Item in the mix for Futurity Trophy after remaining unbeaten

Connections of Item will take the opportunity of Kalpana’s run in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe to discuss if the unbeaten Bath scorer will take the plunge into deeper waters before the season ends.

Trained by Andrew Balding, the smartly-bred son of Frankel has two wins from two starts so far, and after winning smartly on debut at Kempton, carried a penalty when comfortably accounting for Clive Cox’s well-regarded  Blue Courvoisier earlier this week.

That victory saw the colt given quotes for next year’s Classics and holding an entry for Doncaster’s Futurity Trophy Stakes at the end of the month, there remains the possibility he could further state his claims for next year’s feature races before the season is out.

Barry Mahon, European racing manager for owners Juddmonte said: “He’s a nice horse and the maiden he won at Kempton looked a very good maiden on the night.

“He went to Bath just for the experience really. Andrew, like a lot of trainers in England, hasn’t been able to use the grass for a lot of the summer as it’s been so quick and he’d actually been on the grass maybe only once at the most, so he was keen to get him on the grass and see how he performed.

“I know the second horse was very well regarded and won nicely on debut at Leicester so our horse showed he is a nice colt.

“We’ll sit down and discuss with the owners over the weekend in Paris whether they want to run again or not and maybe have a look at the Doncaster race.

“I don’t think he’s a horse who will want it heavy or really deep ground, so depending on the ground and depending on what the owners would like to do, we’ll make a decision over the weekend or early next week if we go to Doncaster or put him away for next year.”

Coral made Item 33-1 for next year’s Derby, while Paddy Power went 50-1 from 66s for the same race but 33s for the 2000 Guineas and connections are confident there will definitely be more to come from the exciting youngster next season.

Mahon added: “He’s a big horse full of potential and it will be all about next year with him.

“It will just be a case of if we give him one more this year to bank a bit more experience before all that comes.”