Donnacha O'Brien is eyeing a potential trip to Australia later in the year for Saturday's Coral-Eclipse runner-up A Boy Named Susie.
Three-year-old A Boy Named Susie went into the Group 1 contest at Sandown following highly respectable efforts behind Christmas Day in the Ballysax Stakes and Constitution River in the Prix du Jockey Club, and O'Brien is keen to avoid bumping into the latter again having finished a respectable distance (three lengths on this occasion) adrift of his father Aidan's latest Classic-winning colt.
The Cox Plate is now on the radar for A Boy Named Susie, with a possible step up to a mile and a half unlikely to be in the offing on the back of Saturday's performance.
The trainer, who considers Constitution River a "proper top-notcher", was proud of his horse's effort and said on Monday's Nick Luck Daily Podcast: "That's how we'd hoped he would run, if we didn't expect him to run that well, we wouldn't have shown up there. But he did everything right, Oisin (Murphy) gave him a lovely ride and the race went perfectly to the plan.
"He showed up big-time and he ran very well, he probably just bumped into a proper top-notcher. We were not displeased by any means.
"I think the one thing we came away with is that we don't really think he's a mile and a half horse. Having watched the race after a few times, you could even consider dropping back to a mile with him, he was the last one off the bridle and he travelled very strong throughout. So, I don't think we'll be going up to 12 (furlongs) at any stage.
"We're definitely looking at the Cox Plate as a potential target and he could run somewhere in between, but he has plenty of options, we could go a lot of places.
"It (Cox Plate) is a big-money race, it's very prestigious and, realistically, you're probably not going to run into a Constitution River. We'd like to win a big one with him and it doesn't get much bigger than that. It's at Flemington this year which will suit him very well, it's 10 furlongs, should be right up the street. I think he's the right kind of horse for it, so why not have a go?"
O'Brien went one better later on Saturday as Kensington Lane won the Belmont Oaks Stakes at Saratoga in ready fashion.
The three-year-old daughter of Starspangledbanner had finished only fifth to Precise in the Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh in May but bounced straight back to winning ways in the hands of Joel Rosario.
O'Brien said: "She was very impressive. We always thought that American racing would suit her big-time; she's got a lot of tactical pace for a European horse and she relaxes in front. Joel gave her a beautiful ride, he took a nice sit on her and she sprinted away on ground that she loves.
"She's always been a high-class filly, probably just a few pounds behind those top-class European fillies, but we always thought the US would suit her and it stepped her up."
In terms of possible future plans, he added: "It's a bit up in the air the minute, she has to stay in America for a week and we're not sure if she's coming back here or staying over there with someone else. I'd love to get her back, but at the same time I understand the owners potentially wanting to keep her over there, so we'll see."
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