The countdown to Sunday’s Qatar Prix du Jockey Club is dominated by guesswork on how Aidan O’Brien’s Derby team will ultimately be divided up.The one sure thing is that Benvenuto Cellini won’t be at Chantilly this weekend. His name doesn’t figure among seven current O’Brien entries for the French Derby and so he continues to top betting lists for Epsom on Saturday week having been briefly displaced.That was on the back of reported support for his exciting stable companion Constitution River. Following those reports,, however, O’Brien appeared to suggest the Dee Stakes winner is his likely number one for France. With typical caution, though, he added “it could change".With that in mind, the various forfeit stages of the €1.5 million Chantilly classic this week will be closely watched for any change of plan. Constitution River is a warm 7/4 favourite with some firms to deliver his trainer a third success following St Mark’s Basilica (2021) and Camille Pissarro a year ago.The depth of Ballydoyle resources means Hawk Mountain is second favourite while Montreal has been mentioned as another one likely to line up in France. That appears to leave Pierre Bonnard, Christmas Day and Action to accompany Benvenuto Cellini at Epsom.Donnacha O’Brien has left A Boy Named Susie among the 22 in the ‘Jockey Club’, with another forfeit stage on Tuesday and supplementary entries possible 24 hours after that. The colt was third to Christmas Day in last month’s Ballysax at Leopardstown.Only two other Irish trained horses have ever won the French Derby. Assert scored for David O’Brien in 1982 while his father won it a year later through Caerleon. France’s champion trainer Francis Graffard emerged last year as a new European force in the major races with 14 Group/Grade One victories in all. The Arc winner Daryz has twice won at the top level already in 2026 and his half-brother Daryzan may emerge as the main home hope this Sunday.Trainer Francis Graffard and owner Zara Aga Khan celebrate Daryz's victory in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, Paris, last October. Photograph: Anna Kurth/AFP via Getty Images He has had just a single career start to date but won his maiden over a mile at Saint-Cloud by five lengths. Another Aga Khan runner, Dolmalan, is also in the mix. The sole British entry at this point is Karl Burke’s Hankelow. Komorebi, runner up to Rayif in the French 2000 Guineas earlier this month, is set to run for Godolphin and veteran trainer Andre Fabre. The 80-year-old multiple French champion trainer has won the ‘Jockey Club’ five times, most recently with New Bay in 2015.Komorebi has emerged in good shape from his last start at Longchamp and Fabre reported: “He ran a really nice race and he will now go for the Prix du Jockey Club. He showed there that he could go further and he would probably prefer better ground as well. It looked like a step up in trip would suit him. Even though he’s by Pinatubo, the way he runs gives you encouragement.”In other news, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board has reported that Minnie Hauk, only fifth at odds-on behind Almaqam in Sunday’s Tattersalls Gold Cup, showed “signs of mild lameness” on a front leg after the race.Afterwards, though, Aidan O’Brien seemed keen to let her take a shot at Daryz and some of Europe’s other top older horses in Royal Ascot’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes next month. He felt a slow tempo in the middle of the race worked against mile-and-a-half filly over 10 furlongs. [ Wayne Lordan makes most of another ‘spare’ to land first Irish classic victory on PreciseOpens in new window ]“I imagine if we go to Ascot the next time, we’d go forwards at the gate. There’d be no taking back, we wouldn’t be taking a chance on the pace dropping away. So, there are things that we can think about and talk about, but I think she’ll leave it well behind her and we move on from there,” he reported. Tuesday evening’s flat action in Ireland is at Dundalk, where Joseph O’Brien sends a handful of runners. O’Brien has confirmed he has joined Ger Lyons and Dermot Weld in Ireland in training for Juddmonte. He has been sent a pair of juvenile prospects by the famed operation created by the late Prince Khalid Abdullah.Ballinrobe again hosts jumping and Willie Mullins can enjoy a quick Tuesday double there through Witches Familiar and Kai Lung.