MARCHAND D’OR may travel over to England for the Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock Park next month.

The Mikel Delzangles-trained eight-year-old showed he was no back number at Group One level when a fast-finishing third to Moonlight Cloud in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville on Sunday.

The veteran grey won that race three-times as well as landing the Prix de l’Abbaye and the July Cup when trained by Freddie Head.

And his trainer is considering coming to Merseyside on September 3 or staying at home for the Prix de Meautry back at Deauville on August 28. Delzangles said: “He’s come out of the race very well. I was very pleased with his run.

“It looks like in his recent races when they quicken he is lost for half a furlong, but he finished well – it’s a pity he can’t cope with that crucial part of the race.

“He’s in the Haydock Sprint, or we might stay in a Deauville for a Group Three, the Prix de Meautry two weeks on Sunday.”

Meanwhile Nicky Henderson has indicated that Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Long Run could start and finish his season on Merseyside, with the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November lined up as his seasonal reappearance.

The French-bred six-year-old landed the King George VI Chase at Kempton and then the Gold Cup in spectacular fashion last season and Henderson is hopeful of more to come this term.

He said: “Horses are fickle things and everything has got to go right. The horse was just back in last week and looks great. He’s not only done well through the summer he has also, without a doubt, grown.

“You might find that odd as a six-year-old, but he has definitely grown.

“I would think he’ll almost certainly go to Haydock first and then the King George.

“Then we’ll decide whether he has another run between the King George and Cheltenham, which we didn’t do last year. There is the incentive this year with the extra gap to even think about Liverpool (Aintree) as well and hopefully we’ll see a little bit more of him.”

TODAY’S NAP: Corporal Maddox (2.35pm Newbury).