Thomas Chippendale is unlikely to take up his engagement in next Thursday's Betfred Dante Stakes at York.
Sir Henry Cecil's colt opened his account at the second attempt at Leicester last year and holds entries in the Dante, the Investec Derby at Epsom and the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot next month.
But having failed to get a run so far this year due to the prevailing testing conditions, he is unlikely to be thrown in at the deep end at York.
Barry Simpson, racing manager for owner Sir Robert Ogden, said: "He wouldn't want testing ground and we really would have preferred to have got a run into him before thinking about the Dante.
"It would be a big ask to run in the Dante now and it's not Henry's style to push horses - he likes to let racing bring them on.
"We haven't finalised anything yet, but I think it's probably unlikely he'll run in the Dante as it's asking a lot of the horse at this stage of his career."
