Aidan O’Brien’s St Leger winner Continuous will miss the Japan Cup next weekend due to stiffness.

His scheduled run at Tokyo racecourse on November 26 had garnered plenty of interest amongst the locals.

Not only was he due to take on the brilliant Equinox, currently rated as the best horse in the world, but Continuous is a son of Heart’s Cry.

Heart’s Cry was a quality performer in Japan and beat Deep Impact, the sire of O’Brien’s dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin, in the Arima Kinen of 2005 as well as winning the 2006 Sheema Classic in Dubai.

Continuous was far from disgraced in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe when a little over three lengths behind Ace Impact in fifth, however, his trip to the Far East has now been scuppered.

O’Brien said: “Unfortunately Continuous was stiff after his latest exercise which means he won’t be going to Japan.”

St Leger hero Continuous is on course for a clash with Equinox in the Japan Cup.

Aidan O’Brien’s three-year-old followed up his Classic success at Doncaster by staying on to finish fifth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Plans for a potential trip to Ascot for British Champions Day had to be shelved due to a minor setback, but the son of Heart’s Cry has now fully recovered.

O’Brien has never managed to win the Japan Cup, but stable jockey Ryan Moore knows what it takes to triumph in Tokyo, having partnered last year’s victor Vela Azul for Kunihiko Watanabe.

“We were going to go back for the Champion Stakes with him, but he got a bit of a temperature, so obviously when they get a temperature, you have to medicate them, and when you medicate them, it takes them out of the race,” O’Brien told Racing TV.

“But he’s back fine, he’s back cantering again, so the plan with him is to go to the Japan Cup (November 26).

“We were delighted with his run in the Arc. Ryan took his time, like he always does with him, and the pace just went a little bit slow in the middle of the race and that was the way it was, but he came home very well.

“Ryan was very happy with him after the run, he said his run was way better than everyone thinks it was, so hopefully we’ll go back to the Japan Cup with him.

“It’s a race we’ve never won and you need a good horse to win it, so it would be great if we could be competitive in it.

“It’ll suit him all right, because he’s a good traveller, he can handle fast and soft ground, it doesn’t matter.

“He’s got a great mind and he’s got a lot of ability that horse – he’s probably better than everyone thinks he is.”

Meanwhile, stablemate Auguste Rodin is being aimed at a fourth top-level triumph of the year in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita.

The Deep Impact colt is a dual Derby winner and was last seen coming home in front in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.

“That’s been the plan for him all the time,” added O’Brien. “He’s done great, too. He’s had a nice break from Leopardstown and that’s probably a break like he’s never had and he’s got strong.

“All the team are delighted with him and we’re really looking forward to it.

“He’s really grown up and he’s another horse that didn’t get a chance to mature, as we trained him for the Guineas and then on to the Derby, the next Derby and the King George, so it’s tough for those baby three-year-olds.

“But we’re very happy with him, he’s had a nice little run into this and we’re looking forward to it.”

Aidan O’Brien says the Coolmore team were unanimously in favour of paying the supplementary fee required to add Continuous to the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe field.

The Heart’s Cry colt was not originally put forward for the European middle-distance championship, but entered the picture after his wide-margin Great Voltigeur Stakes win at York’s Ebor meeting in August.

His subsequent St Leger triumph, another convincing success at two and a three-quarter lengths, galvanised matters and the three-year-old was added to the line-up at a cost of £120,000 on Wednesday morning.

“It was always a possibility, we were delighted within him in Doncaster and we were delighted with him in York before that, when he won the Voltigeur,” O’Brien explained.

“When he won the Voltigeur, with the way he did it there it was always a strong possibility that if he ran well in Doncaster, or came forward like we thought he might have, that he could end up being supplemented for the Arc.

“We didn’t enter too many and our policy with the Arc is to only enter the really obvious ones because it’s expensive, but with that policy we are always happy to supplement.”

O’Brien has been pleased with the horse’s work since Doncaster and although he is mindful of the short turnaround between races, there were no hesitations in letting him take his chance in Paris.

“We’re very happy, he’s done two half-speeds (canters) and everything has gone well since,” he said.

“Obviously you do have concerns when you’re backing up, especially for a race like the Arc, but I think everyone is very happy to do it.

“Everyone was very happy this morning to supplement and I think the lads always had it in their heads that this was one that was going to be supplemented.”

St Leger hero Continuous and German Derby winner Fantastic Moon have both been supplemented for Sunday’s Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp.

Continuous, trained by Aidan O’Brien, landed the final British Classic of the season with a two-and-three-quarter-length victory in Doncaster’s St Leger, a performance that sparked conversations about his late inclusion in the Arc.

Those plans have come to fruition and he will fly the flag for Coolmore in the ParisLongchamp Group One, where he will be joined by a German contender in Sarah Steinberg’s Fantastic Moon.

The German Derby victor took a key Arc trial in the Prix Niel, a Group Two run over the Arc course and distance, but was ruled out of the big race on account of the likely occurrence of soft ground in Paris on Sunday.

Autumn in France has been warm and dry so far, however, causing connections to set aside Japan Cup and Breeders’ Cup aims and supplement their Sea The Moon colt for a shot at the Arc.

The field is currently headed by Jean-Claude Rouget’s Ace Impact, the unbeaten market leader, with Owen Burrows’ Hukum the second favourite.

Aidan O’Brien has confirmed his St Leger hero Continuous is set to be supplemented for next week’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The son of Heart’s Cry was beaten in his first three starts of the year, but has raised his game significantly in the second half of the campaign to register impressive wins in the Great Voltigeur at York and the season’s final Classic at Doncaster.

Continuous does not hold an entry in the Arc, but O’Brien did raise the possibility of supplementing the three-year-old at a cost of €120,000 in the immediate aftermath of his Doncaster triumph and the Ballydoyle handler is now preparing to add him to the field on Wednesday.

Asked about his Arc plans at the Curragh on Sunday, O’Brien said: “It’s all about Continuous I’d say. Everything looks good with him at the moment and if it is good up until Wednesday, he’ll probably be supplemented by the sound of what the lads are saying.

“Fast or heavy ground, it doesn’t matter to him – he has form on all ground.”

O’Brien confirmed Continuous would be his sole runner in this year’s Arc, but he is set to be well represented in the supporting races at ParisLongchamp.

He added: “Emily Dickinson will go to the Cadran. Unquestionable, who reared up in the stalls here last time, will go for the two-year-old race over seven (Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere) and something might go with him.

“Opera Singer will go to the fillies’ race (Prix Marcel Boussac). Jackie Oh, who was second to Joseph’s filly (Lumiere Rock) here last time, will go to the Prix de l’Opera.

“Kyprios won’t go, it will be too quick for him and we’ll give him time and go back to Ascot.”

Ryan Moore produced a sterling ride aboard Continuous as he came from last to first to register an emphatic victory in the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes at York.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien, the son of Heart’s Cry dead-heated for third in the Dante at the track earlier in the season and was putting his St Leger credentials to the test following a fine effort in defeat behind King Of Steel at Royal Ascot.

Sent off the 4-1 second favourite, he answered every question to throw his hat in the ring for the final Classic of the season in tremendous fashion.

Ridden with real patience by Moore as 8-11 favourite Gregory went for home early under Frankie Dettori, Continuous gradually worked his way through the gears and as Gregory’s challenge began to wain inside the final two furlongs, the Ballydoyle colt was just getting started as he powered clear of runner-up Castle Way for an authoritative three-and-three-quarter-length success.

The winner was cut to 4-1 joint favourite from 12s by Betfair for the St Leger on September 16, with the firm also easing Gregory out to 5-1 for Doncaster after John and Thady Gosden’s charge stayed on for third.

O’Brien said: “He’s a lovely horse who is progressing, he has enough class for a mile and a half and could stay further. He’s an exciting horse really.

“He handles an ease in the ground well as he has a bit of a round action, but that was fast ground there today – Ryan said it was quicker than it was at Royal Ascot – and he didn’t seem to have any problem with it.

“He came here in the Dante and needed the run very badly and ran a massive race. I said to Ryan before the race today ‘would any of those other horses have ran as well in the Dante as he did?’ and he said they wouldn’t. A little bit of class usually outs, especially if the pace is even.

“I asked Ryan about that (the St Leger trip). He said he doesn’t need a mile and six but he said you wouldn’t rule it out.”

Charlie Appleby does not view Castle Way as a St Leger candidate following his run, with an American target on the horizon now.

He said: “I’m pleased. The fractions looked very quick and William (Buick) said he was close enough but fair play to the winner, he was the fastest horse in the race.

“The main thing to take out of it is that William did say the mile and six in the Leger will probably stretch him, so where do we go next?

“I think I’ll most definitely put him on the radar for Belmont (Jockey Club Derby) where the quick ground will suit him.

“That will most likely be our next stop. He’s got a great attitude, he tries but he was beaten by a better horse today.”

John Gosden was pleased with the performance of Gregory in third, and feels the extra distance in the St Leger will be in his favour.

“We felt we couldn’t go from Royal Ascot to the Leger so we had to come here, even with a 3lb penalty,” he said.

“They went a strong pace and there were two others forcing it, but what I loved about it was that a furlong out he got going again.

“To me he’s run the perfect trial for the Leger. I did say to the owners before the race that I’d asked the course executive if they could move the stalls back to the start of the Ebor, but they wouldn’t!

“I couldn’t be more pleased as a Leger prep and you can see by the size of him he’s all about next year, one more run in the Leger and then Cup races next year.”