A trip to France for the Prix du Cadran is next on the agenda for Courage Mon Ami after coming off second best in his latest clash with Coltrane at York last week.

John and Thady Gosden’s son of Frankel raised the roof at Royal Ascot when providing jockey Frankie Dettori with his ninth victory in the Gold Cup, narrowly outpointing the Andrew Balding-trained Coltrane.

Courage Mon Ami lost his unbeaten record when only sixth in the Goodwood Cup, a race in which Coltrane finished third, and the trilogy took place in the Lonsdale Cup on the Knavesmire on Friday.

With the Gosden runner carrying a 3lb penalty for his Gold Cup win, he was beaten a length and a half by his old rival and connections are now eyeing one final outing this season on Arc weekend in Paris.

“I thought he probably ran right up to form, as John said afterwards carrying the 3lb penalty is tough over that trip,” said Richard Brown, racing adviser to owners Wathnan Racing.

“We were delighted with the run because it sort of showed that Ascot wasn’t a fluke. We hoped it wasn’t and Coltrane is a very good horse on his day – they’re the best stayers around really.

“Our horse was strong at the line, we know he gets two and a half miles obviously and I’d say that the Cadran will be his next target.

“Qatar sponsors the Arc meeting, so it’s important for those reasons as well, but that aside, the Cadran looks the obvious race for him and that’s exactly what Frankie said afterwards.”

Brown admitted the prospect of soft ground at ParisLongchamp is a slight concern, adding: “I would be a bit worried about a bit of soft ground. You never know really until you try it, I think he’ll be OK but you never know.

“After the Cadran that will be it for him this year as everything is geared around trying to win a second Gold Cup.”

Courage Mon Ami was one of four horses to perform well in defeat at the Ebor Festival for the Qatari ownership group, with leading St Leger hope Gregory third in the Great Voltigeur, Ballymount Boy second in the Acomb and Isaac Shelby fourth in the City of York Stakes.

Brown admits the team left the track with mixed emotions.

He said: “Of course you want to win, that’s what it’s all about, but we had two seconds, a third and a fourth and if one of those had turned into a win, it would have been a hell of a week.

“We came away a little frustrated, but at the same time they’ve all run to a very high level.”

Ballymount Boy was snapped up by Wathnan Racing after finishing second to subsequent Prix Morny hero Vandeek in the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood – and while he again had to make do with the runner-up spot at York behind Indian Run, Brown is optimistic he will have his day in the future.

He said: “He ran well, possibly he’d prefer soft ground and also he was a breeze-up horse who has had some quick runs, so we’ll give him a break now.

“I was actually delighted. He obviously bumped into one at Goodwood and I’d say there’s a fair chance he’s just bumped into another good one at York.

“We’re going to give him a bit of a rest and give him just one more run this year, I would say.

“He’s shown he’s a Group level colt and I think he’ll only be better next year as well as he’s still relatively unfurnished.”

Brian Meehan’s Isaac Shelby faced his elders on the fourth and final day of the meeting and while far from disgraced behind Kinross, who he had pushed to a neck in the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood at the start of the month, Brown feels he slightly underperformed.

“It’s the quickest we’ve run him back and I wonder if he was a touch flat,” he added.

“Kinross is a brilliant horse and we were a bit further behind him than we were at Goodwood, which I suppose makes you think he was just a touch flat.

“We haven’t made any plans for him. Myself, Brian and Olly Tait will sit down and do that in a couple of weeks, but I’d imagine we’ll give him a six-week break now and give him one more run somewhere.

“He’s learning to settle as he gets older. He’s a tall, narrow horse and I think he’s going to be a better four-year-old.”

John and Thady Gosden’s Courage Mon Ami will look to put Goodwood defeat behind him in the Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup at York.

The gelding was the hero of the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in June, beating 11 rivals to score by three-quarters of a length from Andrew Balding’s Coltrane.

Both horses headed next to the South Downs for the Goodwood Cup, where Hughie Morrison’s Quickthorn galloped into an unassailable lead and prevailed by sixth lengths, with Courage Mon Ami unplaced in the trailing pack having started as the 2-1 favourite.

Despite suffering the first defeat of his career, the performance does leave the horse fresher than he would have been otherwise as he looks to get back to winning ways on the Knavesmire.

John Gosden said: “We all know the Goodwood Cup was an interestingly different sort of race and not dissimilar to the Lonsdale last year, really.

“He came out of it well. He didn’t have much of a race.

“He couldn’t get a run and then when he did get a run, the race was over. So, he had what I call a nice racecourse gallop, really!

“We’d like to run there (York) and then after that wait for the Prix du Cadran on Arc weekend.”

As referred to by Gosden, Quickthorn employed similar tactics in this race last season and was successful by 14 lengths under Tom Marquand.

The same jockey will take the ride again this time as the duo look to retain their title for owner-breeder Lady Blyth.

“He’s a fantastic horse, obviously. He’d already done it in the Prix Maurice de Nieuil in France when he did it in the Lonsdale Cup last year, but Goodwood was still a bit surreal,” Marquand said.

“In the Lonsdale he pretty much ran away with me if I’m honest. I was going to make the running, but I didn’t intend to go that fast and he was doing too much really. But he’s a lot more measured now and at Goodwood he never felt as though he was going that quick. He was always comfortable and he was able to fill up where he needed to, whereas at York he was always tanking.”

He added: “Everyone thinks they know what we are going to do and I don’t suppose we’ll stray too far away from what works, but I think it would be silly for anyone to think that it’s just a case of taking him on to get him beat, because he’s won races after taking a lead as well.

“Hughie has done an amazing job having Quickthorn right on the day so far, and he’s no one-trick pony. Far from it. He doesn’t have to make the running, so long as he finds a rhythm and is in his comfort zone, and he only has to beat horses he has beaten before.”

Marco Botti’s Giavellotto also brings course form to the race having landed the Yorkshire Cup over a lesser trip in May.

The chestnut also went for the Goodwood Cup next but he too was victim to Quickthorn’s tearaway tactics and he finished fifth, though only narrowly behind the second-placed horse as he was prominent in the chasing pack.

Botti said: “He’s in good form, the ground should be good to firm, it should be quicker than the ground he ran on at Goodwood – which was on the easy side.

“He’s well, he won at York and the main players have been declared, so it looks a tough race but he seems in good order and he’s only run three times this year so he is relatively fresh. We’re looking forward to it.

“That was a funny race to watch (Goodwood Cup), but he ran well and wasn’t beaten far where he was. The track and the ground will be more to his liking at York than they were at Goodwood.

“Hopefully this time the jockeys will be more alert and understand he’s (Quickthorn) a horse you can’t just give a big advantage to, he doesn’t stop, he just keeps going.

“There’s only seven runners, ideally we want to be somewhere in the middle and just get a lead. I will leave it to Andrea (Atzeni), he knows the horse well and gets on with him.”

Coltrane and Nate The Great represent Andrew Balding, while Aidan O’Brien’s internationally-campaigned seven-year-old, Broome also features.

The field is completed by Ralph Beckett’s River Of Stars, the only filly entered and the winner of the Bronte Cup at York earlier in the year.

Courage Mon Ami has the Prix du Cadran on his long-range radar after connections admitted they failed to learn anything new from the Ascot Gold Cup winner when he suffered his first defeat at Goodwood on Tuesday.

Run on unseasonably good to soft ground, Quickthorn turned the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup into something of a procession, with Hughie Morrison’s charge routing his 10 opponents by six lengths and upwards.

The John and Thady Gosden-trained Courage Mon Ami, having just his fifth lifetime start, was sent off the 2-1 favourite to back up his Royal Ascot victory, but having taken a keen hold, did not get a clear run. His jockey, Frankie Dettori, realised he had no chance once the winner quickened clear.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani owns the gelding under his Wathnan Racing operation and Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock buys the horses on his behalf.

He was responsible for the purchase of Courage Mon Ami from Anthony Oppenheimer after the son of Frankel had won twice on the all-weather as a three-year-old, before opening his four-year-old campaign with a Goodwood handicap success.

Brown was left non-plussed by his latest display, however, and said: “He has come out of the race well, but it was a bit of a non-event, to be honest. It was a frustrating race to watch. We have just got to put a line through it.

“Frankie was very easy on him early when he knew his chance had gone.”

Courage Mon Ami is likely to take on Quickthorn again in the Prix du Cadran over an extended two miles at ParisLongchamp in October.

Connections hope to find out a little more about the inexperienced gelding in the meantime.

“He’s come out of it fine and the obvious end-of-season target would be the Cadran,” said Brown.

“We’ve got to decide what we do before then, but it was frustrating to be part of. We saw at Ascot what he is capable of.

“The problem is we didn’t learn anything. We didn’t learn anything about ground. Frankie said he went fine on it.

“Obviously, he has only run four times before then, including twice on the all-weather, and we are still learning about the horse.

“He is probably going to be better on top of the ground, and I’m hoping he’s going to be ground versatile.

“He already owes us nothing, but I very much hope there is a lot more to come from him.”

The unbeaten Gregory is on course for the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes at York later this month, after looking like he would represent the Wathnan team in the Goodwood Cup, only for the ground to change running plans.

The Golden Horn colt has won all three starts for the Gosdens this year, culminating in an emphatic Queen’s Vase win at the Royal meeting.

“All roads lead to the St Leger,” Brown added. “Although we are not committing to anything, John is quite keen to run him again before Doncaster, so the Voltigeur is quite an obvious race that we might take in along the way.”

The Ralph Beckett-trained Remarquee, who finished runner-up in both the top-class Coronation Stakes and the Falmouth, will be given a break after her latest fourth-placed effort in the Prix Rothschild at Deauville.

Winner of the Fred Darling at Newbury on her seasonal bow, she has proved herself as one of the leading milers without yet winning over that distance.

She will likely have another opportunity to do that at Newmarket on October 7, bypassing an engagement in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown next month.

Brown said: “Remarquee came out of her race in good shape. She has had three quick runs, so we have put a line through the Matron and are going to give her a little bit of a rest.

“She might have one more run, which is likely to be the Sun Chariot.”

Gold Cup hero Courage Mon Ami and his Queen’s Vase-winning stablemate Gregory both remain in contention for the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup on Tuesday.

Courage Mon Ami provided jockey Frankie Dettori with a fairytale final victory in last month’s Royal Ascot showpiece, 24 hours after the Italian had steered Gregory to success in the same colours of owners Wathnan Racing.

Both horses were left in the Group One feature on the opening day of next week’s Qatar Goodwood Festival at the confirmation stage and John Gosden, who trains the pair in partnership with son Thady, is not ruling out the possibility of them locking horns.

He said: “At present, both horses will be left in the race and then we will make a decision nearer the time whether one of them runs or they both run.

“Gregory saw the mile and six furlongs out the other day and I think he will see the two miles out, too. I think he is very much a progressive sort. He is a three-year-old getting the weight in the race, which is a very big edge. We have done it before with Stradivarius.

“Goodwood has its own demands, you swing left right, up, down. It demands a lot of agility from a horse.

“Interestingly enough both horses have won there, though I have to say they looked a bit up in the air galloping at some stages, but they would have learnt a lot from those experiences previously at Goodwood.”

Courage Mon Ami and Gregory were both purchased by the Emir of Qatar’s Wathnan Racing before Royal Ascot, with Gosden keen to underline the significance to the owners of having big runners at the Qatar Goodwood Festival.

He added: “It is extremely important, as the owners put a great deal into the meeting. To me it has lifted the whole event, particularly with the sponsorship and presence there. To that extent I think it’s key and let’s hope we can at least be running well for them.

“Goodwood is a great meeting. Let’s face it, you have Royal Ascot, then the July Meeting, and then Goodwood followed by York. They are the huge summer meetings.

“They are very important to the whole fabric of British racing and, in a sense, the British sporting summer, which turned a little soggy in Lancashire with the cricket and the golf in pouring rain. We can’t put a roof on it like centre court at Wimbledon – we’ve just got to get on with it.”

The Gosden team will be well represented across the week at Goodwood, with top-class fillies Inspiral and Nashwa also set to be in action.

Inspiral, who was beaten a neck by Triple Time in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, is set to take on the brilliant colt Paddington in the Qatar Sussex Stakes on Wednesday.

Nashwa, meanwhile, will bid for back-to-back wins in the Qatar Nassau Stakes on Thursday week after notching her third Group One win in the Falmouth at Newmarket.

“Inspiral ran a great race on her return in the Queen Anne. She has come on for that and been in great form since,” said Thady Gosden.

“Paddington is a horse who has made rapid progression. He is a horse with plenty of speed and plenty of ability. He won the St James’s Palace and then went on to the Eclipse. That is quite an unusual route but it demonstrates how brilliant he is. It will be tough taking him on but a championship race like the Sussex Stakes is never going to be an easy race.

“Inspiral has a low action and plenty of speed. She is a very strong filly and hopefully the track will prove no problem to her at all.

“Emily Upjohn was taking on Paddington two furlongs below her optimum trip (in the Eclipse), whereas Inspiral will be taking him on at her ideal trip. Paddington is a three-year-old stepping into older miler company for the first time, which is always an interesting one.”

Of Nashwa, he added: “She has taken a bit of time to come to herself this year as can often happen with fillies who are going from three to four.

“You could tell in the couple of weeks after the Hoppings Stakes that she really had taken a step forward. She looked very well in herself before the Falmouth, relaxed during the race and quickened up past some smart fillies.

“She is going to a track that she knows, having won the Nassau last year. She seems in good order and stepping back up to a mile and a quarter shouldn’t be an issue. It is a fast mile and a quarter, which should hopefully play to her strengths.

“Blue Rose Cen is a brilliant filly and this year she has shown what she can do, having won both fillies’ French classics. It will be a different test for her coming over here and taking on some different fillies, but she is certainly a brilliant filly.

“We have to give her 8lb in the race, so we’ll have to see how things go.”

Courage Mon Ami has been given the go-ahead to contest the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in spite of his owner Anthony Oppenheimer’s concerns regarding his stamina for the testing trip.

As a late blooming three-year-old last year, he did not hit the track until mid-September, yet patience paid off as he won a pair of 12-furlong all-weather novice races at Kempton and Newcastle in great style for John and Thady Gosden.

Gelded over the winter, the son of Frankel stepped up to a mile and three-quarters for his handicap debut upon his return to action at Goodwood last month and justified favouritism with a two-and-three-quarter-length victory over Aggagio.

Following his impressive victory to remain unbeaten at the South Downs track, the lightly-raced four-year-old was cut to as short as 10-1 for the Gold Cup on June 22.

Oppenheimer is open-minded about whether Courage Mon Ami will stay the two and a half miles on what will be his first try in Group One company.

He said: “He’s a nice staying horse. I’m not sure he will stay that distance, but we are confident he will stay two miles, we’re just not sure about another four furlongs.”

He went on: “There are definitely possibilities he will stay, but without running we won’t see.

“He is a big, strong horse – a huge horse. We couldn’t really run him much last year because he was so big. With the firm ground, we had to wait and wait. It was a very nice, pleasant surprise when he did run. He strengthened up extremely well.”

With little rain in the forecast over the next week or so, it is a distinct possibility the ground will be on the fast side at Ascot.

“I don’t think the ground will be a problem,” added the owner. “He won the other day on good to firm. He is by Frankel and I don’t think there’s an issue there.

“But if it was heavy or a bit too soft, I’d not be too sure. Good to firm will be no problem at all.”