DUKE OF MARMALADE could bid to land his fifth successive Group One race of the season in the Juddmonte International at York on Tuesday. Aidan O'Brien's brilliant four-year-old is unbeaten this term after victories in the Prix Ganay, Tattersalls Gold Cup, Prince of Wales's Stakes and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Fourth behind Authorized in this race 12 months ago, he heads 16 confirmations for the feature on day one of the Ebor Festival.
O'Brien has also left in Red Rock Canyon, King Of Rome and Zulu Chief.
Jim Bolger still has his Derby hero New Approach and Coronation Stakes winner Lush Lashes.
Bolger reported New Approach, also a runner-up in the English and Irish 2000 Guineas, and Lush Lashes to be in good heart but no plans have been made yet.
New Approach has the Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes as another option, while Lush Lashes, an extraordinary hard-luck story in the Nassau Stakes, is also entered in the Darley Yorkshire Oaks next week.
"We haven't firmed anything up yet and I haven't looked at the entries for the race," the Co Carlow trainer said. "It will be the weekend before we make a decision."
O'Brien is responsible for a staggering 44 of the 159 entries for the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster on October 25th.
The Ballydoyle trainer's team includes Phoenix Stakes scorer Mastercraftsman, Black Bear Island and Rip Van Winkle as he seeks his fifth success in the Group One race for two-year-olds.
Arazan is on course to return to action in the Galileo Futurity Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday week. The well-regarded son of Anabaa has not been seen since making a winning debut in a seven-furlong maiden at Leopardstown in late May.
The Aga Khan-owned colt is, however, as low as 20 to 1 in places for the Stan James 2000 Guineas.
"He's horse that wouldn't have run too often anyway, but he was a little bit sore on his shins not long after that so we decided to give him a bit more time," said trainer John Oxx. "Then he had a dirty nose in June and that held us up a little bit with him.
"Pretty early on we made up our minds we would wait for the Futurity. He's coming along nicely enough for that. He's a horse that this year would like a bit of soft ground. He's quite a heavy, blocky horse and you wouldn't like to knock him about on firm ground.
"We are getting the weather for him at the moment. He's done plenty of work on grass and we hope to have him ready for Saturday week.
"He had shown us a bit in his work before he ran so I wasn't surprised when he won. He's a fine horse. He's a half-brother to Azamour, he's by Anabaa and he has a lot going for him, but there's nothing like the racecourse for putting them to the test."
Chepstow off
Tonight's evening meeting at Chepstow was abandoned yesterday because of rain.
After a 3pm inspection of the track yesterday, clerk of the course Tim Long said: "We decided unanimously that even with another 24 hours of dry weather we would be in no way fit to race."
