Chaldean could renew rivalry with his Royal Ascot conqueror Paddington in the Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood in August.

Last week’s St James’s Palace Stakes featured a mouthwatering clash between the two Classic winners, with 2000 Guineas hero Chaldean the marginal favourite over the Irish Guineas victor Paddington.

Frankie Dettori attempted to make all the running aboard Andrew Balding’s Juddmonte-owned colt, who had no answer when Aidan O’Brien’s charge quickened away from him in the straight.

There were almost four lengths between the pair at the line, but Juddmonte’s racing manager Barry Mahon would be happy to see a rematch under different circumstances.

He said: “He ran a great race, to be fair. The winner is obviously a very a good horse who is improving quickly and we were happy with our lad.

“We would have probably liked a lead. The early pace was pretty frenetic, I think Frankie just felt he couldn’t get a breather into him the whole way and it just cost him when he turned in.

“All told it was a nice run and we look forward to taking on the winner again some day.”

O’Brien nominated the Sussex Stakes as an option for Paddington in the immediate aftermath of his Ascot triumph and Mahon also views the Group One contest as the “obvious” next port of call for Chaldean.

“That looks the next obvious target. Let’s see how he bounces out of it, Andrew said to me the next day he was in good shape but I haven’t really touched base with him since,” Mahon added.

“He’s not in the Prix Jean Prat, but that could be an option if Andrew thought it was the right thing to do.

“He’s a top-class horse. I suppose it’s more disappointing when you’re beaten if you have an unbeaten record, but luckily we were beaten in our maiden and Frankie fell off him in the Greenham at Newbury!

“We know he’s still a nice horse to look forward to for the rest of the year.”

Rogue Millennium will remain at a mile for the Prix Rothschild following her victory in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Having run predominately over 10 furlongs for her first nine starts, astute trainer Tom Clover decided to supplement the four-year-old for the Group Two contest and drop her back to a mile for the first time.

The gamble paid off spectacularly, as the daughter of Dubawi stayed on smartly from a modest pace under Danny Tudhope to beat Random Harvest by a neck, and thus gain a third career success.

Her Newmarket handler is still pinching himself at recording his first British Group-race victory.

“It’s nice when a plan comes together,” said Clover. “It was just the most incredible day – it was a really, really special day and it is only just all sort of sinking in now, I suppose.

“It just been fantastic. You work your whole life towards it. It is fantastic, just superb.”

Rogue Millennium, who is owned by the Rogues Gallery syndicate, will now head to the Group One contest at Deauville on July 30.

“I would say she will go to the Prix Rothschild, “ said Clover. “It gives us a really nice time frame. It’s five weeks. We didn’t put her in the Falmouth. She didn’t love the Rowley Mile last year and the meeting on the July course, it is quite tight between Ascot and Newmarket.

“I just feel you’d have every chance if you went straight to Deauville instead, so that’s what she will be training for.”

He added: “It’s lovely to see her getting quicker and she’s sharpening up all the time and actually, not to go very quick and to still get up and win was great.”

Rogue Millennium has had four runs already this term and with her trip versatility now confirmed, Clover admits there are plenty of potential avenues she could follow.

“There are all these lovely options now, though how we run in France I suppose will dictate where we go to a certain extent,” he said.

“She went in her coat quite quickly last year and she comes to hand very early in the spring, so it is really hard to know where we will be later in the season.

“The dream, the absolute dream, would be to even think about taking on the boys in the QEII, but that’s very far-fetched at the moment.

“Let’s think about the Rothschild now and take it from there.”

Heather Knight has urged England to regroup quickly in the Women’s Ashes but took a crumb of comfort from the entertainment served up in a losing cause in the lone Test at Trent Bridge.

The decision to have this series opener across five days as opposed to the traditional four for women’s Tests backfired on England as Australia sealed an 89-run win inside 90 minutes of the final morning.

Australia therefore took a 4-0 points lead in the multi-format series but with only two on offer for wins in three T20s and three ODIs, England need to prevail in five of the six matches to claim the urn.

While Knight spoke forlornly after England slid from an overnight 116 for five to 178 all out chasing 268, she pointed out the ebbs and flows that occurred was a great advert for the women’s Test cricket.

There is some justification to her argument with an official attendance of 23,207 across the Test – with just over 2,000 on the final day after the Nottingham venue threw open their gates free of charge.

“There is certainly disappointment but I’m really proud of how the girls have gone about these five days, it’s been a very entertaining Test match which has been great,” the England captain said.

“The way we’ve gone toe-to-toe with the Australians and really put them under pressure at times, I’ve been really proud of how the girls have done that. I don’t think we’ve taken a backward step.

“The fact that we’ve had five days has led to the great cricket that we’ve had. Lauren (Filer) bowled before lunch (on Sunday) and I just had a little moment to look around at the crowd getting really engaged. At that moment I was like ‘can I bottle this? This is awesome’.

“That’s what we want to do as a team. We want to get people watching Test cricket, we want to get people excited about women’s cricket. That moment made me realise that actually we’ve done our job.”

England have no time to lick their wounds as the T20 series starts at Edgbaston on Saturday, with Knight acknowledging there will be some aching limbs on both sides.

Asked if she thinks England can still win the Ashes, Knight said: “I think we have to, of course. When you look at (having to win five in six) it is tricky mentally, but you have to look at the first game.

“There will certainly be some tired bodies in both changing rooms. I think being able to decompress and let things go is really important. Obviously, we’ve got quite an uphill battle.

“We have to turn things around quite quickly and it can’t be too much of a momentum shifter.

Knight, who alongside head coach Jon Lewis, has attempted to foster a more attacking mindset similar to that adopted by the men’s team under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

But after Tammy Beaumont’s double century had helped England close to within 10 runs of Australia to effectively set up a one-innings shootout, Knight felt her bowlers strained too hard for wickets as Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield put on 82 in 19 overs to get the tourists’ noses in front.

While Australia were restricted to 257 all out, with Sophie Ecclestone claiming another five-wicket haul to finish with 10 in the match, England slipped from 55 without loss to 73 for four in 29 balls on the penultimate evening and the hosts were unable to recover despite a defiant 54 from Danni Wyatt.

“Day three and four – the evening sessions there probably cost us the game,” Knight added. “Maybe we were a little bit too aggressive (with the ball).

“With the new ball you’re looking to take wickets and probably I’ll take a bit of responsibility for that as well – probably been a little bit too aggressive.”

Australia captain Alyssa Healy, who kept wicket despite nursing fractures to her left index and right ring fingers, was delighted with Australia’s first Ashes Test win since 2015 after three draws.

Victory was set up by Ashleigh Gardner’s eight for 66 on a worn pitch, with the off-spinner’s match haul of 12 for 165 the best ever by an Australian in Tests and the second best figures of all-time.

“It’s really satisfying,” she said. “Five-day Test cricket is pretty tough work. I am just really proud of the group.”

Mitchell Starc has insisted Australia will stick with their pragmatic approach ahead of this week’s second Ashes Test but was tight-lipped over his own selection at Lord’s.

Australia claimed a thrilling two-wicket win in the series curtain-raiser at Edgbaston last Tuesday with a more careful and cautious style of cricket in the face of England’s aggressive ‘Bazball’ brand.

England seamer Ollie Robinson claimed after the narrow defeat in Birmingham that Australia would have to “change their approach to keep up with how we’re going to play” despite the hosts going 1-0 down in the series.

Starc, who was left out of the XI last week, is adamant that will not be the case.

“They have brought an overly aggressive head space to Test cricket,” the Australian pace bowler noted.

“The way they are approaching it, there is going to be a reaction when you are either bowling or facing that. I think that is natural but we will stick to our guns and I am sure they will as well.

“Just because they are scoring at a higher rate or trying to score at a higher rate doesn’t mean you go to one-day cricket. There is plenty of ways to skin a cat as we saw last week in the way they approached it as opposed to the way we did.

“We’ve played enough against England in white-ball cricket to know they can all play that sort of thing. I have certainly seen Joe (Root) enough to know he can play those (ramp) shots.

“They are going to take the game on now in Test cricket as they have done for the last 12 months. That is their approach and we will stick to the way we want to approach our Test cricket.

“Hopefully come the end of the series we are sitting back with more wins than them.”

Starc’s presence in the penultimate press conference before the second Test begins suggests the 33-year-old will be recalled by captain Pat Cummins.

The left-arm quick has taken 37 wickets in 10 Tests in England but only featured once in the 2019 series here and was coy over his own selection chances.

“In terms of the team, I haven’t got any indication either way. Your guess is as good as mine until the selectors decide,” Starc insisted.

“I have different skills that fit into this bowling group so if and when I get a turn, I’ll be ready to go. If not this week, then I’ll get ready for Headingley.

“I was used to it from last time, so it is all good. I have been around long enough, been dropped enough. Probably been dropped the most in this squad so it is not something new for me. It probably won’t be the last time either.”

Four wickets from Starc at Old Trafford back in 2019 helped Australia retain the Ashes but they were pegged back in the final Test at the Kia Oval and had to settle for a 2-2 drawn series.

It extended the tourists’ winless streak in England, which dates back to 2001, and the 78-capped Test veteran conceded the squad are aware of the opportunity in front of them.

Starc added: “We’re here at Lord’s, an exciting place to be and play cricket. We are coming off a good week but know we can play better cricket and the way England are playing their cricket, they will come as hard if not harder.

“It is a chance to go 2-0 up. It is not lost on us the opportunity we do have.

“For some of us it is our fourth trip here and coming off the back of 19, where we retained the Ashes but missed out on winning, the carrot is certainly there.

“Certainly for the wider group, players and staff who have been so close or lost series here, it is certainly an incentive to keep going but we are not looking too far past this week.”

Roger Varian has revealed Sakheer is being investigated for “front limb lameness” following his disappointing run at Royal Ascot last week.

The Zoffany colt won two of his three juvenile starts last season, including the Group Two Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury, and seemingly failed to stay a mile on his reappearance in the 2000 Guineas.

Dropping back to six furlongs, hopes were high ahead of Friday’s Commonwealth Cup, but Sakheer trailed home last of 13 runners.

Varian believes he may have unearthed a valid excuse for that disheartening display, though, posting on Twitter: “Unfortunately Sakheer is not 100 per cent following his run in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot on Friday.

“He is currently unsound and being investigated for a front limb lameness. He will require a period of time out of training but will return to the track later in the year.

“Whilst this is obviously disappointing, it does go some way to explaining his below-par performance.”

Warren Gatland says Wales could have two captains at the World Cup after skipper Ken Owens was ruled out of the tournament.

Scarlets hooker Owens, capped 91 times, has failed to recover from a back injury ahead of the World Cup, which starts in September.

Gatland says it is possible 36-year-old Owens could feature in the later stages of the tournament if there was an injury at hooker, but he will not be named when the New Zealander announces his 33-man squad at the end of August.

“Ken didn’t train at all with us (in recent weeks), his back has not recovered,” head coach Gatland said.

“He has not been able to do any of the training. It is the same injury but not as severe as before so he may need an operation on that.

“He wanted to reiterate he has not retired from rugby and he is hoping potentially he could be available later if we pick up injuries in the tournament.”

Asked about Owens’ successor, Gatland added: “Co-captaincy is a possibility. We did that with Ellis Jenkins and Cory Hill in 2018 and it worked well.

“It is something I have put out there potentially as an option, it is not guaranteed we will do that.

“We will put a leadership group together and we will tell the players. You look at the squad and I don’t think there are any guaranteed starting positions and players will get opportunities in the squad.

“It is looking at the team and picking the right person as captain. It is the support they are going to get or is it potentially co-captains that can share that role and responsibility?”

Outside-half Dan Biggar, who captained Wales in the 2022 Six Nations and the following summer tour to South Africa, and second-row forward Adam Beard are among the leading candidates to take the armband.

Possible younger options could be hooker Dewi Lake, 24, and 23-year-old flanker Jac Morgan.

Gatland chose Sam Warburton, then 22, to be Wales’ captain at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

Asked if he would consider a young captain again, Gatland said: “Yes absolutely. We have time for that with the two camps (in Switzerland and Turkey) and seeing more of the rugby.

“We have been doing that more with players getting plenty of touches on the ball.

“We probably won’t name a captain or captains until we name the squad.”

Scarlets back-rower Josh Macleod (shoulder) and Cardiff prop Will Davies-King (foot) have both been released from the squad.

Taulupe Faletau will miss the first week of the Switzerland camp because of a calf injury.

Alex Cuthbert and Owen Williams will miss the trip altogether but Gatland, who has called Ospreys hooker Sam Parry into a revised 47-man squad, is confident they will be fit for the Turkey trip.

Veteran trio Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb have all retired from Test rugby during a turbulent build-up to the World Cup.

Prop Rhys Carre was released from an initial 54-player training squad after he failed to hit individual performance targets, while lock Hill withdrew to pursue a club contract opportunity outside of Wales.

“They are different in a way,” Gatland said when asked how this group compared to previous squads.

“There are some young players that are a bit green, but even in a short of period of time we have seen how they have developed.

“They’re all sponges in terms of wanting to learn and wanting to get better. I see that as hugely positive.”

Zoffee and Rajinsky are set to give trainer Hugo Palmer a strong hand in Saturday’s Jenningsbet Northumberland Plate at Newcastle.

Both horses bring strong course form to the ‘Pitmen’s Derby’, with Rajinsky finishing third and fourth in the last two renewals and Zoffee winning last year’s Northumberland Vase – the consolation race for the Plate – on his only previous visit to Gosforth Park.

Rajinsky made a flying start to his campaign by inflicting a shock defeat on star stayer Trueshan in the Further Flight Stakes at Nottingham. He was well beaten in the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot next time, but bounced back to finish a close-up fifth in last month’s Chester Cup.

The admirable Zoffee filled the runner-up spot on the Roodee, going down by just a neck to Metier, and ran another fine race in defeat when sixth in the Ascot Stakes at the Royal meeting last week.

“At this stage the plan is to run both horses,” Palmer confirmed.

“Poor old Rajinsky doesn’t get much luck with the ground in the British summers we get these days, but he ran a great race at Chester and ran a great race in the Northumberland Plate last year.

“It’s a valuable race and he goes on the surface so fingers crossed, but he does have a lot of weight.”

He added: “Zoffee appears to go on any ground and I thought he ran a really great race at Ascot, coming from far too far back from an awkward draw.

“We had runners every day at Ascot so I didn’t see him canter again until this morning (Monday), but he’s full of his usual enthusiasm and Charlotte Kerry, who rides him every day, says he feels fantastic.

“I guess we won’t really know until there’s a furlong to run on Saturday, but he’s certainly in good nick.”

Palmer’s pair were among 48 horses left in the Northumberland Plate Monday’s confirmation stage, with Rajinsky joined at the head of the weights by the William Haggas-trained Roberto Escobarr.

Haggas is also responsible for the well-fancied Post Impressionist, as well as Nathanael Greene.

Other leading hopes include Michael Bell’s recent Newmarket scorer Adjuvant and Golden Rules, who won on his first start for Deborah Faulkner at Kempton after being bought out of John and Thady Gosden’s yard for just 6,000 guineas.

Omniscient (Sir Mark Prescott), Law Of The Sea (Ian Williams) and All-Weather Marathon winner Rainbow Dreamer (Alan King) also feature.

Soprano could be set for a step up in trip after her fine third to Porta Fortuna in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The George Boughey-trained filly was well supported in the six-furlong Group Three contest following her smart debut win over the minimum trip at Newmarket.

However, she did not have the ideal draw and despite staying on nicely under William Buick, the daughter of Starspangledbanner could not reduce a diminishing two-length deficit at the line.

Harry Herbert, managing director for owners Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, believes she will develop into another top-class prospect.

“We were really excited by that,” he said. “She looked like a really good filly. She had run and won on debut like a very good filly, and she’d done well physically entering the Royal meeting.

“As William Buick said afterwards, if she’d have just broken a bit better and been drawn a bit better, she would definitely have tickled them up.

“She is a beautiful filly and she’s got size and scope. She needs to go further. We haven’t decided where to go, but we will plot a course.

“It is very exciting, because it looks like she deserves to play at the top table. We’ve been fortunate to have some wonderful fillies in recent years, and she looks like being another one.”

Highclere appear to have another smart filly on their hands in the shape of Truthful.

Trained by William Haggas, the three-year-old by Sea The Stars made a winning debut at Salisbury last month, taking 10-furlong fillies’ novice race and followed up over an extended 11 furlongs at Haydock 12 days ago.

Herbert believes she will step up in class now. He said: “She is lovely filly. She is two for two and we’ll probably step up to black type next time.

“She looks like she could be very special. There is lots to look forward to.

“I don’t know where she goes next. It is hard to know, when you are rated like she is, whether you still stick in a valuable handicap or whether you move to Listed company.

“She was being considered by William for the Ribblesdale after one run, so I’d like to think she’ll be heading to a black type race next time.”

Herbert is the son of the late Queen’s legendary racing manager Lord Porchester and his brother-in-law John Warren currently fills that role.

The King and Queen, attending their first Royal Ascot since the coronation, saw their colours carried to victory by Desert Hero in the King George V Stakes, which Herbert felt was a major shot in the arm for British racing.

“It was an absolutely fantastic Royal Ascot in regards to the overall event,” he added.

“I thought it was extraordinary and of course it was a sort of turning of the page from the late Queen, and the King and Queen so obviously enjoying it and having a winner was wonderful.

“That winner was quite simply one of the greatest things that could possibly have ever happened, great for British racing and the whole event.

“It was remarkable. They enjoyed every bit of it, right through the five days and having a winner, and we all know how hard that is – there are so few races and they’re such competitive races – that to hit the back of the net at Royal Ascot is incredibly difficult.

“It is hugely important that the King and Queen have invested in the sport, absolutely vital. We all know how international Royal Ascot is, the Australians are over here, the Americans are over here, some Japanese are over here.

“Everywhere I have ever gone, racing the world, it is the one place everyone wants to go to, and to ideally have a runner and, if at all possible, a winner.

“It was a fantastic event and I thought it was great that it went off so brilliantly all round.”

Yorkshire hope the sanctions imposed over their handling of the Azeem Rafiq case and their failure to tackle the use of racist language over many years will be “reasonable” and will not hinder their efforts to continue bringing about change at the club.

The England and Wales Cricket Board will make its sanctioning recommendations to an independent Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) panel at a hearing in London on Tuesday, with Yorkshire having admitted to four charges in February.

The county will then offer up arguments in mitigation to the panel, which will deliver the final sanctions at a later date.

Yorkshire released a statement on Monday afternoon saying the hearing “marks the near culmination of a chapter that has weighed heavily on Yorkshire County Cricket Club for close to two years”.

The county’s statement added: “Racism and discrimination in any form is unacceptable and, as a board, we have been clear on the need to take accountability for the historical cultural issues that allowed racist and discriminatory behaviour to go unchallenged at the club.

“The acceptance of four amended charges brought by the CDC was part of a continued effort to acknowledge what happened in the past so we can learn and move forward.

“In making representations to the CDC panel, we hope to achieve a reasonable sanction which takes into account our acceptance of the charges, YCCC’s current financial position and the robust work we have undertaken to build the foundations for a club which is truly inclusive and welcoming to all.”

Any significant financial sanctions could hit the club hard, with chief executive Stephen Vaughan highlighting a £3.5million cash shortfall this year to members at the annual general meeting in March, and the need to repay £14.9m to the Graves Trust.

The club said last week they were still having “positive conversations” around the long-term financial future of the club and would make an announcement “in due course”.

The club’s statement on Monday concluded: “We hope that any sanctions are reflective of the circumstances the club is in today and do not serve to hinder our ongoing commitment to create a brighter future for all associated with Yorkshire.”

The first admitted charge is that Yorkshire mishandled the investigation report into allegations of racism and bullying by former player Rafiq which they received in August 2021, in that they rejected the findings of the report in respect of allegations it upheld, and failed to take adequate disciplinary action against then-current employees about whom allegations were upheld.

The second charge admitted relates to the mass deletion by persons unknown of emails, documents and log files related to the club’s response to the report, discovered in or around November 2021 during the course of the ECB’s investigation into Yorkshire.

The third charge concerned the club’s failure to take adequate action following receipt of allegations of racism or discriminatory behaviour. The charge highlighted in particular the handling of racism complaints by Rafiq back in 2018, an allegation of racist abuse of an Asian family by a spectator at a match at Headingley between Yorkshire and Lancashire on August 11, 2017 and a report made concerning a racist incident in the crowd at Scarborough during a game between Yorkshire and Surrey on June 25, 2018.

Finally the club admitted a failure to address systemic use of racist and/or discriminatory language at Yorkshire over a prolonged period and in relation to multiple employees and/or players of the club.

Six former Yorkshire employees were sanctioned in May as part of the same case, with all of them found to have used the word “P***”.

A seventh, former England captain Michael Vaughan, was cleared in March of using racist and/or discriminatory language towards a group of four players of Asian ethnicity, including Rafiq, before a Twenty20 match in 2009.

Ollie Pope insists England’s tactical gambles at Edgbaston were not “moments of madness” and is ready to embrace more of the same during the second Ashes Test at Lord’s this week.

England took a gung-ho approach to the series opener against Australia, most strikingly when Ben Stokes declared just 78 overs into the first day in a bid to catch the tourists cold and snap up some late wickets.

The attacking ‘Bazball’ ethos continued as the hosts pushed the game forward throughout the five days, only to lose by two wickets during a frantic final session.

Some of England’s decision-making has attracted scepticism from pundits and former players but, as Stokes’ vice-captain, Pope sees logic to every call the side made in Birmingham.

And, when the rivals resume battle on Wednesday, he backed England to take the same approach.

“I know sometimes it can look like it’s just moments of madness but all the decisions that are made are well thought out with a vision of the end goal,” he said.

“These decisions aren’t just a rash thought. They are well thought out and spoken about by senior players in the changing room.

“We come to a group decision and back that decision 100 per cent. There’s no looking back on that decision once it’s made, it’s about how we can make the most of it.

“We might find ourselves in a similar situation this week, who knows? That’s what Stokesy and Baz (head coach Brendon McCullum) are very good at, they read conditions very well.

“We’ll talk consistently throughout this Test match, (about) if there’s a decision like the first day at Edgbaston when we pulled out.

“If we feel there are overheads one evening and we might have a half-hour opportunity to get a few wickets and get into their middle order early the next day, then we’ll talk about it.”

One risk that England will need to weigh up involves the selection of spinner Moeen Ali.

He was tempted out of Test retirement on the eve of the series following a season-ending injury to Jack Leach but saw his right index finger blister and burst, reducing him to a bystander’s role in the conclusion of the game.

Pope faced Moeen in the Lord’s nets on Monday and offered a positive assessment, but despite five days of rest and recovery it seems impossible to rule out a recurrence of the issue if the 36-year-old was rolled out again.

England have called up 18-year-old leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, their youngest ever men’s cricketer in all three formats, as cover but could also recall paceman Mark Wood and lean on Joe Root’s part-time off-breaks.

“I think Mo’s all good, hopefully he’s fit to play,” said Pope.

“It was pretty unfortunate what happened and hopefully over these few days it has looked after itself.”

Ollie Robinson’s place, on the other hand, is under no doubt whatsoever.

The 29-year-old performed impressively with the ball in the first Test, taking five for 98, but has become a target for Australian ire due to his explicit sledging of centurion Usman Khawaja and an unapologetic press conference which followed.

Former greats such as Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Matthew Hayden have lined up to shoot down the Sussex seamer – with Hayden colourfully writing him off as a purveyor of “124kph nude nuts” – but Pope is not concerned about the impact.

“Maybe he sees it as a compliment. They’re legends of the game and are entitled to their own opinion,” said Pope.

“Robbo’s in good spirits this week so hopefully he can just come out and deliver with the ball. I think Ollie is the kind of guy, he gets in the battle and sometimes in a big series like this emotions take over while you are on the pitch, but he’s a top guy.”

Blue Rose Cen is set to make her British bow in the Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood on August 3.

Christopher Head’s French star completed a rare treble at Chantilly when strolling to victory in the Prix de Diane earlier this month, adding to victories in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and last year’s Marcel Boussac – a feat previously achieved by the likes of Zarkava, Divine Proportions and Allez France.

Blue Rose Cen, who has won seven of her nine outings, was stepping up to an extended 10 furlongs for the first time at Chantilly and Head is eager to stick at that trip as the Churchill filly takes on older rivals for the first on the Sussex Downs.

He told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “The main idea is to still keep up with the challenges. The owner has always been bold and daring in racing challenges and we have been talking about the next stage for Blue Rose Cen and he wants to go to the Nassau to do the same as Nashwa did with the Prix de Diane and Nassau double and we really have great faith in her with that programme.

“I don’t think we have got to the limit of that filly yet. I still want to encounter the older fillies without getting into a new distance, so we’ll keep with the distance we know she is best at right now and try to encounter a new panel of fillies to be able to know if she is capable of getting into the Vermeille and then we will pretty much know if she is an Arc or an Opera (horse).

“Even if she is not in the race, it is a possibility she can still be supplemented into the Arc. Leopoldo Fernández Pujals of Yeguada Centurion is a really a bold and daring individual, embracing challenges, so we’re trying to do our best to get the horses to those kind of challenges, and that’s why we’re happy to go to the Nassau.”

Head also trains Big Rock for the same owner, but he failed in his Classic mission when beaten three and a half lengths by Ace Impact in the Prix du Jockey Club.

That was his first attempt over further than nine furlongs and Head feels his future now lies over a mile.

He added: “He’s pretty much a mile horse or a 1800-metre horse and we learned that in the Jockey Club. We will put him onto another path which is the Jacques Le Marois and probably the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes too.”