IRELAND’s best active racehorse on Timeform ratings (jointly, with Free Eagle) Gleneagles stayed in his stable but still arguably managed to have his reputation enhanced in absentia by the win of Territories - whom he had beaten readily in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket - in the Prix Jean Prat at Chantilly.

A somewhat overly-enthusiastic pace set by Aktabantay did for those near the front, but Territories and Dutch Connection still deserve plenty of credit in coming from behind to draw well clear of their rivals.

A provisional timefigure of 122 for Territories underlines that Gleneagles could surely rate into the high-120s given the chance, though the same could also be said of Solow, the horse likely to be his main rival in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood at the end of the month.

This has all the makings of another epic match-up, and again it could come down to tactics. Solow has been at his most impressive in strongly-run races at a mile or a bit further while Gleneagles looks to have the superior turn of foot: the latter’s manually-timed closing sectional at Royal Ascot was faster than Solow’s by about a length per furlong.