O'Brien makes his final decision

Giants Causeway has been chosen as the latest Aidan O'Brien-trained two year old to go on the Group One prowl in tomorrow's Prix de la Salamandre at Longchamp.

The Ballydoyle trainer had three entries for the race, but Mull Of Kintyre and Royal Kingdom have been left on the sidelines in favour of the Futurity winner. Michael Kinane will ride.

"Giants Causeway went well in a piece of work this morning and is going well overall. The ground at Longchamp is soft which is not ideal as he is a good-actioned horse, but he got the seven furlongs well at the Curragh last time," O'Brien said yesterday.

Giants Causeway is likely to face just four opponents with only the Prix Morny fourth Grigorovich (Andre Fabre - Olivier Pesier) representing the home team.

There are three British-trained juveniles in the race including John Gosden's Prix Morny third Bachir (Dominique Boeuf). The others are Peter Chapple-Hyam's Valentino and the Barry Hills-trained Race Leader.

O'Brien added that Genghis Khan is now a likely runner in tomorrow's Jefferson Smurfit Irish St Leger but the prospect of soft ground is presenting other trainers with problems.

Dermot Weld had been hoping to take on Bernstein in Sunday's National Stakes with both Jammaal and Sharp Focus but a poor weather forecast means he is holding fire until this morning.

"The ground is a concern for Jammaal who is a good ground horse with a lot of pace. At the moment both will run, but no definite decision will be taken until the morning," said Weld.

The forecast for the Curragh tonight is for wind and rain. A total of eight millimetres of rain fell on Thursday morning and the ground there yesterday was soft.