Aidan O'Brien has reshuffled his Qatar Racing British Champions Day strategy, with Gstaad now set to compete over a mile in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, while Constitution River will stay over the 10-furlong distance to tackle the Champion Stakes on Saturday.
Last-Minute U-Turn After £70,000 Supplementary Fee
On Monday, O'Brien had paid £70,000 to supplement Constitution River into the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, admitting "we think we might have been doing the wrong thing" with the colt and Gstaad, who was expected to move up in distance to tackle the Champion Stakes.
However, the Ballydoyle trainer performed a last-minute u-turn, deciding his two star three-year-old colts would keep to their usual distances, while also revealing that Scandinavia, the favourite for the Long Distance Cup, would not be competing at the weekend.
Trainer Explains Reasoning
O'Brien, in an interview with Coolmore.com, explained: "We've made a few changes to the weekend's plans for Saturday. We were going to run Gstaad in the Champion but we've changed it now. We're going to leave him at the mile. We think it might not be fair to him to run in the Champion Stakes first time out (at the trip) against older horses and such a seasoned bunch."
"We think the mile at Ascot will suit him very well. We were very happy with all his runs over a mile and we think the track at Ascot is going to suit him very well. Also we were going to run Hawk Mountain with him, maybe going back in trip might suit him. We're happy with him also." Ryan Moore will partner Gstaad with Colin Keane aboard Hawk Mountain.
Constitution River Stays at 10 Furlongs
O'Brien continued: "In the Champion Stakes we're going to run Constitution River. All of his runs over a mile and a quarter have been very good. We feel and think maybe the last day when he ran at Leopardstown all our horses were a little bit sick and we think that could have been a major contributing factor to his run. He's very well since. He's obviously a very seasoned horse now and he's run against these horses before and beaten a few already."
Gold Cup winner Scandinavia suffered his first defeat of the year in the Prix du Cadran on Arc day and a rematch with his conqueror Caballo De Mer was on the card but has now been ruled out.
Scandinavia Ruled Out of Long Distance Cup
"We're thinking of running two (in the Long Distance Cup). Queenstown, who was third in the Cadran and ran a very good race, and we're going to run Amelia Earhart as well," said O'Brien.
"We're not going to run Scandinavia now. He came out of Arc weekend very well but we just felt with a view to next year and there's a little bit of rain in the forecast, that we would probably leave him for the year and start his preparation early, like we always do, for the Ascot Gold Cup next year and then hopefully go from there."
Constitution River will meet last year's Champion Stakes 1-2-3, Calandagan, Ombudsman and Almaqam, which drew a final field of six on Thursday. Ombudsman's participation will be ground dependent with co-trainer John Gosden telling Mirror Racing, "We will put our trust in it as things stand and then go and have a look at it on Saturday morning. The key factor is any rain that is expected is expected on Friday, so going there on Thursday is rather irrelevant."
