Withhold in tremendous shape for £1million Sky Bet Ebor at York according to trainer Roger Charlton

Stradivarius - owned and bred by Charlton's friend Bjorn Nielsen - will for a second year in succession claim the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers Million bonus with victory in Friday's Lonsdale Cup at York.

The undisputed king of the Flat staying division has carried all before him since his first bonus-winning season began in May 2018, racking up eight straight wins to the point that he now has potential rivals ducking for cover and seeking alternative engagements.

Withhold is among those not lining up against John Gosden's seemingly immovable object this week, but Charlton admits he was sorely tempted to challenge Stradivarius with his six-year-old, who he is hoping will sooner rather than later develop into a similar kind of unstoppable staying force.

And there's no doubt that Saturday's Sky Bet Ebor - with its freshly-plumped £1million prize pot - provides the Tony Bloom-owned Withhold with the perfect platform from which to leap into the upper echelons of the long-distance category.

"We have some great staying horses in this country and for Stradivarius to achieve what he's achieved, including three Goodwood Cups, is fantastic," Charlton said.

"I watched the Goodwood race with interest thinking it (Lonsdale Cup) could be a plan B as he'd have had to give us 3lb but I don't see any cracks in his performance at all, he's very resolute and he only does enough. Frankie is brilliant on him and he's riding with a huge amount of confidence.

"But having said that Timeform rated our performance at Newbury around 120 and Stradivarius is running to 126-127, and he'd have to have given us 3lb. Nobody's suggesting we would have beaten him, and from what I saw it would have been tough, but it would have been a possibility.

"I suspect after the Ebor - win, lose or finish last - he'll be running in Cup races in the future."

The Doncaster Cup, Prix du Cadran and British Champions Long Distance Cup all potentially appear to be on the radar later in the campaign, while Charlton wasn't willing to completely rule out a return to Australia for another tilt at the Melbourne Cup.

It was Down Under that Withhold suffered his only major setback since joining the Charlton team - an otherwise spotless copybook blotted by him breaking a blood vessel in his prep race, the Geelong Cup, and forcing connections to abort mission.

"I suspect the owner would quite like to try again," said Charlton. "But it's very much one race at a time with a horse like Withhold."

It's been a rebuilding process since his return to the UK but Charlton's typically patient approach appeared to have paid off when the horse made a winning start to his campaign in Newbury's Marsh Cup on July 20.

"He's needed time," said the trainer. "We got him back around a month after the race (Geelong Cup) and he was automatically turned out. He was in at night but turned out for 12 hours a day getting complete rest. He came back in here in April and it was a gradual building-up process trying to eliminate any stress or any rush.

"He lives in the paddock when the weather's good and we were able to constantly monitor his lungs and everything.

"He was terrific (at Newbury). We were a little bit concerned about the holding ground as all the stats say that Champs Elysees like fast ground.

"So we were wondering if soft ground was against him as he'd been so good on faster ground. Plus there was a really strong headwind that day. So carrying 9-10 all the way up that home straight in sticky ground, I thought he would improve for the race and be fourth or fifth, not necessarily win."

So improvement is expected from a fitness perspective, but does the drop in distance from an extended two miles to a fast, one and three-quarters on the Knavesmire hold any concerns?

"There's a big fear there. Any horse that can stay the Cesarewitch distance, for example, galloping all the way and virtually making all the running, stays well.

"I think he has got a good cruising speed, watching the race at Newbury I thought it looked like he was going slowly in front and lobbing along but you look at the others and they were going quite normally. I think that's just his style, he's a huge horse and has a long stride.

"The important thing with any class horse is to have a turn of foot. I think in the Northumberland Plate he did turn on the pace and quicken away. And to a certain extent at Newbury as well.

"The Ebor is just short of a mile and six and it won't be easy, two or three more furlongs would be more helpful.

"If you look at it positively, he's bred to improve and he's from a good staying family with a lot of quality in it. So being his size and being by Champs Elysees he could still be improving.

"Can we squeeze a few more pounds? Yep, it's possible. But quite a few more of the others will do too."

And what about that shot at Stradivarius?

"Of course, having seen Stradivarius being broken in as a young horse I'd love to. I'm hoping he will win the million pound bonus again and after that we'll have a crack at him at some stage."

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