Moher to join Churchill in two-pronged O'Brien raid on International

Churchill is pleasing Aidan O'Brien in advance of his first run over a mile and a quarter at York on Wednesday, when he is likely to be joined by stablemate Cliffs Of Moher in the Juddmonte International.

Speaking on Thursday O'Brien said: "All is good with Churchill so far. He was trained for the Sussex Stakes but didn't run because of the soft ground and while we haven't asked him to do a lot since then, he seems to be fine and we're happy with him.

"The plan is to run him and probably Cliffs Of Moher, who has been in good form since his run in the Coral-Eclipse.

"We also have Deauville, Lancaster Bomber and Taj Mahal in it and it hasn't been decided whether any of them will run."

Cliffs Of Moher, the Investec Derby runner-up, finished fourth behind Ulysses in the Coral-Eclipse in which he was badly hampered less than three furlongs after the start.

O'Brien has enjoyed success in the Juddmonte International on five occasions. He first won the race with Giant's Causeway in 2000 and was subsequently successful with Duke Of Marmalade, Rip Van Winkle, Declaration Of War and most recently Australia.

Capri, winner of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby last month and who is joint-favourite for the William Hill St Leger, was described by O'Brien as "a possible" for the Group 2 Betway Great Voltigeur Stakes on Wednesday.

Capri (grey) and Cracksman (red cap) could renew their Irish Derby rivalry in the Great VoltigeurCredit: Caroline Norris

"We have six in the race and at his stage Capri, Douglas Macarthur and Venice Beach are all possible runners.

"We'll be finalising plans at the weekend," said O'Brien who has sent out three winners of the Group 2 event, most recently Idaho a year ago.

Longtime ante-post favourite Cracksman, who was second behind Capri when last seen in the Irish Derby, represents John Gosden who has won the 1m4f contest three times previously.

Gosden said: "Cracksman worked nicely yesterday and is in good form. This may well be his last race of the year but nothing is definite yet. We'll see after York."

New home

Not representing Gosden in the race will be the useful Khalidi who has recently left Clarehaven and joined Clive Cox.

The three-year-old won four of his 11 starts for Gosden and his recent high-class placed efforts include a second to the ill-fated Permian in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.

More recently, Khalidi filled the same place behind Crystal Ocean in the Group 3 Gordon Stakes at Goodwood when not suited by the soft ground.

Since then owner Nizar Anwar has switched the son of High Chaparral to Cox, who said: "I've only had Khalidi a short while and it's nice to be entrusted with a horse of his class.

"I'm grateful to the owner and he's a probable runner in the Voltigeur and Adam Kirby will ride."

Khalidi: has been moved to Clive Cox's yard and will be ridden by Adam Kirby in the Great VoltigeurCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Ground and weather update

It was a fine and sunny day at York on Thursday while conditions are set fair until Sunday or Monday when there may be some rain.

Clerk of the course William Derby said: "We have good ground just now after 10mm last night.

"We are forecast a bright weekend with the possibility of showers on Sunday or Monday. After that it looks a reasonably dry week."