Brendan Rodgers told Stephen Welsh he sees the defender’s future at Celtic Park after he came in from the cold to help the champions see off a spirited Aberdeen in a 3-1 victory at Pittodrie.

Welsh replaced the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers at half-time with Celtic 2-1 ahead following an exciting opening period.

It was the centre-back’s first appearance for 10 months and he strolled through the 45 minutes with Aberdeen unable to carve out many clear-cut chances despite some decent spells of possession.

Rodgers is hoping to secure a new centre-back in the coming days after Celtic made a move for Elfsborg’s Gustaf Lagerbielke.

But he sees Welsh as a key part of his squad following the departure of Carl Starfelt to Celta Vigo.

“I thought he was excellent when he came in,” Rodgers said. “I like Stephen. I took him with me one pre-season when he was a young player because I really liked him.

“For whatever reason he hasn’t maybe played the games but he’s a Celtic boy who wants to be at the club. I want him to be at the club.

“I said to him, ‘I can’t guarantee you how many games you are going to play. You may play 40 games in the season’.

“But I know he is always ready. He trains very hard every day and he came into the game, he played with composure, and he is aggressive. It was really well done from him.”

Celtic also lost half-time substitute Reo Hatate to injury.

Rodgers said: “Cam just felt his hamstring towards the end of the half so hopefully that will not be too bad. And Reo just felt something in his calf. It’s better for precaution sake to get them off and we will see in the next couple of days how they are.”

Odin Thiago Holm replaced Hatate in the 70th minute before Yang Hyin-jun came off the bench to set up Matt O’Riley’s clincher in the 84th minute.

On the Norwegian midfielder, Rodgers said: “He is a good player, he is going to really show his talent as he goes through his time at Celtic. He is a fantastic footballer. He has got an edge, he can see a pass, can move well.

“And Yang came into the game and sets up the third goal with a great bit of skill. So I am really pleased for all the boys who came into the game and contributed.”

Aberdeen gave as good as they got in the first half but Nicky Devlin’s short headed back pass allowed Kyogo Furuhashi to fire Celtic back in front after Bojan Miovski had cancelled out Liel Abada’s early opener.

Rodgers said: “Overall it was a very good win, some spells of good football and in those moments of adversity we stayed strong. It will be great for the spirit because we had to come through tough moments.”

Celtic have won 13 times at Pittodrie since last losing an away game against the Dons in February 2016 but Aberdeen boss Barry Robson felt his team’s performance was a forward step.

“We were really brave,” he said. “We tried to go after them and we made the game a bit basketball at times and sometimes it was survival of the fittest out there.

“It was entertaining stuff and it was dangerous at times from us but we wanted to have a go and try and win the game.

“It was probably our own doing with a couple of individual errors that cost us in the end but also the quality of the opposition.

“We tried to play in a way that is aggressive and brings speed to the game and I think we did that.

“I think that’s as good a performance you have seen from an Aberdeen team here against Celtic for a lot of years.”

Beth Shriever set her sights on defending her Olympic crown in Paris after reclaiming the women’s BMX racing world title at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Londoner bossed every round of the competition to take back the title she won just weeks after enjoying Olympic glory in Tokyo in 2021, but there was disappointment for Olympic silver medallist Kye Whyte as he crashed out of the men’s competition in the semi-finals.

Shriever lined up in Gate 1 for the final and had opened up a bike length on the rest of field by the opening corner to leave no doubt as to where the rainbow stripes were going.

Shriever started the day as favourite on home soil, and said the way she had handled that pressure bodes well for next summer’s Games in Paris.

“Everything went well, it was pretty much the perfect lap,” she said. “I didn’t know who was behind me or how close they were so I knew to just kept pushing and I’m over the moon.

“I’ve done a lot of stuff with my psychologist practicing things and this is the perfect practice leading into Paris. I’ve trained hard, trained well, I was in the perfect position for this race and just trusted myself, I can’t believe it.

“All my processes, I’ve stuck to it, and it all worked, so it’s unreal.”

Shriever was also fully able to enjoy the celebrations this time, having won her previous titles during the pandemic in deserted venues.

“I’ve always dreamt of being able to go to my parents after the race, I’ve literally dreamt of it all week so to actually do it was next level,” she said. “I’ll have this memory for the rest of my life so I’m very grateful.”

Whyte’s hopes of a medal on a track where he has previously enjoyed success ended in the semi-final when a shot of pain through the left shoulder he has previously dislocated sent him off the track.

“I didn’t have a good start,” Whyte said. “I didn’t mind not having a good start because I knew what the plan was if I didn’t have a good start and the plan stuck, but someone came on the inside and I went slightly off track, lost a bit of speed.

“I tried to gain it back on the jump but I eased up on the jump and nearly went over the bars, took myself out of the race. I made a big mistake, it happens.

“I’ve dislocated this left shoulder before and when I hit the jump it just kind of sent a bit of pain through my shoulder and as I’ve landed, I’ve landed awkwardly and it hurt again. It felt like it came out but it was in when I felt it now. We’ll see what the doctor says when I get home.”

Ross Cullen advanced to the final, his first at this level, and finished sixth as Romain Mahieu claimed gold.

Emily Hutt won silver for Great Britain in the women’s under-23 race, narrowly beaten by France’s Tessa Martinez.

International assignments could be on the radar for Marbaan following his return to form at the Qatar Goodwood Festival.

Winner of the Vintage Stakes over track and trip as a juvenile, Charlie Fellowes’ three-year-old had only top-class performers Kinross and Isaac Shelby ahead of him when running over seven furlongs for the first time this season in the Lennox Stakes.

He will now be aimed at either Newbury’s Hungerford Stakes or the City of York Stakes during York’s Ebor meeting, which could tee up a trip oversees, with options in both America and Australia on the table for the son of Oasis Dream.

“He’s taken his race at Goodwood really well and it was great to get him back on track, even though the ground was a little bit softer than ideal,” said Fellowes.

“He’s got options of the Hungerford or the City of York and after that things are slightly up in the air.

“We may consider going a bit further afield and look at something in America or possibly the Golden Eagle in Sydney. I guess that will depend how the next run goes but I think he’s definitely better on better ground, so that is why that has come into our thinking.

“A race like the Prix de la Foret would have been ideal but the likelihood of it being on good ground is extremely rare, so you kind of have to start thinking a bit imaginatively and there’s incredible prize-money to be won in Australia and also options on quicker ground in America.”

Although set to remain at seven furlongs for his next outing, Fellowes would have no hesitation dropping back to six furlongs again in the future and is keen to point out his underwhelming effort in the Commonwealth Cup is his only poor showing at that distance.

He continued: “I actually think he has the speed for six furlongs and he proved that at Salisbury where he split a Group One winner (Khaadem) and a Group One second (Run To Freedom). The form of that race could not have worked out any better.

“I just think the race at Ascot was a line through job, he’s just not the sort of horse you can be aggressive on. He had to make most of his running in a small group of three that day and that is not the way to ride him. He’s much better with a bit of cover, sitting in behind one or two and I think he would be just as fine over six.”

Whereas Marbaan requires quick ground to be seen at his best, one who relishes testing conditions is stablemate Vadream, who claimed both the Cammidge Trophy and Palace House Stakes earlier in the season, but has been on the sidelines of late.

Owned by Coventry City chairman Doug King, the five-year-old has been out of action with injury at a time when underfoot conditions have been in her favour.

However, having been on the go since February, Fellowes is happy to have been handed an unexpected opportunity to give the daughter of Brazen Beau a mid-season breather ahead of her big-race targets towards the end of the campaign.

“Vadream had a small setback a couple of weeks ago. She’s had a bruised foot and she had a very easy week last week and she’s back cantering now,” said the Bedford House handler.

“She’s got lots and lots of entries, but she kind of needed a freshen up anyway. So although there has been soft ground around while she has been out and she could have run in the Maurice de Gheest I guess, it won’t have done her any harm having a little bit of a freshen up mid-season.

“We have all the races like the Flying Five, the Prix de l’Abbaye and then the Champion Sprint, along with races like the Bengough Stakes at a slightly lower level as options. When she gets her ground she is going to be very dangerous.

“I’d love to run her in an Abbaye or at the Curragh in the Flying Five, I think that would be a lovely option if she got some soft ground over there in Ireland.”

Twilight Calls is poised to add his name to what is shaping up to be a red-hot renewal of York’s Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes later this month.

Henry Candy’s five-year-old has yet to strike at Group level, but has more than held his own when tackling some top-quality sprinting assignments in the past two seasons.

Runner-up in the King’s Stand Stakes in 2022, a return to Royal Ascot unleashed the best version of Twilight Calls, where he could arguably have finished closer than his three-and-a-quarter-length fourth if enjoying more luck in running.

Having missed the King George Stakes at Goodwood on account of the testing conditions at the Sussex venue, Twilight Calls will now throw his hat into the ring for the Knavesmire Group One on August 25, which is attracting some of the best speedsters around and a race Candy won with the gelding’s grandsire Kyllachy in 2002.

“The ground wasn’t right at Goodwood for him, so it will be York and then we would consider Ireland for the five-furlong Flying Five,” said Chris Richardson, managing director for owners Cheveley Park Stud.

“We know he has the ability, he just needs everything to fall right. Royal Ascot was painful to watch and Ryan Moore got off and said he ran into trouble and he is a horse that just needs a bit of luck to go his way, and as often is the case, it doesn’t.

“He’s given us a lot of fun and is helping us promote the sire Twilight Son and so York is the plan.”

Simca Mille entered the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe picture with a decisive victory in the Westminster 133rd Grosser Preis von Berlin.

The Hoppegarten Group One has been used as a stopping point on the route to ParisLongchamp in the past, with 2021 Arc hero Torquator Tasso winning the race in 2020 before chasing home Alpinista during the year of his triumph in Europe’s richest middle-distance contest.

Last year it was Charlie Appleby’s Rebel’s Romance that took home the spoils and stablemate New London made a bold bid from the front looking to repeat the dose for the Godolphin handler.

However, with the challenge of last year’s St Leger second beginning to falter upon straightening for home, the eye was drawn to Stephane Wattel’s French contender who was travelling menacingly in the hands of Alexis Pouchin.

The four-year-old, who skipped the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot last month, soon stormed clear of his pursuers to give his handler a Group One success and earn quotes of 25-1 from 33s from Paddy Power for the Arc in the French capital on October 1.

“It’s fantastic for the horse and I must admit it is nice for me because it is my first Group One after over 30 years of training,” Wattel told Wettstar.

“I’m so happy it happened here in Berlin in front of a fantastic crowd.

“It’s a difficult job and sometimes you have difficult periods, but when it goes well and you train a horse of this quality, we forget everything and we are so happy.

“He’s engaged in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and as you know, some nice winners of the Grosser Preis von Berlin have won the Arc. We might have a try at that and it will be the next target – a very big one.”

Kyogo Furuhashi and Matt O’Riley both scored for the second game running as Celtic beat Aberdeen 3-1 at Pittodrie.

Furuhashi capitalised on a defensive error to put the champions back in front before the half-hour mark after Bojan Miovski had cancelled out Liel Abada’s early opener.

Aberdeen caused Celtic plenty of problems in an enthralling first half with Graeme Shinnie harrying in midfield, wide player Shayden Morris impressing on his first Pittodrie start and the Dons’ front two posing a constant threat in behind.

But Celtic enjoyed much more control in the second half and O’Riley’s late goal ensured they went back top of the cinch Premiership after two matches.

Celtic were unchanged and Aberdeen brought in Ryan Duncan for the absent Jonny Hayes before the game began following a minute’s applause for former Dons boss Craig Brown, in the first Pittodrie game since his death.

Miovski and Furuhashi were just wide from 22 yards at either end in a lively start before Celtic took the lead following O’Riley’s inswinging free-kick in the 11th minute.

Daizen Maeda headed towards goal and Abada was flagged offside after helping the ball home from close range, but the goal was awarded by video assistant referee Andrew Dallas.

Aberdeen continued to press. Shinnie headed over after a well-worked set-piece before the Dons captain won the ball in the centre circle to spark the move that led to a 25th-minute equaliser.

Jack McKenzie’s ball down the channel got Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes in behind Cameron Carter-Vickers and he cut the ball back for strike partner Miovski to knock home from six yards after the striker had reacted quicker than Maik Nawrocki.

The volume rose around Pittodrie, which was hosting a crowd of 18,652, but the home fans were silenced four minutes later.

Home debutant Nicky Devlin did not spot Furuhashi as he attempted to head a hopeful ball forward back to his goalkeeper and the Japan striker lashed the bouncing ball high into the net from 18 yards.

Celtic had chances to extend their lead. Abada shot straight at Kelle Roos following good work from Maeda and the goalkeeper tipped over O’Riley’s free-kick.

Aberdeen finished the half strongly, though, and Dante Polvara twice came close.

Celtic made a double switch at half-time. Stephen Welsh came on for Carter-Vickers for his first competitive appearance in 10 months while Reo Hatate replaced David Turnbull.

Furuhashi missed a good chance with his left foot and Maeda was twice denied by interventions from Devlin after incisive counter-attacks, the first through an excellent goal-line clearance.

Hatate had helped Celtic get good control of possession from a deep midfield role but he hobbled off in the 70th minute for Odin Thiago Holm to come on.

Aberdeen enjoyed good territory but they could not trouble goalkeeper Joe Hart, with their only real chance in the second half coming when Leighton Clarkson curled just wide following a long ball.

Roos denied Maeda after the Japanese striker was played clean through on the break but substitute Yang Hyun-jun quickly cut the ball back for O’Riley to drill home in the 84th minute.

NFL great Tom Brady expects his friend Harry Kane to benefit from “a new injection of energy” after joining Bayern Munich from Tottenham.

The 30-year-old ended his long association with the north Londoners on Saturday when he completed his £100million move to the perennial Bundesliga champions.

Kane said it felt like the right time to leave Tottenham after two decades with the club, just as Brady did when departing the New England Patriots in 2020.

The quarterback won six Super Bowls during his 20 years with the Pats and went on to win his seventh in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Huge NFL fan Kane has become friends with Brady over the years and the retired QB turned Birmingham minority owner believes the striker will thrive with his fresh start.

“I sent him a congratulatory note,” Brady told the PA news agency. “He’s been a friend of mine for a long time.

“He’s supported me over a long period of time, and I’m here to do the same for him.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what he does next.

“I know sometimes when you move clubs there’s kind of an injection of energy.

“It’s a different environment, you want to go prove people wrong, you want to prove people right. And that’s a great feeling as an athlete.”

Tom Brady is determined to help Birmingham maximise their potential having become minority owner of a club he hopes to help with promotion on and off the field.

Jaws dropped on both sides of the Atlantic when the seven-time Super Bowl winner recently announced he was coming on board at the Championship club.

Brady has entered into a partnership with Birmingham’s new owners Knighthead Capital Management and taken a minority stake, as well as becoming chairman of their new advisory board.

The 46-year-old becomes the latest North American personality to sprinkle stardust on English football, with Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney transforming Wrexham and former NFL star JJ Watt boosting Burnley.

The moves have undoubtedly helped raise those clubs’ profile and Brady hope to do the same, yet he insists his partnership is about more than bringing commercial benefits to Birmingham.

“Those guys have done a good job and I think they’ve done a good job promoting the club,” Brady told the PA news agency.

“I think for me it’s more than promotion. It’s about getting to understand what makes a great, successful team and organisation.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be a part of some of those and to impart some of the things that I’ve learned over those years is part of me beyond my own personal playing career.

“There’s a different part of my career that I’m now starting and it will be deeply meaningful to me.”

Brady was speaking alongside chairman Tom Wagner, who led the takeover of a club that has been through its fair share of difficulties since relegation from the Premier League 12 years ago.

There was therefore an understandable air of hope and excitement on Saturday as Birmingham played their first home game since the new owners came in.

A bouncing St Andrew’s welcomed its biggest crowd since before the pandemic and celebrated the start of a new era in perfect fashion as Lukas Jutkiewicz smashed home a stoppage-time winner against Leeds.

“I would just say that today is just the beginning,” chairman Wagner said after Birmingham’s last-gasp 1-0 win. “What we have planned is well beyond what we’ve done thus far. It’s only been four weeks.

“Tom’s influence here I expect to have an enormous difference because of the quality of the experience that he brings and will bear great fruit in the years ahead.

“We’re really quite excited about what all that means for the club in the longer term.

“We view this as a marathon, not a sprint. I hate using that overused colloquialism but ultimately it really is.

“It’s something that we think really matters and having a long term vision is important.”

The first month has certainly been positive and Brady’s arrival has caught the imagination, with the former quarterback smiling when it was put to him some may see his arrival at Birmingham as a publicity stunt.

“I’ve got a little knowledge about sports!” the most decorated player in NFL history said. “It doesn’t mean I know everything.

“I’ve been in sports for a long time, so I’ve heard a lot of different things over a long period of time.

“Look, I think you’re here to learn and gain information and gain an understanding of why things work and why they don’t work.

“You don’t have all the answers coming over here to understand that, but the only way to do it is to come experience it and see where we can lend a hand to help the club win.”

Brady managed that on his first trip to St Andrew’s, giving the players an inspirational pep talk before they went out to beat recently-relegated Leeds.

Birmingham boss John Eustace said the star’s first day on the ground showed the benefit of his involvement, adding that “the vision that he’s got for the football club is amazing”.

Those lofty ambitions may not be achieved straightaway, but Brady has pledged to do “whatever it takes” to help the Blues flourish.

“I’m a great fan of sports and I see how it brings people together,” the Patriot, Buccaneer and now Bluenose added.

“I played games in this country and the world is global.

“We’re all travelling, we’re all a part of different things and I love sports, and I love teamwork, and I love winning, and I love a passionate fan base.

“I was an underdog myself, so to see a team that maybe hasn’t maximised its potential in a while, to be a part of that is a great opportunity and let’s see what we can make of it.”

Brazilian striker Danilo insists there is more to come from Rangers as he basked in the glory of his first goal in the 4-0 home win over Livingston on Saturday.

Some pressure was on the Govan outfit after they lost their cinch Premiership opener at Kilmarnock last weekend but the afternoon started well, with Sam Lammers driving in the opener after 10 minutes.

After that, however, the home side found it tough to get past the well-organised Livi defence.

However, the increasing tension inside Ibrox was alleviated in the 78th minute when left-back Borna Barisic threw a cross to the back post and Danilo, the 24-year-old signed from Feyenoord, leapt to head past Lions goalkeeper Shamal George.

Rangers powered through the final stages and there were further goals from substitutes Abdallah Sima and Kieran Dowell which put gloss on the scoreline and set Rangers up for their Champions League third-round qualifier against Servette on Tuesday night, where they will try to defend a 2-1 lead from the first leg.

Danilo told RangersTV it was an “amazing” feeling to open his account for the Light Blues as he looked forward to further improvements.

He said: “We had a good impact from the Servette game and we showed again we are a really strong team.

“The lads played really well and we showed how good we can be.

“There are still things that we can improve on. The team is totally new but the more we play together the more we will get to know each other and get used to each other.

“We played really good and the boys who came on made a good impact to really help us to improve our game even more.

“It is great to see everyone is in good shape and wants to win, it is really good for us.”

Ranger boss Michael Beale revealed midfielder John Lundstram will not make the trip to Switzerland due to personal reasons.

Livi boss David Martindale thought the scoreline was a bit harsh on his side and noted the strength in depth of the Ibrox side, who brought on Rabbi Matondo, Dowell, Lundstram, Sima and debutant Dujon Sterling to great effect in the later stages of the game.

He said: “I thought Rangers’ substitutions really helped them. They brought a lot of pace and power on to the park. Look at Dowell’s finish.

“That really, really helped Rangers with the way they were playing, they started knocking it about and combinations and rotations were coming together more than earlier.”

Gregor Townsend is adamant Scotland are equipped to go toe-to-toe with any side they encounter at the upcoming World Cup after giving formidable France another fright on Saturday.

The Scots lost 30-27 to Les Bleus in front of a partisan home support in stifling Saint-Etienne heat, a week after they defeated Fabien Galthie’s side 25-21 at Murrayfield.

Both of those warm-up matches involved rousing fightbacks from Townsend’s team, as was also the case in their Six Nations meeting in Paris in February when the visitors recovered from 19-0 down to close within four points of their hosts before a late French try secured a 32-21 win.

Given France are ranked second in the world and joint-favourites alongside New Zealand to win the tournament on home soil this autumn, the way Scotland have competed against Les Bleus this year has enhanced their head coach’s belief that his team are ready to vie for qualification from a heavyweight World Cup pool that also includes world champions South Africa and the world’s top-ranked side, Ireland.

“We’re fit enough, we’ve got the game and we’ve got the players to take on any team we come up against, and this was a preparation for what is likely to happen in the World Cup: noisy atmospheres, powerful forwards, especially when we play South Africa, and hot conditions,” said Townsend.

“Our players thrived in that environment. There were elements where we can improve and that will come, and it has come because we’ve seen improvement right throughout the season.

“Our belief has been shaken at times in games, but against France the belief was there. Whether it was as individuals or collectively, we knew we were coming back.

“It is a big disappointment that we didn’t get anything out of that game whether it is a draw or a win.

“We know if that was a World Cup match we’d be sitting here absolutely gutted, but it is a build-up to the World Cup so there are lots of positives out of that performance.”

Scotland made a strong start to lead 10-6 at the half-hour mark and then staged a stunning fightback from 27-10 down to level the match at 27-27 before Thomas Ramos – who kicked 15 of France’s points – sealed a narrow win with a late penalty.

On a night when the visitors outscored their hosts by four tries to three, Scotland were effectively left to rue a 29th minute yellow card for Ali Price and a disastrous start to the second half as the French ran in two tries within four minutes of the restart.

“That’s one way to look at it,” said Townsend when asked how he can eliminate such costly phases of drop-off from Scotland. “The other way to look at it is these top teams are going to have their moments and they are going to score points.

“A lot of what happened in that five minutes after half-time was down to our errors, we were unable to gather a pass from the kick off and gave France some dominance in our 22.

“We’ll look at all the game. I think we could have done more in the first 15-20 minutes when we were playing so well.  There was some opportunities there that we could have taken with a bit more ambition and accuracy.

“The period when we were a man down was really good defensively, but I feel we could have done better when we had ball. And the final quarter when we came back, there is maybe not much to improve there because there was some outstanding play, but it would have been nice to have a chance with that line-out at the end and there was that scrum where France won the penalty.

“So there is always areas to improve, but I am so proud of not just the effort but that resilience and collective belief the players have built over the last few weeks and last few months.

“This team will not be beaten. We’ll keep going and we’re a very dangerous team to play against, and we believe the more time we spend together the more accurate we’ll get.”

Townsend feels spoiled for choice as he prepares to trim his 37-man training squad to 33 for the World Cup, with the announcement to be made this Wednesday.

The head coach was encouraged that he was able to make six changes to the starting XV from the Murrayfield victory over the French and still send out a team strong enough to challenge Les Bleus on their own patch.

The strength in depth at Townsend’s disposal was highlighted by the fact Kyle Steyn, who is generally a substitute when fellow wings Darcy Graham and Duhan Van Der Merwe are fit, chipped in with two of the Scots’ tries. The others came from Van Der Merwe and Rory Darge.

“The bench is worth commenting on,” said Townsend. “The depth we have in our squad means we can mix things up at times, rest players or bring players in because of form or because they are suited to a certain game, Kyle Steyn being a good example.

“In the last three games now the bench has made a real change in our energy, helped take the game to the opposition, so it is encouraging that the 23 is being utilised and helping us play better at the end of games, and the final quarter is probably the most important time in a game to play well.

“There will be a difficult selection coming up with the squad, but also when we have to pick our 23-man squad game to game.”

King Of Steel is set to have his credentials tested over 10 furlongs following his third-placed finish in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Roger Varian’s Derby runner-up headed to Ascot for a rematch with his Epsom conqueror Auguste Rodin on the back of an impressive victory over course and distance in the King Edward VII Stakes at the Royal meeting.

The Amo Racing-owned colt was sent off the 9-2 second-favourite at the Berkshire track and although faring better than Aidan O’Brien’s dual Classic winner who disappointed, the son of Wootton Bassett was unable to reel in the winner Hukum and runner-up Westover despite travelling powerfully into the home straight.

A drop back in trip is now on the cards and with entries for both the Juddmonte International Stakes at York (August 23) and Leopardstown’s Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes (September 9), there are plenty of big-race options available to the strapping colt, who could quickly provide his owners with more big-race glory after Bucanero Fuerte secured a first UK and Irish Group One victory in the Phoenix Stakes.

“King Of Steel is in good form and Roger is very happy with him,” said Tom Pennington, racing and operations manager for Amo.

“We’re undecided where we will go at the minute and we’ve got a lot of decisions to make.

“He’s in the Juddmonte, he’s entered in the Irish Champion and we put him in the Champion Stakes at Ascot the other day and I think we believe now that 10 furlongs is his trip. He’s not a slow horse by any means.”

A trip to Dublin for Irish Champions Weekend would give King Of Steel an additional two weeks to recover from his Ascot exertions and is slated as the slight favourite at this stage.

And the feeling within the camp is a truly-run race over a mile and a quarter is where he will be seen at the peak of his powers having just faded in the closing stages of the King George.

“All options are open and we need to speak to Roger,” continued Pennington. “At this stage I would say we will probably be leaning towards the Irish Champion Stakes.

“I think we got away with it at Royal Ascot, but as you saw he was keen early in the King George. You could argue coming round into the straight he was the last horse off the bridle and just flattened out the last furlong, Kevin (Stott) said he was running on fumes.

“I think a strongly-run 10 furlongs with an end-to-end gallop is where you will really see him at his best.”