Sakhee, officially rated the best horse in the world last year, could start his European campaign in the Coral Eurobet Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in July, it was revealed today.
Godolphin's five-year-old, a wide-margin winner of the Juddmonte International Stakes and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on turf last season, was a disappointing third in the Dubai World Cup on dirt on his reappearance at Nad Al Sheba in March.
Connections had been considering a possible tilt at the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh a week tomorrow but that plan has now been shelved.
"We are going to take our time with him because all of the big contests for him really come up in the second half of the season so we are not squeezing him and trying to get him on the track," Godolphin's racing manager Simon Crisford told BBC Radiothis morning.
"I would say we are going to look at the Eclipse, that type of thing, as a starting point in Europe and stick to a mile and a quarter for the big championship events in the autumn."