Cracksman is now set to be aimed at the Champion Stakes at Ascot by trainer John Gosden after owner Anthony Oppenheimer confirmed his son of Frankel would not be making the trip across the Channel.

Owner Anthony Oppenheimer said: “I think it had a lot to do with Chantilly itself. A lot depends on the size of the field.

“If it was at Longchamp, where the track is wider and the bends are not as tight, it may have been an easier decision. The horse is well, which is the main thing.

“He is in the Champion Stakes, which personally I would say is equally unlikely as the Arc, but that is still four weeks away.

“I haven’t been down to Newmarket for a little while, but if the horse was bouncing out of his skin and let us say the ground came up heavy to soft and it blunted the speed of some of those mile-and-a-quarter horses, there could be some merit in it.

“He is a fresh horse, but I would say the Champion Stakes is a backstop as we’ve always said we wanted to run him in a four-year-old and we want him to be fresh for that.”