O’Brien keen on Champion double

Aidan O’Brien admits he would “love” Australia to tackle next month’s Qipco Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.

The dual Derby winner successfully dropped back to 10 furlongs to land the Juddmonte International at York on Wednesday, despite his trainer harbouring some concerns that the Galileo colt was not quite on top form for his Knavesmire outing.

O’Brien would now like his Classic hero to feature on Irish Champions weekend, which encompasses cards at Leopardstown on September 13 and the Curragh a day later

He said: “(It) was a relief. I was afraid as he had done so well and really he was only ready for a piece of work. York being York and it being such a big race we took a chance. He’d have either gone there or done a piece of work.

“I trained him hard for the Guineas and the two Derbys and when he got his break there wasn’t much change in the first three weeks. The more we trained him when he came back the heavier he got and I’d imagine the run will leave him right.

“I’ll speak to the lads but hopefully he will go to Leopardstown. I’d love him to go there and get him back to Ireland.”