Eagle Top is not a certain starter in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot with trainer John Gosden monitoring the weather.
The three-year-old was a brilliant winner of the King Edward VII Stakes at the Royal meeting last month and was a late entry for Saturday’s Group One showpiece.
However, Gosden was hoping for rain and with the chances of any falling diminishing, he admitted it was not certain Eagle Top would take his chance.
“At the five-day stage there was talk of thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday, but now it looks like the rain is much more likely on Sunday,” Gosden told At The Races.
“He’s a very nice horse, but I didn’t really want to run him twice on too fast a ground.”
Eagle Top is one of three three-year-olds declared by the master of Clarehaven Stables, with Epsom Oaks winner Taghrooda and Derby third Romsdal both set to tackle their elders for the first time.
Mukhadram won the Coral-Eclipse for William Haggas earlier in the month and steps up to a mile and a half (2400m) for the first time.
The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Telescope earned a step up to Group One level with a brilliant display in the Hardwicke Stakes over the King George course and distance.
There is a strong presence from Ireland with Aidan O’Brien’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes runner-up Magician joined by the Jim Bolger-trained pair of Leitir Mor and Trading Leather.
Andre Fabre’s French challenger Flintshire completes the nine-strong line-up.
