Dual Derby winner Camelot is close to retirement after failing to recapture his three-year-old form.

Trainer Aidan O'Brien says next week's Eclipse Stakes at Sandown remains an option but the horse's value to the Coolmore team as a stallion must also be considered.

The son of Montjeu kicked off his 2012 Classic campaign with a last-gasp victory in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket before running out a hugely-impressive winner of the Epsom Derby under the trainer's son, Joseph.

Claiming the Irish Derby along the way, the stage was set for Camelot to become the first Triple Crown winner since Nijinsky in 1970 when he was given the green light for the St Leger at Doncaster where he was narrowly denied by Godolphin's Encke.

A disappointing run in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe followed, after which he suffered a severe bout of colic.

Although he was brought back for a much anticipated four-year-old campaign, Camelot has looked a shadow of his former self.

Since turning in a workmanlike victory on his return, Camelot has been beaten by Al Kazeem in the Tattersalls Gold Cup and finished fourth behind the same horse in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot.

O'Brien is unsure whether to persevere with a horse who remains of significant value to his connections.

"He's a very important horse to us and he's not one we want to take any risks with," O'Brien said.

"The last day at Royal Ascot, he obviously hadn't come back to his best and while the Eclipse is still an option, retirement is something we might have to consider as well.

"The spark was never there after his run in the Irish Derby last year. He had a tough race there on testing ground and then had that problem over the winter."