TRAINER Michael Bell is anticipating another good performance from his star performer Big Orange, who is on track to appear in the Weatherbys Hamilton Insurance Lonsdale Cup at York on Friday 21 August.

The son of Duke Of Marmalade has been a revelation this summer, winning a brace of Group 2s at major festivals.

His first win of 2015 came at odds of 25/1 in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket. He produced a gutsy performance to beat subsequent Group 1 winner, Second Step, by half a length.

Big Orange then went to Glorious Goodwood for the Goodwood Cup, stepping up in trip to two miles. Again he showed great tenacity to hold off Gold Cup winner Trip To Paris and John Smith’s Northumberland Plate scorer, Quest For Peace in a memorable finish.

The £160,000 Group 2 at York has been his target since that last success and looks likely to be the final time he is seen on British soil this season as Bell hopes to send his star ‘Down Under’ for a tilt at the Melbourne Cup in November.

Bell said: “Melbourne is very much the plan and the Lonsdale will be his last run before the Melbourne Cup.

“He has had a stellar summer and hopefully it continues on Friday. His win at Newmarket came as a bit of a surprise but we expected him to run very well at Goodwood and he did it well.

“I have been pleased with him since Goodwood and he goes to York in good shape. We are keeping one eye on the ground as he doesn’t want it soft but I think it is settling down so he should get his conditions come Friday.

“It is great that he has come good – he is a lovely horse – a strong galloper with lots of scope and a really great attitude. A pleasure to train.”

The Weatherbys Insurance Lonsdale Cup, run over two miles, has been won by some great stayers in the past including Further Flight, Persian Punch and Royal Rebel so rightly forms a leg of the British Champions Series.

The four-day Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival takes place from Wednesday, August 19-22, inclusive.