Gleneagles QEII Call To Come Friday

This year’s dual Guineas winner Gleneagles (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), not seen since taking Royal Ascot’s G1 St. James’s Palace S. June 16, remains engaged in Saturday’s G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. on British Champions Day at Ascot, but his status for that mile contest will be decided by trainer Aidan O’Brien after he walks the course Friday evening.

Gleneagles has scratched from three intended runs over the summer due to softer-than-ideal ground conditions, most recently last month’s G1 Irish Champion S. Ballydoyle issued a statement Tuesday that read, “Aidan is going to walk the track at Ascot on Friday evening with a view to running Gleneagles in the Queen Elizabeth II S. on Saturday. If the ground is OK, he will run. If not, permission will be sought from Southwell racecourse to work Gleneagles there before a possible tilt at the [GI] Breeders’ Cup Classic.”

O’Brien has used Southwell to prep previous Classic runners Declaration of War (War Front) and Giant’s Causeway (Storm Cat). The former finished a narrowly beaten third in the Classic two years ago, while Giant’s Causeway was a neck second to Tiznow (Cee’s Tizzy) in 2000.