Aidan O'Brien aims to close in on a landmark Group One mark today with Gale Force Ten leading the Irish assault on Newmarket's July Cup and Battle Of Marengo aiming for a top-flight success in this evening's Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp.

Victory for both would leave their trainer one shy of a remarkable 200 Group One victories in Europe, an outstanding achievement for O’Brien who first struck at the top level in 1996. Ireland’s champion trainer hit the 200 mark for top-class wins worldwide when Was landed last year’s Oaks. Three of those came in the July Cup and O’Brien yesterday made comparisons to his 2001 winner Mozart who landed Royal Ascot’s Jersey Stakes before taking a first step to champion-sprinter status in the July Cup.

"This horse (Gale Force Ten) is a bit in the Mozart mould. He was second in an Irish Guineas too, won the Jersey, and then came back to the July Cup, so it will be interesting," O'Brien said. Ryan Moore takes the ride.

O'Brien is out-numbered though by Co Meath-based Eddie Lynam whose star speedster Sole Power is joined by Slade Power in an international contest that also sees runners from the Middle-East, Australia, USA and South Africa.

Johnny Murtagh believes Sole Power could relish a step up to six furlongs, a distance the King's Stand winner has never won at before, and Lynam is hopeful that will be the case. "Any time he's run over six, he hasn't got five of it. He's never really settle and finished," he said yesterday.

“The way he hit the line in the Kings Stand you’d have said he would have gone another 100 yards no problem.”