- All Times BST
The first all-age Group 1 of the season is the highlight this weekend, with the Eclipse Stakes (15:35) taking place at Sandown. This race has been won by some legends of the sport in the past, with the likes of Sea The Stars, Giant’s Causeway and Enable having won it within the last couple of decades.
We’ll come back to that, though, as there are some nice races on the undercard to take a look at first, with the Coral Charge (13:50) featuring a number of horses who ran in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Best of these who ran there was Asfoora, who bounced back to form with the blinkers and tongue-tie reapplied to finish seventh. She may step forward again for that and can see off the tough Rumstar and progressive youngster Words Of Truth.
The Coral-Distaff (15:00) doesn’t look the best renewal and it can go the way of Pacific Mission. You may remember this girl from last year’s Breeders’ Cup, where she ran a blinder to finish second in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. She hasn’t run quite so well in two starts this season, but was a huge eye-catcher to me last time making a big move on the worst part of the track at Epsom. She’s much better than she showed there and, back on fast ground, should go very well here.
We have some decent middle distance events elsewhere, too. The Listed Charlie Wood Stakes (16:02) at Beverley should go the way of Al Aasy. He’s a 9-year-old now but showed he still had plenty of fizz in his legs last time out at Newbury and drops to this level for the first time in two-years.
The Old Newton Cup (15:15) is only a handicap but probably features a future Group class horse in the shape of Klassleader. He was impressive at York last time, has the pedigree and comes from a yard that does so well with this type. He faces another progressive 4-year-old in Elsass.
The Lancashire Oaks (14:40) is run over the same course and distance as Old Newton Cup, with both contests having been rerouted from Haydock. The admirable Tiffany, who was only nailed late on her season debut at Chantilly last time out, has lots of Group 1 form and should have too much for some inferior rivals here.
The 12 furlong distance of those events is also the distance for the German Derby (14:43), which will be run at Hamburg this Sunday. English Derby fourth Bay Of Brilliance heads over to tackle a couple of very talented German colts in the shape of Englishman – who had a number of these behind in the Union-Rennen last time out – and Gostam, who looked a bit special prior to finding the French Derby a bit too hot to handle last time out.
Race Of The Weekend
That has to be the Eclipse, despite the field not looking quite up to scratch this year. Gethin sets a fair standard having run Ombudsman – rated the best horse in the world by the BHA following his superb win at Royal Ascot – close over this course and distance last time out, but the potential superstar in the field is Aidan O’Brien’s Constitution River. He won the French Derby from a bad draw last time out in an exceptional time, having also smashed the clock at Chester on his penultimate start. This horse could be anything still and I think he’ll win. Stablemate Hawk Mountain, who was just behind him at Chantilly, could follow him home.
Horse To Watch
Calandagan may have bombed out at Epsom last time out but he has plenty of excuses for that defeat and should bounce back on Sunday in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (15:40). He won this race last year and is some way clear on ratings, although soft ground is probably not his optimum if you are thinking of wading in at a short price.
