Ayr Gold Cup winner Significantly is likely to sidestep a rise in grade at Ascot this weekend and instead wait for the Coral Sprint Trophy at York on Saturday week.

Revitalised by the Julie Camacho team, Significantly was agonisingly beaten in the Portland Handicap over five and a half furlongs at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting, but gained compensation seven days later at Ayr.

He almost missed out again there with Joe Fanning looking for a run with a furlong to go, but when the gap came he quickened up smartly.

While connections were tempted by a crack at the John Guest Racing Bengough Stakes, the fact he would be getting only 3lb from the likes of 113-rated Commanche Falls and the 110-rated Garrus leaves Significantly, still only on a handicap mark of 98, with plenty to find.

“He’s fit and well but I would imagine that unless the race cuts up badly, we’d wait a week and go to York,” said Steve Brown, Camacho’s husband and assistant.

“It just makes more sense to run in a handicap off his current mark. There are some good solid performers in at Ascot. We were entitled to enter and have a look but realistically we might just wait a week – and it’s worth more money.

“The other thing we might have been tempted to go to Ascot had the ground been softer but at the minute it looks like being a decent week weather-wise whereas he thrives when the ground is softer.

“I know there were one or two unlucky horses at Ayr but I think if we’d have got a run earlier he would have been a bit more of a clear-cut winner than he was.

“He’s thriving at home, his confidence levels are high. Karl (Burke, former trainer) always said he had a high level of ability and was a decent horse when he was younger, they are clever people and ran him in some big races, they don’t do that unless they think they are worthy.

“Last season was a quiet one for him, as any horse can havem but I think he’s back to the level he showed for Karl.”

Shaquille’s participation on Qipco British Champions Day at Ascot may rest on how he comes through a racecourse gallop next week.

Julie Camacho’s Commonwealth and July Cup winner ran no sort of a race when last seen in the Sprint Cup at Haydock, a performance which still has connections scratching their heads.

Having missed the break badly in both his Group One wins, he broke on terms on Merseyside only to be beaten by halfway.

Nothing has subsequently come to light, but should he continue to please on the gallops, then October 21 is likely to have a ring around it on the calendar.

“He’s fine, we’re just taking it one step at a time,” said Steve Brown, Camacho’s husband and assistant.

“He worked on Saturday and we were pleased with him, he’ll work again this week and the following week we’ll go away and have a racecourse gallop somewhere.

“Nothing is decided yet, that will be just to take him to a different environment and see how he handles it and to get him back on a racecourse, get the blood flowing a little bit and then we’ll see from there.”

Reflecting on Haydock, Brown added: “It’s disappointing that we haven’t found an absolute reason that he was so below form at Haydock but as I always say, sometimes you just don’t have an answer. We might like to think we do, but sometimes we just don’t.

“I’ve slightly taken the view that it was just too bad to be true unfortunately. Whilst we were all devastated on the day, the only thing we can do is regroup and look forward.”

Shaquille is one of 23 remaining in contention for the British Champions Sprint, for which last year’s winner Kinross is ante-post favourite following his near-miss in France on Sunday.

In the Champion Stakes, the progressive Horizon Dore heads the market with Coral with Bay Bridge, King Of Steel and Mostahdaf among the 16 contenders.

Paddington and Tahiyra headline 18 in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes with Free Wind, Time Lock and Via Sistina among 26 possibles in the Fillies & Mares.

Trueshan, Kyprios, Courage Mon Ami and Coltrane are all still among 17 in the Long Distance Cup.

Shouldvebeenaring’s owners were delighted after they saw their late entry for the Prix de la Foret pay off with a gallant run at ParisLongchamp, but they could now face a similar conundrum with regards to Qipco British Champions Day.

The Richard Hannon-trained grey was supplemented for the French Group One after the ground, which is usually soft in Paris in autumn, turned out to be rather quicker than expected.

Ridden by Sean Levey, the colt held his own at the level once again, finishing third behind Kelina and Kinross in a field of 14 to justify the decision to add him to the line-up.

“Vindicated and relief are the two words that spring to mind! Spending €25,000 to go in comes with a little bit of pressure, so to see him run so well, we were absolutely thrilled,” said Tim Palin of owners Middleham Park Racing.

“Every day as the week went on it was drying up and then they were breaking track records, we knew it would play into his hands because he is best on the top of the ground.

“It was a great ride from Sean and there was a thrilling moment there when you thought he was coming to win, but of course the two class acts were just a length or two in front of him.

“For all that we got there, we couldn’t quite go past but to even finish in the same postcode as Kinross is a real feather in our horse’s cap, a real testament to his tenacity and his durability.

“He’s danced pretty much every dance this year, there’s only one month that he’s not run in this year.

“I think one of the beauties of him is the way that he switches off in his races and the way that Sean rides, it just means that he only ever has to sprint for two furlongs in his races. He’s not a make-all, eyeballs-out horse who is on the speed and in the thick of it from start to finish.”

The gamble also paid off financially as his prize-money well exceeded his supplementary fee, and similar calculations could now justify another late entry – this time for the British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot.

Again the ground will prove pivotal with quick going preferred, meaning connections will keep a keen eye on the weather forecast as they weigh-up the Ascot race with the Challenge Stakes at Newmarket just over a week beforehand.

Palin said: “There’s a couple of options – he is in the Challenge Stakes, a week on Friday, the Group Two, that’s seven furlongs at Newmarket and he’d probably go there with a favourite’s chance. We’ll have to talk to Richard and Sean and give him a breeze next week to see if he’s over his exertions.

“That would be on the agenda, but that’s only about eight days before the Champions Sprint at Ascot. We’d need to look at the weather forecast to see whether we’d dare wait another week for the rain not to arrive or the heavens not to open.

“He’s not in there, realistically because at the time of entry you’re assuming it’s going to be soft or heavy ground. A bit like the Foret, he was never in that, we took the decision to wait and supplement and of course it paid off.

“Being second at Haydock in the Sprint Cup meant that he earned £91,000, so that gave us a little bit of financial wiggle room to be able to play the supplementary game. It cost €25,000 to go in the other day and he earned €40,000, so there’s plenty of money in the kitty if we need to supplement for that.

“The weather gods might shine on us, literally, in that week coming up to it but we’ll have to make a decision before we truly know – declarations for the Challenge Stakes will be on the Wednesday and it’s another 10 days to the Champions Sprint.

“It’s going to be a precarious weather watch to see which way we go.”

Luca Cumani, the man credited with launching the career of Frankie Dettori, has pinpointed a defining moment for his fellow Italian which he believes was key in helping him reach the top of the tree.

Dettori was just beginning to make a name for himself in the UK having replaced Ray Cochrane as Cumani’s stable jockey.

However, the young rider had decided to accept an offer to ride in Hong Kong at the start of 1993, without consulting Cumani, sending his boss into a tailspin.

“That was a major turning point in my life, in his life and it still causes me great sadness what happened then,” Cumani told OLBG.

“He had been riding for a year or two as my number one jockey and in those days, there was no all-weather in the winter and then after the November Handicap, jockeys would disappear off the face of the earth.

“They would go on holiday, go and ride in America, Australia, Hong Kong, wherever. I remember about January or February I was getting calls from the press asking if it was true that Frankie had signed to race in Hong Kong.

“It took me totally by surprise, I said I couldn’t believe it and said he wouldn’t be doing something like that at all. But it carried on, the press ringing up all the time and I kept saying it wasn’t true but I couldn’t get hold of him. We didn’t have mobile phones, I didn’t know where he was.

“Come the middle of February, there is a knock on my door and Frankie walks in with a big grin, we hug, we go and sit down and he says ‘I am going to ride in Hong Kong’. I felt the blood just drain from my body, completely. I couldn’t believe it.”

Cumani went on: “Here was this great talent, who had everything in front of him, being a big-name jockey in Europe and throughout the world in time, was going off to go and ride in what – at the time – was a bit of a backwater racing nation, Hong Kong.

“I tried to dissuade him, we spoke for hours and hours and he was determined and said he was going, and then I lost my cool. I said to him ‘If you don’t change your mind then I will never speak to you again’. I was so angry. So we left on very bad terms.”

However, Dettori never did get to Hong Kong as he had planned, after receiving a caution for possession of a small amount of cocaine.

Cumani believes that course of events was a major turning point in Dettori becoming one of the most famed riders of all time.

He explained: “But then, Frankie has always been a very lucky person. He was lucky to come to England and then he went to an Arsenal game, because he was an Arsenal fan, with some friends and luck – or bad luck – would have it his car got stopped by the police and they found a minute amount of cocaine in the car.

“It hit the news and that got to Hong Kong, and they cancelled his contract straight away. That was the biggest stroke of luck for Frankie. If he had gone to Hong Kong then we would never have known Frankie as we do now.

“Unfortunately, by then we had burned our bridges and so he had to start from scratch again. He got lucky that John Gosden hadn’t been in the country long and didn’t have a jockey at the time, they started linking up and it took off from there and then on to Godolphin and the rest of the story.”

He added: “He and I probably didn’t talk for possibly a year or two and then, one day, he came to see me. He knocked on my door, it was pouring with rain, with a grin he said ‘Can I come in?’ and I said ‘No, you can stay out there and get soaking wet’. It broke the ice and then we started talking again, riding for me on occasions when he was available and we won some big races together, not enough, but big races like the Breeders’ Cup and Japan Cup.”

Dettori will bring his career to a close at the end of this year, although his former mentor believes he could have carried for a few years yet at the very top.

Cumani said: “I was very disappointed when he announced that he was retiring this year because he has been riding so well. In the spring whenever he was winning a big race I would always text him saying ‘What the hell are you doing retiring? You’re better than ever’ and he would come back and say it was decided. It just made me wonder why? He could have two or three more years. Look at Mike Smith in America, he is 56 and is still riding and is at the top of his game.

“I have tried to persuade him not to retire but I can see why, it comes to all of us and we move on to greener pastures. His last year has been fantastic, I am so glad for him and now I am resigned to the fact he is retiring, so he tells me, so all that is left is to applaud his career.

“Everybody can change their mind, Frankie could, but I think there isn’t a cut-off point where he stops riding altogether. I think when he goes to the States for the Breeders’ Cup, he could stay there for the winter and see how far he goes.”

Live In The Dream has been making himself at home in America as he prepares to take on the Woodford Stakes en route to his Breeders’ Cup target.

The chestnut gave connections an unforgettable day when landing the Nunthorpe Stakes at York, a victory that earned him a ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita in November.

In preparation West has flown the four-year-old out to the States to contest the Woodford at Keeneland on Saturday, a five-and-a-half-furlong event worth the equivalent for £175,000 to the winner.

West reports Live In The Dream to have fared well following the journey, as he prepares to do his first piece of work on the turf ahead of the weekend.

“He’s very well, he’s out of quarantine and he took the travelling very well,” he said on Tuesday.

“You can’t do too much in quarantine, he had a little canter on the track for the first time yesterday and he’s breezing on the grass today, then it’ll be a light blow with Sean Kirrane on Thursday.

“We got the draw last night and we’re very excited to be drawn in stall two, which I think will be helpful. There are some good horses in it but Caravel hasn’t declared which is a bit of a relief.

“We should know what our sectionals are and how our form holds up in real life against the Americans on Saturday.”

Though the Woodford is clearly a prize worth winning, the bigger picture is the Breeders’ Cup, and West has been focusing on the meeting since the horse crossed the line on the Knavesmire.

“He was pretty much ready and raring to go before he went out there, as much as I want to win this race I also want to see him bang on for the Breeders’ Cup,” said West.

“I’ll be flying out with the jockey tomorrow and the owners and my assistant trainer, so it will be good to get a picture of it for ourselves.”

Ante-post Club Godolphin Cesarewitch favourite Pied Piper is on course for Newmarket on October 14.

Gordon Elliott’s dual-purpose performer had a spin on the Flat at Killarney in August, where he looked the likely winner only to fade into third close home.

A classy hurdler who was second in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, connections are hoping there is still some wriggle room from his Flat mark earned during his days with John and Thady Gosden.

“He’s in good nick and he’s on course to run in the big race later this month,” said Joey Logan, racing manager for owners Caldwell Construction.

“Killarney was his first run back, Gordon wanted to give him a run and he ran great, he just blew up and hopefully he’ll improve a lot from it.

“There seems to be a lot of jumpers, mainly dual-purpose horses, in there this year and I think the ground will suit him.

“The big thing this year is that he’s had a break. When we bought him the year before we just kept him going, he ran at Cheltenham, Aintree and then Royal Ascot – we did an awful lot with him.

“We decided to give him a good break this year through the summer and hopefully he’ll have got stronger and will be a fresher horse.”

Logan went on: “He’s not massively exposed on the Flat and his run at Royal Ascot was very good when you look back. He had traffic problems and wasn’t beaten all that far by Coltrane who is one of the best stayers around.

“We’d be hoping he should have a very nice run there before he goes back jumping.

“We’ll leave the jockey to Gordon, but he won’t be short of offers I wouldn’t have thought. He’s in good form and we’re really looking forward to it.”

Vandeek is to skip the Dewhurst Stakes and be put away with a sprinting campaign in mind next season.

Trained by Simon and Ed Crisford, the son of Havana Grey maintained his unbeaten record with a scintillating display in the Middle Park at Newmarket at the weekend.

Connections had left the door ajar for him to possibly step up to seven furlongs in the Native Trail’s Dewhurst Stakes on October 14, but after lengthy discussions the decision has been made to end his season and resist the urge to stretch his stamina.

Chris Wall, racing manager for owners KHK Racing, said: “Sheikh Khalid has decided to stick to sprinting.

“We had long discussions last night and that was the way he wanted to go and that is fine, we’re all supportive of it.

“There’s nothing else for Vandeek to run in now so we hope he winters well and he’ll come back with a view to the Commonwealth Cup as his principal early-season target.

“I think he’s all about speed so I think we should play to his strengths rather than ask him to do something out of his comfort zone.”

Sense Of Duty is still on course for her Qipco British Champions Day assignment, as long as trainer William Haggas is happy with both the filly and conditions nearer the time.

The daughter of Showcasing followed a debut defeat by skyrocketing up the sprinting ranks, with a four-race winning run culminating in an impressive Group Three success in Newcastle’s Chipchase Stakes.

She spent the following 455 days on the sidelines, but was seen returning over five furlongs at Newbury last month, finishing an honourable third to race-fit rivals.

That return was always seen as a stepping stone towards her end of season target – the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes – and connections are hopeful of making the Ascot Group One on October 21, where the four-year-old would be returning to the more suitable distance of six furlongs.

“We’re just giving her a chance to come out of the race and then we’ll discuss things nearer the time, but certainly she was always going to need that first race,” said Richard Brown, racing manager for owners St Albans Bloodstock.

“It was the wrong trip, we knew that, but we got the race into her. She was a bit ring rusty and I thought she actually ran OK under the circumstances and as long as she is fit and well, I don’t see any reason why she wouldn’t be taking her chance (at Ascot) as long as there is some give in the ground – I think that is quite important to her.

“Six furlongs up the hill at Ascot is a completely different day’s work and that will be much more to her liking. I think as long as William and his team are happy with her and she’s in good form, then I would hope that we will get there.”