The G1 Eclipse Stakes (1990m) is named after one of the greatest racehorses of the 18th century, and one who reportedly had to walk 1,400 miles to compete in races around Great Britain.
Since those far off days this Group 1 has had a long history of attracting world class equine talents and again that is the case at Sandown Park on Saturday (5 July).
A potent mix of generations includes three-year-old Group 1 Classic winners Ruling Court (2000 Guineas, 1600m) at Newmarket and Camille Pissarro, last month’s Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) victor over 2100m at Chantilly.
The latter will be partnered at Sandown by Christophe Soumillon with Ryan Moore staying loyal to fellow Aidan O’Brien-trained contender Delacroix, who was disappointing when a beaten favourite in the G1 Derby Stakes (2405m) and, though Epsom ‘also rans’ don’t have a great record in the Eclipse, clearly much better is expected of the twice impressive Leopardstown Group 3 winner over 2000m this season.
Three-year-olds are on a roll in the Eclipse Stakes, having landed the last four runnings, but the older horses look formidable this year with Ombudsman catapulted to favouritism after his superb winning display in what looked a strong renewal of last month’s G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes (1993m) at Royal Ascot. He appeared to be having a nightmare trip there but when a gap appeared his change of gear was instantaneous.
His jockey William Buick says of the son of Night Of Thunder, who has now won five of his six starts: “He was an unknown quantity coming into Ascot but he was impressive there, very impressive. He has low miles on the clock and I think that was a taste of what is to come.”
It is a fast turnaround (17 days) between runs, a reason why the Prince of Wales’s Stakes-Eclipse Stakes double is rarely achieved. Ombudsman’s joint-trainer Thady Gosden says: “Obviously it is very tight and you’d rather give them longer. But he hasn’t had a hard season, he hasn’t had a hard career really, so we thought why not see if he’d be ready for a race like this.”
The other older star in the six-horse field is Andre Fabre-trained Sosie. The son of Sea The Stars has been ridden by Maxime Guyon in all six of his career wins, a tally that includes two stylish Group 1 ParisLongchamp victories this season, latterly when his acceleration proved decisive in the Prix d’Ispahan (1850m) in May.
Fabre has not had an Eclipse Stakes contender for 20 years and although the Chantilly-based maestro has described Sosie as “more of a mile and a half horse” those two eye-catching 2025 victories have come over trips nearer to this one, while the uphill straight at Sandown Park places an obvious premium on stamina. Sosie is surely a very serious threat to all if he handles likely faster ground at Sandown.
