Aidan O'Brien's Constitution River will run in Saturday's Champion Stakes, with Gstaad sticking at a mile for the QEII.
In the lead-up to British Champions Day this weekend, the master of Ballydoyle had strongly suggested that French Derby and Coral-Eclipse hero Constitution River could drop back to a mile, with stablemate Gstaad the one to go up in trip for a shot at the Champion.
However, on a video posted to the Coolmore website, the trainer revealed final running plans while also ruling Scandinavia out of Saturday's Long Distance Cup.
He said: "We've made a few changes to the weekend's plans for Saturday.
"We were going to run Gstaad in the Champion but we've changed it now. We're going to leave him at the mile. We think it might not be fair to him to run in the Champion Stakes first time out [at the trip] against older, more seasoned horses.
"In the Champion Stakes, we're going to run Constitution River; all of his runs over a mile and a quarter have been very good. We feel and think the last day when he ran at Leopardstown all our horses were a little bit sick and we think that could have been a major contributing factor to his run. He's very well since. He's obviously a very seasoned horse now."
Calandagan still heads the market for the Champion Stakes, just ahead of Ombudsman, with Constitution River available around 11/2.
In regards to the Long Distance Cup, he added: "We're thinking of running two. Queenstown, who was third in the Cadran and ran a very good race, and we're going to run Amelia Earhart as well.
"We're not going to run Scandinavia now. He came out of Arc weekend very well but we just felt with a view to next year and there's a little bit of rain in the forecast that we would probably leave him for the year and start his preparation early, like we always do, for the Ascot Gold Cup next year."
More on British Champions Day 2026
- Podcast team weight up Constitution River’s QEII claims
- David Ord on why William Haggas is backing the underdog
- Ben Linfoot on the big questions heading into Ascot
- Andrew Asquith tackles Champions Day in Weekend View
- Champion Stakes Horse-by-Horse Guide and Verdict
- What makes Billy Loughnane stand out from the rest?
- Matt Brocklebank reveals his Champions Day shortlist
- William Haggas on his British Champions Day team
- Andrew Balding on his British Champions Day team
- Richard Brown on Wathnan's Ascot team
- Nemone Routh on the Aga Khan Stud's Ascot team
- Tom Fanshawe on Kind Of Blue's Champion Sprint claims
