CAPE BLANCO’S scintillating all-the-way victory in Saturday’s Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown has put him in line for the autumn’s top contests.

Aidan O’Brien’s Irish Derby winner scored by five-and-a-half lengths from stable-mate and the Johnny Murtagh-ridden odds-on favourite Rip Van Winkle.

The Emirates Airline Champion Stakes at Newmarket and the Breeders’ Cup in American are both on the agenda. Cape Blanco had been a distant second to Harbinger in the King George on his last start, but left his rivals for dead in similar fashion at the weekend under an forceful ride from Seamie Heffernan. O’Brien, who was landing his sixth success in the race, said: “He’s a very good horse and was unbeaten as a two-year-old, we always thought 10 furlongs on nice ground would be his best and that’s what he had.

“He’s a big, strong, powerful horse with loads of speed and class. He’s progressing and maturing with every week that goes by. He is more a 10-furlong horse than a mile-and-a-half horse. He has lots of speed and, realistically, his courage made him last out the mile-and-a-half trip in the Irish Derby. He moves brilliantly and has lots of options now, including the English Champion Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup in America.”

On Rip Van Winkle, O’Brien added: “Rip is a real miler with lots of speed who just about gets 10 furlongs.

“We had to take our time and relax him today and Johnny felt the ground was plenty on the slow side for him too. He won’t mind going back to a mile.

“Beethoven (fourth), is similar to Rip, as he is a real miler with plenty of pace, but he ran a stormer and will now drop back to a mile.”