Aidan O’Brien will bid for a record sixth Al Basti July Cup success at Newmarket on Saturday although he’s in an unusual position of running a gelding in the renowned stallion-making race.Mission Central filled in the last remaining Group One gap on O’Brien’s Royal Ascot CV by landing last month’s King Charles III Stakes. Gelded after his very first start last year, the horse bred by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has emerged as one of Europe’s leading sprinters with global ambitions at the Breeders’ Cup and in Australia’s hugely lucrative Everest contest later this year. The decision by French racing authorities to open the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe to geldings from next year has generated recent debate, with both O’Brien and the Coolmore Stud supremo John Magnier voicing their opposition due to an impact on breeding. O’Brien even said geldings would have an “unfair advantage” since it is so much easier to train them. He’ll have that advantage on his side for once this weekend in a contest widely regarded as Europe’s most prestigious sprint prize. A total of 13 entries remain in it after Monday’s latest acceptance stage.They include both Almeraq and Satono Reve, who fought out a memorable finish for Ascot’s QEII Jubilee Stakes and the filly Venetian Sun, who landed the Commonwealth Cup there. The Wokingham winner Double Rush will try to step up from handicap company. O’Brien holds the July Cup record alongside his Ballydoyle predecessor, the great Vincent O’Brien. All five of his previous winners graduated to stallion careers including Starspangledbanner, who won the 2010 July Cup. He is now a highly successful sire, including producing this year’s classic winners, Gstaad and Precise. [ ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’: Trump confirms asking for Balogun red card reviewOpens in new window ]The July Cup has traditionally been open to geldings and Oxted was the last to win in 2020. Limato also won a decade ago. Quinault will be the only other gelding lining up in Saturday’s contest. Habibti in 1983 was the last three-year-old filly to win the July Cup, but despite that statistic Venetian Sun was installed an early 2/1 favourite by some firms. Mission Central was made a 5/1 shot.Although very hot conditions are forecast for England this week, Newmarket officials don’t foresee any impact on its July meeting. A number of meetings were cancelled in Britain a fortnight ago due to hot weather. Others were given mid-morning starts to avoid the worst of it. Donnacha O’Brien has left in Comanche Brave who followed up his Greenlands’ victory at the Curragh by finishing seventh to Almeraq at Ascot. He could bid to continue his trainer’s recent run of big race form.Just hours after A Boy Named Susie found only Constitution River too good in the Eclipse on Saturday, the filly Kensington Lane made almost all the running to land the Grade One Belmont Oaks at Saratoga. The filly could stay in the US to continue her career, but it is a long-term target in Australia that O’Brien is considering for A Boy Named Susie. “We’re definitely looking at the Cox Plate [on October 24th] as a potential target and he could run somewhere in between. It’s a big-money race and it’s very prestigious and realistically we’re probably not going to run into a Constitution River. We’d like to win a big one with him and it doesn’t get much bigger than that,” he said.“It’s at Flemington this year, which will suit him very well. Ten furlongs should be right up his street, and I think he’s the right sort of horse, so why not have a go?” Colin Keane is a notable presence for Tuesday’s Tramore action with a handful of rides including the Ballinrobe winner Daboya who bids to defy a 7lb penalty in a fillies’ handicap. The grandiosely titled Tote Tramore Derby is a 0-60 handicap that might prove to be Churchwarden’s “Derby”. Henry de Bromhead puts first-time blinkers on the half-brother to the Irish Oaks hopeful Sparan Nua.