Eagle set to wait for Leopardstown Free Eagle is increasingly likely to sidestep next week's Juddmonte International and wait for the Qipco Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown. Dermot Weld's four-year-old fought off The Grey Gatsby to make a winning start to his campaign in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot and would add further intrigue to next Wednesday's Group One feature if he were to line up alongside unbeaten Derby hero Golden Horn and dual 2000 Guineas winner Gleneagles. However, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October remains the primary objective for Free Eagle and connections are minded to give him just one run ahead of his trip to Paris in the Irish Champion Stakes on September 12. Fiona Craig, breeding advisor for owners Moyglare Stud, said: "I think York is probably looking less likely. I'm not sure it's settled in stone, but he'll probably go straight to Leopardstown. "He was very tired after he came home from Ascot. As everyone knows it was a bit of a rush to get him there anyway and he ran his heart out on the day. "He's in good form now again now, though. He worked on the racecourse at the Curragh on Monday morning as they'd had a bit of rain and it was beautiful ground. "We'd like to get to the Arc and we just think to run at York and then Leopardstown and then go to Longchamp would be a fair bit of racing in a short space of time. "I think he'll probably stay in the York race at the five-day stage, just in case it cuts up and the likes of Golden Horn and Gleneagles come out, but at the moment it looks like we'll wait for the autumn."
