BOOKMAKERS AWAIT THE DAWN

Aidan O'Brien has won two of the last three runnings of the Juddmonte International Stakes - and bookmakers are clearly anticipating Await The Dawn extending his fine record in the 10-furlong showpiece.

O'Brien's son Joseph is given the opportunity to claim his first British Group One on clear stable first choice Await The Dawn, who is set to go off at close to even money in the betting.

The junior O'Brien has taken advantage of the injury to Ryan Moore and the lack of a stable jockey at Ballydoyle and his father picked him for Await The Dawn, who is lightly raced and has looked a star in the making as a four-year-old in the Huxley Stakes at Chester and the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The teenager rode his first Classic on Roderic O'Connor in the Irish 2000 Guineas, but that one will be partnered by Colm O'Donoghue, and is on a retrieval mission after the French and Irish Derby.

Windsor Palace and Seamie Heffernan are set for pacemaking duties.

"I haven't ridden him in a race but I know him well at home," Joseph O'Brien said of Await The Dawn.

"He's a lovely, big horse and you'd say he was very uncomplicated.

"His form looks good from Ascot, so hopefully he will run well."

Khalid Abdullah yearns to win the race he sponsors and has encouraged trainer Sir Henry Cecil to field both Midday and Twice Over, who will give O'Brien a stiff challenge.

He almost won it with Twice Over last year before he was pipped to the post by O'Brien's Rip Van Winkle and his three-time Group One winner quelled a dip in his form this season by striking in the York Stakes over course and distance last month.

Cecil's stable jockey Tom Queally, however, has opted to ride the outstanding mare Midday after she claimed the Nassau Stakes for the third year in a row.

"The race is fraught with great possibilities and great interest for us all," the owner's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe told Racing UK.

"Prince Khalid has supported the race and has been a fantastic supporter of York.

"This is a race everyone connected with Juddmonte would dearly like to win, not least of all the boss, and he is sending his two currently most suitable and ready horses to go.

"I think Tom would have preferred not to have made the decision (which horse to ride), but the way Midday came back at Goodwood was very pleasing.

"I wish we had 20 more like Twice Over as he has been such a reliable, genuine, charming horse.

"He's still tremendously enthusiastic in his work and goes really nicely.

"The filly still likes it as well, so we're giving it our best shot."

Cecil is equally enchanted by Twice Over, who has now reached the age of six. "Twice Over has been with us for quite a few years and has become part of the furniture," he told At The Races.

"Unfortunately in Flat racing, horses tend to leave at the end of their three-year-old careers and I can see why National Hunt trainers get attached to their horses, because they are with them a long time.

"He is a lovely looking horse, big with a good head on him. He's a real gentleman and has done terribly well. He's won the Champion Stakes twice, won the Eclipse. He was pretty good as a three-year-old too, and was third in the St James's Palace. He's a very good horse in his own right."

On the opposition, Cecil added: "Await The Dawn is a decent horse, he won over the trip at Chester and won at Royal Ascot in the Hardwicke.

"He's a good horse and has only had six or seven runs. He's a pretty formidable opponent, but I'm going to try."

York clerk of the course William Derby reported showers on the Knavesmire on Tuesday afternoon, meaning 6.4mm of rain had fallen in the previous 48 hours.

The going was reported as good to soft, good in places with a dry night and day in store.

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