O'Brien sets out stall for Doncaster

Hemingway looks set to put his unbeaten record on the line in Saturday's Group One Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster.

Hemingway looks set to put his unbeaten record on the line in Saturday's Group One Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster.

The colt's trainer Aidan O'Brien has a remarkable 12 of the 20 remaining entries left in the £175,000 mile race, including the National Stakes winner Beckett, but Hemingway looks likely to be the main Ballydoyle hope.

"At the moment it looks like Hemingway will run and it's possible one or two others might go as well," O'Brien said yesterday.

Hemingway, a half brother to the juvenile Group One scorer Second Empire, has won his two starts to date. He won his maiden at the Galway festival before landing the Acomb Stakes at York's Ebor meeting.

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The back-up to the Spectrum colt could consist of the Grand Criterium runner-up Kings County, who only gave best to Okawango in France last time, and the National Stakes flop Darwin.

However, the Ballydoyle picture will become clearer later in the week for a race which has been good to O'Brien in recent years. He has won Britain's last Group One race of the season with Saratoga Springs, in 1997, and last year with Aristotle.

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor is the racing correspondent of The Irish Times. He also writes the Tipping Point column