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Aidan O’Brien stated Little Big Bear was only “50/50” to contest Saturday’s Pertemps Network July Cup at Newmarket following a foot bruise last week.

Last season's star two-year-old looked set for a rematch with recent Royal Ascot conqueror Shaquille at Newmarket on Saturday but the clash may have to wait with Little Big Bear's participation hanging in the balance.

O'Brien, who enjoyed further Group 1 success with Paddington's gutsy performance in last weekend's Coral-Eclipse said: "Little Big Bear is not definite to run as he had a foot bruise last week and he missed six days without doing any cantering,"

"We might do something in the morning with him to see how he is and whether we decide to run him or not.

"If he does run, we won't know until he has run how that has affected him. He is not guaranteed to run, and we will decide in the next couple of days.

"I'd say it is 50-50 regarding his chances of running."

He said: "There is not much for him really after the July Cup, that is the problem. At Haydock [in the Sprint Cup] it can be soft ground.

"There is a five-furlong race at the Curragh on Irish Champions weekend [Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Flying Five Stakes]. We will just have to wait and see though."

Stablemate Meditate, who does feature among the fourteen entries, could be in line as a surprise replacement despite disappointing in Sunday's Prix Jean Prat at Deauville and having the option of retirement very much on the horizon. 

O'Brien added: "We have to decide whether we are going to retire Meditate or not. It is very possible that she could retire,"

"France at the weekend was a bit of a mess. We thought Andrew's [Balding] horse [Chaldean] would make the running, but he didn't, and the pace was just very messy, so we didn't get a clear picture with her.

"We didn't want to carry on too long with her as she is a very high-class filly for the paddocks.

"She is obviously in the July Cup and if Little Big Bear wasn't going to run, we would give her a chance going back over six before she goes as she is a filly that has a lot of speed and was always very comfortable going forward over six furlongs.

"It is all a little bit up in the air, but it is dependent on Little Big Bear what happens to him during the middle of the week."