Ulysses camp not ruling out the Champion Stakes en route to Breeders' Cup

Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte International winner Ulysses has come out of his Arc third so well that connections are yet to rule out paying a visit to Ascot for the Champion Stakes en route to the Breeders' Cup Turf.

The Del Mar contest remains the number one priority for the Sir Michael Stoute-trained four-year-old, who was fourth in the race last year behind Highland Reel.

But while warning ante-post punters not to get too excited just yet – with the situation still up in the air – the Niarchos family's racing manager Alan Cooper admitted there is a possibility of the son of Galileo returning to the scene of his Prince of Wales's Stakes third and King George second.

"We left him in the Champion Stakes at the last forfeit stage and Sir Michael will make a final decision at the beginning of next week, but the long-term plan has always been to go for the Breeders' Cup Turf," he said.

"Having left him in the race there is the choice of going there. It has only been 11 days since the Arc but the horse is in very good form and I imagine we will know more at the beginning of next week."

Ulysses was a standout 10-1 on Wednesday night with Paddy Power and Betfair, but following a major move on the latter's exchange he is now no bigger than 7-1 for the Qipco-sponsored mile and a quarter contest. He remains the 3-1 favourite with bet365 and BetVictor for the for the Breeders' Cup Turf.

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