One of the midsummer highlights on the Flat comes from Sandown Park on Saturday afternoon as a field of six are set to contest the Coral-Eclipse, a Group 1 clash of the generations as some top three-year-old colts mix it with older rivals for the first time.
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Coral Eclipse Preview: No complaints if Ombudsman wins
Aidan O’Brien has won three of the last four renewals and counts Delacroix and Camille Pissarro amongst the contenders now, with the market headed by John & Thady Gosden’s Ombudsman.
The 2000 Guineas winner Ruling Court, Jessica Harrington’s Hotazhell and the Andre Fabre-trained French raider Sosie complete the line-up for the £567,100 top prize.
Ombudsman is 1/1 with most firms after some notable omissions at the final declaration stage for Sandown’s Group 1 highlight.
With Almaqam and Anmaat the main absentees, last month’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes hero is now a short price to follow up.
The Night Of Thunder colt has now won five of his six career starts, with the five most recent runs coming at this trip.
He was beaten into second spot – carrying a 3lb penalty – by Almaqam in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes over this track and trip (good-good to firm in places) in late May but responded with a career-best at Royal Ascot.
A fast early pace gave him optimal conditions in that race, there is no guarantee of the same scenario in this six-runner heat, and while he overcame some trouble in the run to score in meritorious fashion, he does look short in the betting for a Group 1 follow-up attempt in which he has to give 10lb to some hugely promising younger rivals.
Sosie already has two French Group 1 wins under his belt this season and is much-respected but, like the favourite, might be presented with some issues if this is run at a tactical pace rather than a genuine one.
Coral Eclipse Betting Tips & Predictions
Hold the verdict on Ruling Court
RULING COURT has three wins from his five career starts and it might be worth taking a forgiving approach to his effort in last month’s St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot when he was third behind the outstanding miler Field Of Gold.
The Godolphin inmate had of course defeated Field Of Gold in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in May on his first British start of 2025.
He benefitted from a good tactical ride from William Buick that afternoon on the Rowley Mile. At Ascot, things were never going well for him. He had been a last-minute absentee from the Epsom Derby and perhaps his prep wasn’t ideal sticking to the mile after seemingly being trained for a mile-and-a-half.
He was sweaty at the start and though Buick took him back early, he was being niggled along by half way, went into the final bend at full tilt and then met a wall of traffic that denied him any sort of momentum from which to threaten the front pair.
In the circumstances, finishing third looks a very good effort and this Justify colt looks ready for 10 furlongs.
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Delacroix better than Epsom suggests
Similar sentiments for DELACROIX, the disappointing Derby favourite at Epsom. He lost his position early on and gut shuffled back, with Ryan Moore suggesting afterwards his race was effectively run there and then.
Moore sticks with Delacroix over French Derby winner Camille Pissarro now. The Ballydoyle pilot has won the last two runnings of the Coral-Eclipse on Paddington and City Of Troy, and a win now would move him to within two of Lester Piggott’s record seven race victories.
There is every chance that this Dubawi colt will rebound, as so many Aidan O’Brien contenders do from one explainable underperformance. The last four Eclipse winners were aged three, and seven of the last 10. These two colts are worth pairing against the favourite.
- Brand new sportsbook launched, offering far more than just horse racing
- Benefit from the unique Tote dividend as an alternative to normal fixed odds betting
