Steinlen Stakes beckons Weld

Beckon The King, a winner this season at Naas and the Curragh, will add to the Irish presence at Gulfstream Park, Florida, this weekend when he runs in the Steinlen Stakes on Sunday.

The Dermot Weld-trained three-year-old will take his chance in the Listed one-mile event the day after the Breeders' Cup and will then remain in the United States to be trained by Bill Mott.

Beckon The King was the comfortable winner of an £11,000 handicap at the Curragh in late August, but will be racing for approximately $150,000 on Sunday.

"We don't have a jockey for Beckon The King yet but that will be sorted out during the week," Weld said yesterday.

On the home front, Imperial Call is likely to return to racing in the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown on December 5th.

The former Gold Cup winner, who finished lame on his seasonal debut at Gowran, is back in work and trainer Raymond Hurley said Imperial Call missed just a few days.

"The ground was a bit quick at Gowran and he was a little bit lame," Hurley said. "We have a few options for his next race. There is the Morris Oil Chase at Clonmel, but the John Durkan race looks more likely. We haven't discussed jockey arrangements."

Imperial Call won the John Durkan Chase in 1998, beating Dorans Pride.

Stravinsky's connections yesterday retreated from their stance that the colt could contest the Breeders' Cup Mile on Saturday instead of sticking to his proven metier in the Sprint.

On Monday, Aidan O'Brien intimated that the July Cup and Nunthorpe winner could exercise his option to contest the Mile if he showed an aversion to cantering on dirt at Gulfstream Park yesterday morning.

But a satisfactory spin over the surface allied with a torrential, tropical downpour appeared to turn O'Brien away from asking the colt to tackle a mile on rain-softened turf.

Meanwhile, Dewhurst runner-up Brahms and Gimcrack winner Mull of Kintyre look set to represent O'Brien in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Saturday - Bach and Thady Quill are among the reserves.