MICHAEL Stoute is planning to run two of his Royal Ascot winners at next week's July Festival at Newmarket.
Integral, an impressive winner of the Duke of Cambridge Stakes in Berkshire, will return to Group One level in the Falmouth Stakes on July 11, while convincing Duke of Edinburgh Stakes scorer Arab Spring is set to test the water at Pattern level for the first time in the Princess of Wales's boylesports.com Stakes a day earlier.
Stoute said: "We are going to run Integral in the Falmouth. She ran in the Sun Chariot last year and only got beaten a length by Sky Lantern, so she has been in that (Group One) arena before. "I was impressed with her at Ascot, so hopefully she will be in the lineup for the Falmouth."
Arab Spring, a lightly-raced four-year-old by Monsun, has been patiently brought along in classic Stoute style.
He made just one appearance as a three-year-old, filling the runner-up spot at Newmarket, and made a winning return at Kempton at the end of March.
Since then, Arab Spring has won handicaps at Newbury, York and Royal Ascot and progression to a Group-class performer is likely. Stoute said: "We hope to run him in the Princess of Wales's and we will see how we get on. He is entitled to go into a Stakes race now. He has been very progressive."
* MICK Halford is charting a possible path to the Palmerstown House Estate Irish St Leger with his two smart stayers Certerach and Dabadiyan.
Both horses had their first runs since the Dubai Gold Cup at the end of March in the Curragh Cup at the weekend.
Certerach, who won in Dubai, finished second to Ernest Hemingway with Dabadiyan fourth. "I was happy with both of them," said Halford. "Both are in the Irish Leger and at this stage it's a feasible option for the pair of them. "Before then Dabadiyan will probably go to Roscommon on Monday for the Lenebane Stakes and I think Certerach will go to Leopardstown on July 17 for the Challenge Stakes. "Jamie (Spencer) seems to suit Certerach, he likes being dropped out and ridden on a long rein."
* TOM Hogan hopes Gordon Lord Byron will be fit enough to return to action in the Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock in September.
Second and first in the last two renewals of the Merseyside Group One, the six-year-old has created a niche for himself as a true globetrotting sprinter.
Only eighth in the Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot last month, he returned with a pulled muscle. "He tweaked a muscle, he had a very sore sacroiliac joint around his hamstring," said Hogan. "I think he did it jumping from the stalls. He was running free, which when older horses do that you know there's something wrong. "I knew after a furlong-and-a half he wouldn't win. "We've had all the best services out to see him, physio, vets, and he's recovering well. "Hopefully we'll have him back in September for the Haydock Sprint Cup again, that seems to be his race. "We'll consider all invitations again, this time we might go the other way around the world."