A trip to the Breeders’ Cup looks to be on the agenda for Auguste Rodin following his thrilling return to form in the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes.

On the weekend Aidan O’Brien became just the third Irish trainer to reach the 4,000 career winners landmark, the dual Derby winner provided the Ballydoyle handler his fifth straight victory in the 10-furlong Group One contest, denying stablemate Luxembourg back-to-back wins in the Leopardstown feature.

The success was made all the remarkable as it was the second time this season O’Brien and his team had conjured up a piece of magic on the training grounds as the son of Deep Impact once again proved his doubters wrong to bounce back from a bitterly disappointing display in Ascot’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

With a preference for a sound surface, the high-class colt could now have booked his ticket to Santa Anita in early November, with O’Brien believing that could be the perfect spot for the apple of his eye.

He said: The lads love the Breeders’ Cup and he’s a lovely horse for it. They will decide, but he’d love that ground.

“He’s a beautiful mover. He won in Doncaster on heavy and we couldn’t believe that he did it, but it was probably just sheer ability.

“We’ll take our time and see how he is, but I’d imagine it will be something like that (Breeders’ Cup).”

Luxembourg, meanwhile, could bid to better last year’s seventh in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

O’Brien added: “He could go to the Arc. He wouldn’t mind as long as the ground is not heavy, and over a mile and a half we know to ride him like a horse that just gets a mile and a half.

“He doesn’t want to go any further, but we are learning about him all the time. It was a massive run yesterday.”

Michael Tabor, co-owner of dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin, feels a drop down to 10 furlongs for the Juddmonte International will feature “high on the agenda” for the colt, with the Breeders’ Cup Classic also a possibility at the end of the season.

A rare son of late Japanese champion Deep Impact, Auguste Rodin gave trainer Aidan O’Brien his 100th European Classic win when Ryan Moore’s mount downed stablemate Adelaide River in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh on Sunday.

Owned in partnership with John and Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith and Georg von Opel’s Westerberg racing operation, Tabor’s famous royal blue and orange disk silks had previously been carried to victory at Epsom.

To some observers, his latest length-and-a-half success was unconvincing, a view Tabor agrees with.

He said: “I do think it is fair that people say he was only workmanlike. It wasn’t the fastest pace in the world, which didn’t suit him and when he hits the front, he only just does enough.

“I think and hope you’ll see a lot better horse when he runs next, let’s put it that way.

“Only time will tell, but people are right when they look at it, they were not impressed and that was the way it was.”

Having been the first horse since Harzand in 2016 to follow up victory in the Epsom blue riband, Auguste Rodin is a general 9-4 favourite to win the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 29.

While the prospect of a second clash with Epsom runner-up and subsequent King Edward VII Stakes winner King Of Steel and last year’s Derby hero Desert Crown looks a mouthwatering prospect, Tabor feels the three-year-old has the speed to drop back in trip.

He added: “He could go down in trip if it presents itself, but at the moment, if you go forward, what is he going to run in? If you do go down in trip, what race would he run in?

“The Juddmonte International would obviously be on the agenda. The Breeders’ Cup Classic is a shot to nothing – that’s a tough one – but certainly the Juddmonte is high on the agenda.

“It’s a difficult call, but how long is it between the King George and the Juddmonte? It is about three and a half weeks (25 days). It’s enough time (for both races), I should think.

“Aidan knows what to do with the horses, but I would think that is a distinct possibility.

“He’s fast enough for 10 furlongs and the Breeders’ Cup is a possibility, for sure.”