A small but select field looks assured for Wednesday's JWE Telecom plc Dante Stakes at York following today's confirmation stage.
A field of 12 horses stood their ground for the Group Two contest with Aidan O'Brien leaving five horses in the race.
However of the quintet Apollo Victoria is declared at Lingfield tomorrow, Bach and Bashkir are engaged to run at Leopardstown on Sunday, while Ciro is in the Prix Lupin line-up at Longchamp the same day, apparently leaving Royal Kingdom as his most likely representative at this stage.
Godolphin also have a choice of entries with Best Of The Bests, winner of the Solario Stakes for Clive Brittain last season, and Roscius.
Sakhee and Pawn Broker, first and second in the Thresher Classic Trial at Sandown last month, have also been confirmed for the race.
The latter's trainer David Elsworth said today: "The horse is fine and Richard Quinn rides.
"The horse we've got to beat is Sakhee who won at Sandown.
"We might be better-suited by more of a gallop but you've got to respect the way he quickened up and that's the best form but we'll see how we get on."
The £145,000 contest, run over an extended 10 furlongs, is regarded as the leading trial for the Vodafone Derby and was won by subsequent Epsom heroes Erhaab (1994) and Benny The Dip (1997) in recent years.
The 12 acceptors are: Apollo Victoria, Bach, Bashkir, Best Of The Bests, Ciro, Fast Track, Pawn Broker, Roscius, Royal Kingdom, Sakhee, Shaibani and Shamrock City.
