Rossini, Aidan O'Brien's unbeaten Anglesey Stakes winner, is set to bypass Goodwood and run instead in Saturday's Prix Robert Papin at Maisons Laffitte.
It had been reported in some areas that Rossini would appear in the Richmond Stakes next week, but O'Brien was yesterday leaning towards a French test for the Miswaki colt.
"He is in both races but he is more likely to go to France," said O'Brien, who supplied two of the nine horses left in yesterday's acceptance stage for the Group Two event over an extended five furlongs. The other Ballydoyle entry, Finnan, is unlikely to take up the option.
Just one of the nine is home trained, with five British trained horses set to travel. They include the Coventry and July Stakes runner-up Sir Nicholas, the Norfolk Stakes runner-up Victory Day and Peter Chapple Hyam's Queen Mary winner Shining Hour.
O'Brien's Wexford winner Playing Hours is also a possible for the Group Two Prix Maurice de Nieuil, although the Patrick Biancone-owned colt could remain in France afterwards to continue his career.
O'Brien also reported that his Irish Derby third Tchaikovsky, who had been touted as a King George runner, has been sold to Middle East interests and has run his last race for Ballydoyle.
The Irish Guineas winner Saffron Waldon remains a possible runner in Friday evening's Meld Stakes at the Curragh, but a definite contender will be Apparatchik, who will bid to give John Oxx a fifth win in the race this decade.
This evening's racing is at Naas, where a quick reappearance by Individual looks set to confirm the red hot form of Jim Bolger's string.
Individual, already a Leopardstown winner, ran in a similar race to this evening's Clane Handicap at the Co Dublin track on Saturday when beaten a head by Silvian Bliss.
Turning into the straight on Saturday, the pace-setting Individual looked likely to be swamped by Gossie Madera, but she showed admirable resolution to fight back and it was only in the last strides that she gave way.
The extra furlong of this race should suit that courage and stamina, and Individual is preferred to Anna Elise, who only gave way close home to Sea Leopard in a four-horse race at Killarney last week. Racing opens with an apparent hotpot in the apprentice race. Dermot Weld's Tipperary winner La Serina was a close fifth to Castle Quest in the Listed Brownstown Stakes last time out, and that kind of form looks well ahead of anything else in the race.
Another in-form trainer is Pat Hughes, and he presents a quandry for punters by running both Tigullio and Gift Token in the handicap hurdle.
Charlie Swan takes the mount on Gift Token, who won a mares maiden hurdle at Down Royal last week, but it was hard not to be impresed by Tigullio's one length defeat of Nordic Isle in a flat handicap at Tipperary last month.
The infuriating Moonis, clearly talented but still a maiden, reverts to five furlongs to finally try to break his duck, but maybe this too will be doomed to failure with the presence of the consistent Electrum in the race, while the well-bred Giant's Causeway, by Storm Cat out of Mariah's Storm, should be difficult to beat in the juvenile maiden.
