Emperor heads National contenders
O’Brien has farmed the Group One event in recent seasons with six successes in the last 10 years with the likes of King Of Kings, Hawk Wing and George Washington.
Holy Roman Emperor has already proved himself to be of the highest calibre with success in the Phoenix Stakes while Teofilo won the Group Two Futurity Stakes on his last start.
O’Brien has seven other possibles, headed by Eagle Mountain, who chased home Teofilo in the Futurity and was a fast-finishing second in the Champagne Stakes at York last week.
There are three possibles from Britain including the Mick Channon-trained Silca Chiave, Mark Wallace’s Manchurian and Brian Meehan’s Danebury Hill.
Meanwhile Clive Cox is considering a tilt at the Listed Laing O’Rourke Solonaway Stakes, also at the Curragh on Sunday, with his highly-regarded colt Dunelight.
The three-year-old won the International Stakes at Ascot in July before running Spectait to half a length in the totesport Mile.
Those efforts though have seen him rise to a rating of 105 and Cox has limited options with the son of Desert Sun.
“I’m just going through Dunelight’s race carefully now – we are not a definite runner at this stage,” said Cox.
“He’s in good form and he also holds an entry in the Cambridgeshire. Basically we are just covering every option and we will make a decision in the next 48 hours.
“He’s rated 105 now which means he is going to be carrying a lot of weight in handicaps but he is a very progressive individual. He’s quite an exciting prospect.”
Cox also has the smart juvenile Hope ‘N’ Charity entered in the C.L.Weld Park Stakes, a Group Three event for fillies.
“Hope ‘N’ Charity is a Listed winner and I’m sure that she’s capable of taking a Group Three prize.”
