Bluestocking will have “unfinished business” to take care of when she returns to the track for her four-year-old season, with York’s Middleton Stakes or the Tattersalls Gold Cup possible early-season options.

Trained by Ralph Beckett, the Juddmonte-owned filly acquitted herself with real credit during her three-year-old campaign and although she failed to add to her Salisbury juvenile success, she finished outside the top three only once in six starts, rattling the crossbar in some of the biggest races of the season.

She had the misfortune of bumping into Aidan O’Brien’s Warm Heart on three occasions, including when placed at Royal Ascot, while it was another Ballydoyle filly, Savethelastdance, that thwarted her Irish Oaks bid in the dying strides.

The daughter of Camelot was last seen going down valiantly by a neck in the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes and connections are desperate to see if she can finally get her hands on a major middle-distance prize this term.

“Bluestocking is back and looks great. I’ve just seen her and we feel like we have a bit of unfinished business with her,” said Barry Mahon, European racing manager for Juddmonte.

“She’s gone close on a few occasions; her Irish Oaks run was obviously a big run and her Champions Day run was also huge.

“She looks great and she could start in the Middleton Stakes perhaps and there’s also the Tattersalls Gold Cup in Ireland – she likes the Curragh, so that’s a possibility – and we will aim her at all those high-class middle-distance fillies’ races throughout the year.

“I think she has got a little stronger from three to four and she’s grown, so I think there is definitely some more to come from her.”

Kimpton Down handler Beckett may be without Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe runner-up Westover this season, but he could be the man responsible for Juddmonte’s main Classic hopes in both the colts and fillies’ divisions.

Frankel colt Task Force found just Vandeek too good when second in the Middle Park Stakes as a two-year-old and is being prepared to head straight to Newmarket for the Qipco 2000 Guineas, where he is as short as 12-1 to emulate his sire.

Mahon continued: “Ralph says we have some lovely horses and I’m not sure we will have much for the trials – Ralph is indicating Task Force is going to go straight to the 2000 Guineas without going to a trial.

“Task Force is in great shape and I’ve just seen him and he looks to have wintered well. We’re very happy with him and if his work is good then he will go straight to Newmarket.”

Beckett and Juddmonte could also be represented in the following day’s Qipco 1000 Guineas by Oh So Sharp Stakes runner-up Skellet and Lingfield maiden winner Indelible, with both fillies pleasing their handler in the early parts of the spring.

Kingman filly Skellet is another who could head straight to Newmarket on the first weekend of May, with Indelible the most likely of the duo to take in one of the key trial races over the coming month.

“It’s a little bit of the same as Task Force with Skellet and we have two nice fillies there, as we also have a nice one called Indelible, who is a Shamardal out of Midday,” added Mahon.

“Indelible won her maiden nicely at the backend of last season and one or the other might run in a trial, with the other probably going straight to Newmarket.

“It’s just a case of working out over the next four weeks how they are training and see. They look well and Ralph is happy with where they are at.

“With every week that goes by, they will keep on improving and maybe if we were to run one, it might be Indelible who goes for a trial. But we’re not hung up on it either and if they both need a bit more time they can go straight to Classics from where they are.”

Savethelastdance is one of four runners for Aidan O’Brien in a field of eight declared for the Juddmonte Irish Oaks at the Curragh on Saturday.

The master of Ballydoyle has already won the fillies’ Classic on six occasions, a joint-record alongside Sir Michael Stoute.

O’Brien looks to have every chance of going out on his own this weekend, with 22-length Cheshire Oaks winner Savethelastdance the likely favourite on her first start since finishing best of the rest behind Soul Sister in the Oaks at Epsom last month.

Her biggest threat could prove to be her stablemate Warm Heart, who completed a hat-trick in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot last month.

Lingfield Oaks Trial runner-up Be Happy and Listed winner Library complete the quartet.

British hopes are carried by Ralph Beckett’s Bluestocking, who was beaten a head by Warm Heart on her penultimate start at Newbury, but has almost four lengths to find with the same rival from their clash in the Ribblesdale just over four weeks ago.

Splitting the pair in second at the Royal meeting was the Joseph O’Brien-trained Lumiere Rock who adds further strength in depth to the Irish Oaks field.

Azazat, second in the Munster Oaks last time out for Dermot Weld, and Jim Bolger’s Irish 1,000 Guineas third Comhra are the other hopefuls.

Bluestocking showed enough in her performance at Royal Ascot last week to put herself in the picture for a tilt at the Juddmonte Irish Oaks later this month.

An impressive winner on her sole juvenile start at Salisbury, Ralph Beckett’s filly was being considered for the Betfred Oaks at Epsom prior to her narrow defeat by Warm Heart on her reappearance in a Listed contest at Newbury last month.

With the daughter of Camelot still showing signs of inexperience, the decision was made to bypass Epsom in favour of a tilt at the Ribblesdale Stakes – but while she again ran well in defeat, this time she was beaten almost four lengths into third place by the reopposing Warm Heart.

Barry Mahon, racing manager for owner-breeders Juddmonte, is of the opinion there should be more to come from Bluestocking and she could now head for the Curragh on July 22 in a bid for Classic glory.

“I was absolutely delighted with how Bluestocking ran,” he said.

“We saw how green she was in Newbury and Frankie (Dettori) said she was still a bit green the other day – he said it took her a bit of time to get used to the hustle and bustle of having horses around her.

“She then settled into a lovely rhythm and fell asleep under him. He tried to wake her up again coming round the bend and it just took her half a furlong too long to get into top gear. With a few horses coming back on top of her, she just couldn’t get competitive, but you’d love the way she hit the line.”

Considering future plans, Mahon added: “I think if she’s fit and well we’ll definitely consider the Irish Oaks. The fractions suggest they went very slowly at Ascot and I think a strongly-run mile and a half will be more her cup of tea.

“The Curragh would suit her and if we got a little bit of rain between now and then all the better.”

While Bluestocking and St James’s Palace Stakes runner-up Chaldean had to make do with minor honours, Juddmonte did get on the Royal Ascot winner’s board with Coppice in the Sandringham Stakes.

John and Thady Gosden’s filly was supplementing a comfortable victory at Newcastle, having previously failed to fire in the Nell Gwyn at Newmarket, and the success came as no surprise to Mahon.

He said: “It was a great performance. We started the year with high hopes – as Frankie alluded to after she won we thought she was a Guineas filly in the spring, but for obvious reasons she was just slow to come to hand.

“John and Thady went the patient route and it paid off. It was nice to get the winner on the board and she’s definitely an exciting filly for the remainder of the year.

“I don’t really know where she’ll go. The Falmouth would be a big step and if Laurel gets over her little setback in time that’s where she’ll go, all going well.

“For Coppice it would be nice to get black type with her, so we could look at a Listed race or a Group Three with her to get some black type in the bank.”

The Juddmonte team did suffer a couple of notable disappointments at the Royal meeting, with Arrest and Covey both performing below expectations.

Arrest was bidding to bouncing back from a Derby no-show in the King Edward VII Stakes, but finished fifth of sixth, while Covey was a well-beaten favourite in the Jersey.

“We were worried about the ground for Arrest, we took a chance and it didn’t pay off. We’ll freshen him up and bring him back for an autumn campaign when there’s a bit of juice in the ground,” Mahon added.

“I was a little disappointed with Covey, he ran a little too free, Frankie just said he ran with the choke out the whole way.

“I think he’s definitely a better horse than we saw the other day and what came out of it is that on a straight track he just tends to over-race a little bit.

“He can still be a nice horse, but maybe he needs to go around a bend.”