Strong Ballydoyle team for Arlington

A powerful team of eight left Ballydoyle bound for Arlington Park, Chicago and the Breeders’ Cup.

And they included the record-breaking Rock Of Gibraltar, with trainer Aidan O’Brien confirming a decision on his participation in either the Mile or Classic will not be made until the last moment.

Joining the Alex Ferguson-owned colt on the flight to America, which left Shannon airport were Hawk Wing, High Chaparral, and Landseer, along with the two-year-olds Hold That Tiger, Van Nistelrooy, Tomahawk and Marino Marini, who is first reserve for the Juvenile event.

Expanding on running plans, O’Brien said: “The obvious ones are High Chaparral in the Turf, Hawk Wing in the Classic and Landseer in the Mile.

“We’re not going to make up our minds on Rock Of Gibraltar until we have to. We want to see how all the horses travel.

“I want to monitor Hawk Wing to see if he’s okay for the Classic, and if he is then he would run. But if he wasn’t okay then Rock Of Gibraltar could go in the Classic instead.

“Landseer is only in the Mile so he runs, barring he doesn’t take the trip well.

“He could fall by the wayside and we could have Rock in the Mile but it’s quite possible we could end up running Rock Of Gibraltar and Landseer in the Mile.

“But we don’t have to make those decisions until we have to, for the reason I want to monitor the horses, see how they take it.”