Aidan O'Brien will wait until tomorrow morning to decide if Second Empire runs at the Curragh on Saturday or travels to France for Sunday's Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville.
The supplementary fee of £3,750 paid out to put the Epsom Derby failure in the Ridgewood Pearl Desmond Stakes was widely regarded as confirmation that Second Empire would reappear at the Curragh. However, O'Brien was at pains yesterday to emphasise that the French option is far from closed.
"He's in that race, the Desmond Stakes and the Royal Whip and we will wait and see which he goes for. We supplemented Second Empire for the Desmond so that we could keep all our options open. Travelling Second Empire to France isn't a problem as he won there twice last season," O'Brien said.
Fulke Johnson-Houghton confirmed he will send Centre Stalls for the Desmond Stakes, while Mark Johnston's Princely Heir has a choice of the Curragh's Group Three contest or tomorrow's Hungerford Stakes at Newbury.
O'Brien will also get closer tomorrow to deciding his plans for next week's Ebor meeting at York.
Currently, Saratoga Springs is an intended runner in Tuesday's Juddmonte International and Shahtoush is likely to take up the option of the Yorkshire Oaks.
"Hopefully, both will run and we have a number of two-year-olds entered in the Acomb Stakes (won by Saratoga Springs in 1997) as well," O'Brien added.
