Australian-owned performer Gailo Chop’s Cox Plate trip is likely to hinge on a race at Deauville late next month.

OTI Racing bought a half-share in Gailo Chop with an eye on the Cox Plate before his win in the Group Three Prix Noailles at Longchamp in April, which was his fourth in five starts.

Gailo Chop earned an invitation to run in the Grade One Belmont Derby in the US on July 5 and the three-year-old thrilled connections with his fourth behind the surprise winner Mr Speaker at his first international outing.

The Gai Waterhouse-trained Pornichet set a strong gallop but Gailo Chop closed late to finish 4-1/4 lengths from the winner.

“His first time travelling and racing at that level, to compete well was very pleasing,” OTI Racing co-founder Simon O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell said Gailo Chop came through the run in good order and was enjoying a short break before his next start.

“He’s back in France eating grass and no decisions will be made on his future for the next two weeks just to let him get over the trip,” O’Donnell said.

“The Deauville race is a Group Three over 2000 metres and that will give us an idea of where we plot to go with him.”

O’Donnell said OTI would then decide whether to bring Gailo Chop to Australia for the spring or wait another year to let him develop further.

Another OTI-owned galloper, the 2012 Geelong Cup winner Gatewood, missed Thursday’s Group Two Princess Of Wales’s Stakes (2400m) at Newmarket after trainer John Gosden decided the track was unsuitable.

“John said they got rain there and it took the top off the track so he came out of the race late,” O’Donnell said.