Artist skips Cup date

War Artist has been scratched from next week's July Cup with trainer James Eustace favouring a trip to Newbury the following week.The six-year-old has been off the track since finish a close-up third in last year's renewal of the Group One contest and was forced to miss an intended engagement in last month's Chipchase Stakes due to unsuitable ground.Eustace said: "He's absolutely fine. After Newcastle was a no-go because of the ground, it left us in a dilemma whether to go for the July Cup or not. We just thought using that race as a first run of the season would be harsh on the horse."He added: "The Hackwood Stakes is luckily only eight days later (July 18) so we're going to go there instead."Even though it is a year since he ran you would like to think he would be classy enough to win that without being fully fit."He is working nicely, in fact, I couldn't be more pleased with him."