Agent in French bid
ACCIDENTAL AGENT will run in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on August 8.
A shock 33-1 winner of the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, the four-year-old will now attempt to beat the best in Europe away from home.
Trainer Eve Johnson Houghton had considered dropping her stable star in class for the Summer Mile at Ascot this weekend, but that plan has been shelved.
A return to Ascot for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Champions Day remains his main long-term objective.
“We’re going to go straight to the Jacques le Marois now,” said Johnson Houghton.
“He’s not really ground dependent so that’s got nothing to do with it. I just thought I’d give him a little bit more time.
“If he’d run this weekend it would have been just over three weeks (since Royal Ascot). Everything has been fine since the Queen Anne.”
Royal Ascot flop Vintage Brut will aim to get his career back on track in the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood.
The Tim Easterby-trained two-yearold had won the National Stakes at Sandown and was sent off favourite for the Norfolk Stakes at the royal meeting.
But the youngster lost his unbeaten record when beaten out of sight in the race behind Shang Shang Shang.
He was, however, found not be 100 per cent when he returned to the North Yorkshire stable.
“He was a bit light and dehydrated when he came back,” said Easterby. “But he’s in good form so we’ll go to Goodwood for the Molecomb, all being well.”