Toronado set for York on Wednesday Richard Hannon has declared Toronado to take on five rivals in Wednesday's Juddmonte International Stakes at York. Jockey Richard Hughes was keen for the colt to try a mile and a quarter for the first time, and trainer Hannon and owner Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad Al Thani are in agreement to run too. Toronado will be having a break from tackling his sparring partner Dawn Approach, who beat him in both the 2000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes at Ascot, but was floored by a confident ride from Hughes in the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. An update on www.richardhannonracing.co.uk said: "It's all systems go for Toronado. The plan is to run as long as there is not heavy rain." Al Kazeem heads the quintet due to face Toronado for the Group One prize after the final declarations were published. Roger Charlton's five-year-old has risen right to the top of the European pecking order this season after his victories in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, Prince of Wales's Stakes and Coral-Eclipse. The trainer said today: "I've been delighted with Al Kazeem. He looks great and his work has been great. "This is a different challenge for him - he is taking on the best miler in Europe (Toronado) - on a new track at York. "He is also bidding to become the first horse to win the Prince of Wales's Stakes, Eclipse and Juddmonte International in the same season, it's not going to be easy but he owes us nothing. "I would be happier if the ground was good, good to soft in places rather than good, good to firm but he has won on fast ground three times this season - he handles it but I feel he is a better horse on softer ground." Aside from Toronado, there are two other three-year-olds in the line-up in Irish Derby winner Trading Leather and Royal Ascot scorer Hillstar. The pair have already met, with Trading Leather three-quarters of a length ahead when they were a respective second and third in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Declaration Of War, who has been kept busy and was most recently fourth in the Prix Jacques Le Marois, is Aidan O'Brien's only representative while James Toller's Rewarded completes the sextet.
