Lilt and More Thunder effectively booked their tickets for British Champions Day at Ascot next month with pleasing weekend efforts at the Curragh and Doncaster respectively.
The lightly-raced filly Lilt was having her first outing since finishing sixth in the Prix de Diane and shaped well in second behind Thundering On in Sunday's Group 2 Blanford Stakes.
She is now set to tackle a mile and a half for the first time in the Group 1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes.
Trainer William Haggas said on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast: "We're definitely going up in trip, I think. So I think there's every chance she'll go to Ascot and take on Kalpana.
"I don't know whether it's greenness or whether she's got into a bit of a habit where she takes a bit of time to get going, but I'm going to forgive her as she was off a long time and she stayed on well.
"The winner was deeply impressive but I think once she (Lilt) gets going over a mile and a half, and gets a bit more cut in the ground, I think she'll be quite effective. I think that's a logical target."
Joining Lilt at Ascot on Saturday October 17 is likely to be stablemate More Thunder, who got back to winning ways for the first time this year in the Group 2 Betfred Park Stakes.
He's bound for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Sponsored By Qatar Racing) and Haggas said: "I was chuffed to bits with him because it was Tom's (Marquand) call to bring him back in distance and he wasn't in the Park Stakes (initial entries) but Tom wanted to bring him back and felt he didn't get home at Deauville.
"And he felt at Ascot he didn't get home in the Queen Anne, so we brought him back to seven. It looked a nice gallop and he picked them off well. Seven is probably the best for him but I think more importantly Tom feels the first half (of a race) you've just got to leave him alone and he goes when he's ready.
"Not that he's ungenuine, but at Deauville particularly we were much handier than he usually races and he didn't finish off, so he's going to go to Ascot for the Group 1 mile race and he'll be ridden cold. Hopefully he'll come home well, I think it's more the way he's ridden rather than the actual distance.
"We're not going to go back to France, the owner's not very keen on that, so it's all systems go to Ascot."
One Haggas horse very much with a trip across the Channel on his agenda is Sky Bet Great Voltigeur winner Maltese Cross, who is currently second-favourite behind title-holder Daryz for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
"We're very happy with him at this stage," said Haggas. "Obviously the form got let down but a lot of horses that ran at York, in various races, came back in Ireland or Doncaster last weekend and didn't really show up.
"He had a race in the Voltigeur and he'll hopefully stay in good shape and get a nice, low draw and we can enjoy it."
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