Donnacha O’Brien has identified the Cox Plate in Australia as a long-term target for Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse runner-up A Boy Named Susie.

The Starspangledbanner colt has spent much of his career so far chasing home Ballydoyle stars and did so again at Sandown, finishing best of the rest behind impressive winner Constitution River.

A Boy Named Susie has now been behind Aidan O’Brien’s ace three-year-old three times and has also been placed behind his Derby-winning stablemate Christmas Day and Irish Derby hero Benvenuto Cellini, so it is no surprise O’Brien junior is looking to cast his net a little further in pursuit of a Group 1 victory.

Speaking on Nick Luck’s Daily Podcast, the trainer said of his Sandown performance: “That’s how we hoped he would run. If we didn’t expect him to run that well we wouldn’t have showed up there, but he did everything right and Oisin (Murphy) gave him a lovely ride.

“He probably bumped into a proper top-notcher, but we were not disgraced by any means.

“The one thing we came away with was that we don’t really think he’s a mile-and-a-half horse and having watched the race a few times you could even consider dropping back to a mile with him. He was the last one off the bridle, he travelled very strong throughout, so I don’t think we’ll be going up to 12 (furlongs) at any stage.

Potential target

“We’re definitely looking at the Cox Plate as a potential target and he could run somewhere in between. It’s is a big-money race and it’s very prestigious and realistically we’re probably not going to run into a Constitution River. We’d like to win a big one with him and it doesn’t get much bigger than that.

“It’s at Flemington this year, which will suit him very well. 10 furlongs should be right up his street and I think he’s the right sort of horse, so why not have a go?”

A few hours after A Boy Named Susie’s fine effort in defeat, O’Brien enjoyed a Grade 1 victory in America, with Kensington Lane dominating from the front in the Belmont Oaks.

The County Tipperary handler revealed the filly may have run her last race for the stable, with a long-term stay Stateside under consideration.

He added: “She was very impressive. We always thought American racing would suit her big time as she’s got a lot of tactical pace for a European horse, she relaxes in front and Joel (Rosario) gave her a beautiful ride. He took a nice sit on her and she sprinted away on ground that she loves.

“She’s always been a high-class filly, just probably a few pounds below those top European fillies. Things are a little bit up in the air at the minute as she has to stay in America for a week and we’re not sure if she’s coming back here or staying over there with someone else.

“Obviously I’d love to get her back, but at the same time I understands the owners potentially want to keep her over there, so we’ll see.”