The dual Derby winner ended his three-year-old campaign with a success in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf and remains in training as a four-year-old to further enhance his claims at stud.

"Auguste Rodin has another bit of work to do before he goes on Saturday, but everything looks good at the moment. It's his first run of the year but we're very happy with him," said O'Brien.

"The plan was he goes there, then he could go to the Curragh for the Tattersalls and then Ascot for the Prince of Wales's."

During his time at Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup, the colt worked exceptionally well on the dirt surface and this possibility has not been ruled out by connections.

"After that, we could have a look at a dirt race with him after that, we'll see how that goes. He could go to Saratoga. The world has gone small now," he added.

"His season will be split in two really, with a busy first half and then a break.

"As a rule, Deep Impacts are mainly turf horses, but we were surprised how well he worked on the dirt at the Breeders' Cup, he floated over it. He has an unusual action, so it will be interesting to see."

The new two-year-olds at Ballydoyle are yet unnamed, but O'Brien will some strong pedigrees to go to war with this season.

"None of the two-year-olds are named yet, but we think we have two good Justifys, out of two sisters (Fabulous and Butterflies)," he said.

"We've some nice Wootton Bassetts this year, more than we've had before. We're starting (the season) earlier and I was conscious that I didn't want to have them ready to run in that ground because they have to be very fit, so if they are, they won't make it through the summer.

"The Wootton Bassett out of Immortal Verse looks very smart, as does the Wootton Bassett out of Ennistymon. We're just going gently with them.

"Wootton Bassett looks very different, we only had two colts last year and they were both very good – River Tiber and Unquestionable."