Ireland could be represented by Dance Design or Oscar Schindler in next month's Japan Cup for which final invitations will be announced on October 30th. Benny The Dip heads the seven British preliminary nominations announced yesterday. The Vodafone Derby winner is the only three-year-old from Britain in the field for the 327 million yen contest at Tokyo on November 23rd.

Other British nominations include Breeders' Cup and Coral-Eclipse Stakes winner Pilsudski, whose trainer Michael Stoute landed the mile and half event with Singspiel last year.

Also in the race are King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes winner Swain and Luso, who enjoyed Far Eastern success in the Hong Kong International Vase last year.

The seven French nominations include French Derby third Astarabad and Prix Foy victor Yokohama, while the five possible representatives for Germany, successful with Lando two years ago, include Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe third Borgia.

Next Sunday's big races in France may escape industrial action by stable staff. Sunday's Grand Criterium card at Longchamp was badly hit by the dispute with trainers, with only two races eventually staged.

But more talks are due between both parties at the end of the month and it was thought yesterday that nothing further is likely to happen until then, although there had been no indication of problems before yesterday's action either.

The big races at Longchamp this Sunday are the Group One Prix de la Foret and the Group Two Prix du Conseil de Paris.

Southwell will receive five-year interest-free loan of £100,000 from the Horse Race Betting Levy Board towards the £169,600 cost of refurbishing its all-weather track.

The work, currently in progress, involves extensive removal of the surface and replacing it with new Fibresand.