beach track doesn't attract the best horses, but plenty of big-name jockeys from both codes have added their name to its roll of honour, something O'Brien was keen to do after drawing a blank on his only previous visit four years ago.
Sister Slew was always prominent and hit the front two furlongs out before being driven clear to score by three lengths from Like Magic, putting another winner on the scoreboard for the in-form Gordon Elliott team.
The winning jockey said: "It's something different and it's nice to ride a winner here. Gordon was quite confident she would win and he was spot-on. She travelled away fine and probably got to the front a bit sooner than ideal, but my rhythm was taking me there so I had to stay going. S he stuck it out to the line."
Richard Ford's decision to send Seamster across from his Lancashire yard paid dividends when the seven-year-old made just about all the running to take the Tote Mobile Betting Handicap.
A winner four times on the Lingfield all-weather track this year, the 3-1 favourite was bounced out quickly by Colin Keane and after finding a decisive burst from the two-furlong pole to put the race to bed, he had little trouble holding Doonard Prince by a length and three-quarters.
Ford said: "We've had this in mind for a little while. It's a bit strange as your turf mark here is what you run off on the beach. He's 15lb lower on turf than the all-weather in Britain, but he got a compromise mark here of 10lb lower.
"I was a bit worried that he was not allowed to wear blinkers as he's worn them about 26 times, but I was hoping the weight advantage would compensate for not having the blinkers.
Ford's other runner My Son Max wasn't involved at the business end in the Barry Matthews Appreciation Society (QR) Handicap, in which Pat Shanahan's always prominent Prince Jock (12-1), the mount of Roger Quinlan, held off Korbous by a neck.
Pat Martin's 10-3 shot Our Max demolished the opposition in the Gilna's Cottage Inn Maiden, challenging down the outside and quickening away from the favourite Al Fahidi in the final furlong to win by three and a half lengths under Shane Foley.
The trainer said: "I was a bit concerned it might be too quick for him. He'd a lovely first run for me at Leopardstown but was then a bit slow at the stalls a few times. This place has been good to me over the years, although that's my first winner here since 2009."
It got even better when the trainer doubled up in the Hibernia Steel (QR) Race finale, Declan Lavery just getting Togoville (7-1) home in front by half a length in an exciting finish with Smoker.
Chris Geoghegan snapped up an opportunity on Mr Bounty (6-1) in the O'Neills Sports Handicap, challenging for the lead a quarter of a mile out on the Michael O'Callaghan-trained four-year-old and forging clear to score by a length and three-quarters.
O'Callaghan said: "That's a nice birthday present as I'm 26 today. A lot of mine have been finishing second, so it's great to get a winner, and that's my first runner here. He won at Kempton, which is quite a fast track, and coming here I thought it would suit him. He likes a fast surface and the straight six furlongs. He could be back here again next year."
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Philip Fenton had one kilo of anabolic steroids in his stables when veterinary inspectors carried out a raid, a court has heard.
The Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer is facing eight charges over treatments and medicines allegedly found at his yard, South Lodge, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, in January 2012.
Among the substances was the quantity of steroid Nitrotain, a 20ml bottle of a second performance enhancing drug, Ilium Stanabolic, a counterfeit antibiotic and medicines held without prescription, the court heard.
Fenton's trial will take place at Carrick-on-Suir District Court on October 23.
During a brief hearing at the courthouse on Thursday morning, Judge Terence Finn was told the state would be calling eight witnesses, some of whom will travel from overseas for the trial.
It is expected to last one day.
Defence barrister John Walsh, senior counsel, did not indicate how many witnesses he will call.
The prosecution is being brought in the name of Ireland's Minister for Agriculture for infringements of rules on animal remedies.
Fenton, 49, attended the short hearing in Carrick-on-Suir courthouse but did not make any comment.
He has had nine winners from 46 runners in the current Irish season.
In June, Judge Finn dismissed an application by defence lawyers that the charges were not being correctly brought as regulations had been amended between the date of the inspection and when summonses were issued in October 2013.
Defence lawyers had suggested at a previous hearing that the matter may end up in the High Court at a future date.
Mr Walsh told Judge Finn he had no issue with the District Court's jurisdiction to hear the case.
No plea has been entered.
At a previous hearing in the long-running case, prosecutors said it is the state's case that Fenton has accepted he was in possession of some banned animal remedies including steroids when his stables were searched more than two and a half years ago.
The antibiotics allegedly discovered at the stables include Engemycin 10%, Neomycin-Penicillin, and the counterfeit antibiotic, Marbocyl 10%, the court heard.
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Rapid Applause is likely to be roughed off for the remainder of the season following another excellent run in defeat at the Curragh.
The Cork maiden winner had already shown a high level of ability with encouraging efforts in the Railway and the Anglesey Stakes, but his close second behind smart juvenile Cappella Sansevero in the Round Tower was a career-best.
Michael O'Callaghan feels Rapid Applause will benefit from some time off the track and a step up in distance and he is already excited about what next season might have in store.
The trainer said: "We were very happy with the run and we probably learnt a fair bit from it as well as I think it showed he's crying out for seven furlongs.
"I had it in the back of my mind beforehand that maybe he wanted to step up, but because he got squeezed for room in the Anglesey and then quickened up, we said we'd give him one more try over six.
"He's rated 106 over six furlongs, but we think he's going to be a better horse still over seven and even a mile next spring.
"He's a big horse, quite raw and still high behind and he's growing all the time.
"He came back a little bit sore after the weekend, so I think we're probably going to put him away for next year.
"I know it's hard to rough them off with a few good races still to come and nobody would want to win a Group race with him this year more than me, but we feel he's done enough for the year, more than enough.
"We want to do right by the horse, so we'll bring him back fresh and well next spring for a Guineas trial or something like that.
"We can go into the winter dreaming of how much he's going to improve."