G1 Coral-Eclipse S. | Horse Racing Free Tips

Stellar Six Lined Up For Eclipse Clash

In what is shaping up as if it could be a vintage 2022 season, Saturday's G1 Coral-Eclipse S. has let nobody down with a high-class turn-out of six in what has historically been termed as the first “Clash of the Generations”. The Aga Khan's supplemented Prix du Jockey Club hero Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) was drawn in stall four on Thursday, next to Godolphin's more decorated fellow 3-year-old Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in five, with the race's possible pace angle Alenquer (Fr) (Adlerflug {Ger}) widest in six. Following the expected withdrawal of Ballydoyle's trio which included two who had produced career-bests under aggressive front-running rides in Galileo (Ire)'s High Definition (Ire) and Stone Age (Ire), the question of who will take up the mantle in the lead is open to question.

Bridging the Gap

Caught out in a tactically-run affair 17 days ago in the G1 Prince of Wales's S., James Wigan and Ballylinch Stud's Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) could be ridden closer to the pace this time with Ryan Moore sure to be keen to address the defeat at the hands of the expertly-ridden State of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) at Royal Ascot. While there is no guarantee that the Sir Michael Stoute-trained 4-year-old would have won had he pressed Joseph O'Brien's colt further out, there are significant grounds to suggest he would have been closer at the death. Provided the 10-pound weight-for-age gift he presents to the year-younger duo is not insurmountable, he appeals as the ideal type for this race especially given how demonstrative he was in the G3 Brigadier Gerard S. over this course and distance May 26.

*Faith Justified***

James Wigan turned down overseas offers prior to selling a share in Bay Bridge to Ballylinch and believes his homebred has a strong chance of giving Stoute that seventh win in the race and hand him the overall record over Aidan O'Brien and Alec Taylor.

“Bay Bridge came back from Ascot bouncing and seems to be in rude health. I think the winner there was very cleverly ridden and stole a march on the others,” the owner-breeder told QIPCO British Champions Series. “I'm not saying we would have won if the race had been run differently, but he was beaten only a length and was still inching closer at the finish. If the race was run again I think we could have been closer still. It's probably the best Eclipse we've seen for a while, but he seemed to enjoy Sandown when he won the Brigadier Gerard.”

Egan Ready

Only third in this 12 months ago, Prince A A Faisal's Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) is back with a similar profile coming into it on his European bow and jockey David Egan is keen to resume his partnership with the 5-year-old. Whereas last term he was re-entering the fray after wins in the G1 Saudi Cup and G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, this time he cuts a more enigmatic figure having last been seen finishing a distant last of the 14 runners who took part in the Riyadh bonanza Feb. 26.

“I felt the dirt maybe wasn't riding with the same consistency as it did the previous year. It was a lot warmer, which will affect the dirt surface, and maybe it was a negative for him on the day,” Egan suggests. “He didn't jump as well, we asked him to get a prominent position and the pace was fierce–the winner came from a long way back. Mr. Gosden said he also got a bit of kickback, which might have affected him.”

Clean Slate

Ignoring that Saudi Cup effort, Mishriff remains the foremost older horse in this line-up on achievement and Egan is happy that the homebred is back in a good place ahead of Saturday.

“I've sat on him a number of times over the last couple of weeks and he feels in good form and tuned up and ready to go,” he added. “People have possibly written him off before and he's bounced back better than ever on a number of occasions. He's an exciting horse in that sense, knowing he can do that. He's the highest-rated horse in the race on paper and on figures he's the one to beat. It's a small field, but it's a boutique field and you could build a case for any horse in the race. Mishriff has been in a lot of tactical battles and I wouldn't be worried about the tactical aspect. He's pretty straightforward and he's an older, more mature horse now and easier to ride in some respects. He'll be a lot more mature than the 3-year-olds, which will only be an asset to him.”

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Mishriff to Skip DWC Meeting and Return in Eclipse

Prince Faisal's globetrotting multiple Group 1 winner Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) has recovered in good order from a last-placed finish in the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup near the end of February, but will not defend his G1 Dubai Sheema Classic title on Mar. 26. The John and Thady Gosden trainee will instead wait until the G1 Coral-Eclipse S. in July. Also, a winner of the G1 Juddmonte International S. at York in August, the 5-year-old entire was fourth in the G1 QIPCO Champion S. on Oct. 16.

Ted Voute, Racing Manager for Prince Faisal, said, “I saw John Gosden at Wednesday at Kempton and he said he was sound and great and he hadn't done any veterinary check-ups yet. He was on Warren Hill and everything appeared fine.

“He definitely wasn't himself in the Saudi Cup. Basically, most of last year, every time he ran in a Group 1 we did a medical check-up afterwards. He is valuable and he is pretty well insured, so we made that a standard practice. I think we are waiting to see if that throws any light on it.

“Looking at it, I think it was multi-factorial. He didn't break as well as last year and David had to fight with him a little bit. Every time you do that he hangs his head on the side slightly and says, 'Oh, I'm not sure I like this'. The track was a little bit deeper and he got some dirt in his face, and he wasn't used to that particularly. I don't think any one of those things beat him, but maybe a combination of all of them might have done.

“I can't pinpoint anything apart from what everybody else can see at this moment. I'm sure John will say something when he has run the tests.”

Voute added, “John did say he is not in any rush. We will try to follow the same plan as last year, so that would be the Eclipse next. We definitely won't go to Dubai. I say that, but last year we said we wouldn't go, then all of a sudden we went to the Sheema Classic.”

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Select Eclipse the Focus on Saturday

Tactical nuance will be the order of the day in Saturday's G1 Coral-Eclipse, with Sandown's prestige affair hosting a trio of male thoroughbreds who have been tested and proven internationally and just one other very much on the fringe. With the big three of Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}), Addeybb (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) and St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) responsible for nine top-level victories between them in this country, France, Dubai and Australia, this renewal really does offer something different. All of them have a largely consistent profile with valid excuses for any rare dips in form and so the two imponderables that will dictate the outcome could be the way the race will be run on the day and whether the ever-contentious 10-pound weight-for-age differential in favour of Ballydoyle's 3-year-old is simply too much.

There is a sense that for all that St Mark's Basilica has now won three group 1 races in succession in the Dewhurst, Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey Club, he is still a work in progress whose ceiling has not been approached. The manner of his last two performances suggest he was going through the motions at ParisLongchamp May 16 and at Chantilly June 6, but he will be seriously tested here against two campaigners hardened by significant overseas challenges. In recent times, 3-year-olds with the equivalent level of form entering this “clash of the generations” have fared well, with the Kitten's Joy pair of Roaring Lion and Hawkbill and Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) bettering their elders. “We've been delighted with him this season, both his runs,” Aidan O'Brien said. “Everything went well before them and everything has gone well since. The ground is drying up and I'd imagine that the more it dries up the more it will suit him.”

Officially top-rated and three pounds clear of Mishriff, Addeybb has been places his opponents can only dream of at present with his increasing age apparently bringing increased potency. Having beaten Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}) in the last two renewals of Randwick's G1 Queen Elizabeth S. and in Rosehill's G1 Ranvet S. last March, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum's 7-year-old also took care of France's star Skalleti (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) on the extremely testing ground that suits him so well in the G1 Champion S. in October. He showed in the latest renewal of the Ranvet that he is not so ground-dependant as many believe and his presence here evokes memories of the owner's dual winner Mtoto (GB) in the 80's.

Like Addeybb, Mishriff is another who was not an obvious leading light at the outset but who continues to confound with his performances. Well-beaten when eighth in the Champion, the record of Prince Faisal's homebred is otherwise flawless of late and his 2021 successes on Riyadh's dirt in the Feb. 20 Saudi Cup and from a wide draw in the Mar. 27 G1 Dubai Sheema Classic mark him out as a rarity. The latter display confirmed his stamina for 12 furlongs, while he has an admirable attitude which is all there in the visuals of his running style so it will be a surprise if David Egan does not opt to attempt to dictate here. With his characteristic low head carriage, it is a case of how much he can draw the sting from his rivals who possess a greater turn of acceleration up Sandown's remorseless climb to the line.

This is a major moment in Egan's career and he is geared up for it. “I'm very excited to have a ride in a race like this and am looking forward to it,” he said on Friday. “To have the pace to follow two American horses over nine furlongs on the dirt and then be able to relax as well as he did over a mile and a half in Dubai a few weeks later is quite sensational and I can't think of another horse who could do that. He is very mature–he travelled to Riyadh for the Derby as a 3-year-old and then went to France twice, he was back out to Riyadh this year and back to England before Meydan so he enjoys the travelling. Looking at his coat and his physicality, he doesn't lose any condition and is always very fresh and well in himself. The team at home have done a very good job with him.”

At Haydock, the feature is the G2 Lancashire Oaks where Nick Bradley Racing's June 4 G1 Epsom Oaks runner-up Mystery Angel (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) faces Kirsten Rausing's 2020 G1 Yorkshire Oaks runner-up Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and five other older fillies and mares. Trainer George Boughey said of the hard-grafting 3-year-old, “She's done very well since the Oaks and I don't think she's ever trained better. She's in super shape and her work has been good, so she's showing all the right signs. She gets a lot of weight and it's one of those things where it's quite hard to place against her own age, so you've got to take the older rivals on. There doesn't look to be a huge amount of pace in the race and it might just suit her–she's a big galloping filly who clearly stayed the mile and a half well in the Oaks in tricky ground and I think it looks the right spot for her.”

Back at Sandown, the G3 Coral Charge over five furlongs sees the June 15 G1 King's Stand S. runner-up Arecibo (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) attempt to build on that career-best performance against a clutch of tough sprinters and the fast-emerging 3-year-old Atalis Bay (GB) (Cable Bay {Ire}). Successful in the course-and-distance Listed Scurry S. June 12, Scuderia Blueberry's bargain 800gns Tattersalls February purchase needs to improve to feature but trainer Marco Botti is hopeful he can. “It's a very good race and he needs to raise his game taking on the older horses. The ground I hope will dry out a little bit and he would not want it any softer than good,” he explained. “We are happy with him, but these are proper older horses he is taking on. It is a good draw he has in four and he has done nothing wrong this year and he has definitely improved. He has got 10 pounds to find with Arecibo, but he is relatively fresh and others have been to Royal Ascot so, hopefully, that can play into his hands.”

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Strong Field of Seven for Coral-Eclipse

Seven horses, five Group 1 winners, have stood their ground for the G1 Coral-Eclipse S. at Sandown on July 3. Prince A. A. Faisal's Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) is favoured, and enters off wins in the $20-million Saudi Cup in Riyadh in February and a neck victory over Sunday's G1 Takarazuka Kinen victress Chrono Genesis (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}) in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan on Mar. 27.

The John and Thady Gosden trainee faces a stiff three-pronged entry from Aidan O'Brien and the Coolmore partners' dual Classic hero St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), who has scooped both the G1 French 2000 Guineas this spring, but also the G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club on June 6. O'Brien's other two entries are the MG1SW Japan (GB) (Galileo {ire}) and the MGSW & MG1SP Armory (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

The entries are completed by William Haggas's globetrotting MG1SW Addeybb (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}), Christopher Wright's Group 1 winner Wonderful Tonight (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) who won the G2 Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot on June 19, and the listed winner El Drama (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) for Roger Varian and Sheikh Mohammed Obaid.

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