The Juddmonte team are keen to see how Item performs in this weekend’s Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes before considering running plans for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The late Khalid Abdullah enjoyed six winners of Europe’s premier middle-distance contest — Rainbow Quest (1985), Dancing Brave (1986), Rail Link (2006), Workforce (2010) and Enable twice (2017 and 2018) — before his death five years ago, while his colours were also carried to success by Bluestocking in 2024.

Item is one of eight in the Leopardstown highlight this weekend, with Constitution River, Almaqam, Wimbledon Hawkeye and A Boy Named Susie among the opposition.

This year the operation appear to have a strong hand in the Arc, with the Andrew Balding-trained pair of Juddmonte International hero Item and King George and Yorkshire Oaks heroine Kalpana prominent in ante-post lists.

It appears unlikely both horses will line up at ParisLongchamp on the first Sunday in October, but Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon does not expect any firm plans to be made until closer to the event.

“We won’t be making any plans until we get this weekend out of the way and see what happens,” he said.

“We’re lucky enough to have three or four high-class horses who can run in the Arc and the Champion Stakes and things like that, so we’ll work all that out closer to the time.

“We just have to sit tight until after the weekend, see how they come out of it and see what the owners want to do.

“You’ve Arc weekend and Ascot and the Breeders’ Cup as well, so there’s three big meetings very close together and whether we aim at one or two of them or try to spread them around all three, all those things will be worked out, but it will take a couple of weeks before we get there.”

Juddmonte have an intriguing third possible Arc contender in Francis-Henri Graffard’s Sunly, which might have won the Prix Vermeille over the course and distance last weekend but for missing the start.

Whether she lines up in the big one at ParisLongchamp or heads elsewhere, Mahon hopes she will claim a top-level prize before the year is out.

Reflecting on her performance in the Vermeille, he added: “I didn’t really see what happened live, it was only when you go back and watch the replay — I thought Colin [Keane] was lucky not to come off her at the start as she slipped and went down and got a side-swipe from the horse in the stall beside her.

“All things considered, she ran a huge race. You would have to say on the day she was a slightly unlucky loser, but she still finished third in a Group One, which was a good result for her, and hopefully we can get a Group One with her before the season’s out.

“Whether that is the Arc or something else on Arc weekend or Ascot weekend, we’ll see, but she’s a high-class filly.”

Juddmonte also have strong claims in Leopardstown’s Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron Stakes with Andrew Balding’s Blue Bolt, which bids for a Group One hat-trick and a fifth win of an impressive season.

Last year’s winner Fallen Angel and the Aidan O’Brien-trained duo of Precise and True Love form the stiffest opposition.

The other Group One on the card is the HKJC World Pool Golden Fleece Stakes which sees Charlie Appleby’s Quest For Stars aim to stretch his unbeaten run to four.