Timeform highlight the best Coral-Eclipse winners since the turn of the century, based on the rating they achieved at Sandown.
1. Sea The Stars (Timeform rating 136)
The Eclipse is one of Europe’s major middle-distance prizes and the 2009 renewal is one which will be firmly imprinted on the memory of any racing fan lucky enough to witness it, the performance of the winner, Sea The Stars, up there with the very best in the race’s long and illustrious history.
It was always the way of Sea The Stars to save something back for himself and he certainly did that in the Eclipse. He typically travelled powerfully – always in his comfort zone leading the main pack as the three pacemakers in the line-up ensured an unrelenting gallop – but did little after quickening around two lengths clear entering the penultimate furlong.
That allowed Rip Van Winkle, a top-class three-year-old in his own right, the brief opportunity to move nearly alongside with a furlong to run, but Sea The Stars soon drew away again to win by a length with plenty in hand, with the first two pulling a long way clear of the previous year’s St Leger and Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Conduit. The field ended up fully stretched out and there was absolutely no questioning the result, the timefigure also top class.
Sea The Stars was already top of an above-average three-year-old tree following his wins in the 2000 Guineas and Derby, but his Sandown performance took him to new heights, seeing him join the most distinguished of groups as he followed in Nashwan’s footsteps by backing up his two classic victories.
2. Golden Horn (134)
Only five runners went to post for the 2015 Eclipse, traditionally the first test of the generations, and in that role it more than served its purpose, with the Derby winner Golden Horn opposed by the four-year-old The Grey Gatsby, who had himself been successful in the previous year’s Prix du Jockey Club and Irish Champion Stakes.
The race itself proved much more satisfactory than might have been expected given the small field, with both Golden Horn and The Grey Gatsby well ridden, the result seemingly a fair reflection of their merits.
Golden Horn’s connections decided the best way to avoid a muddling race was for him to make the running. Whilst the burst of acceleration which had characterised his wins in the Dante and at Epsom was missing on this occasion, he displayed other admirable qualities in winning by three and a half lengths, notably showing guts in spades after being joined early in the straight.
Well on top at the finish after The Grey Gatsby had cried enough inside the final furlong, Golden Horn showed even better form in winning the Eclipse than he had in the Derby, maintaining his unbeaten record with a second performance right out of the top drawer. It was a fourth success in the race for jockey Frankie Dettori and a second for trainer John Gosden.
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3. St Mark’s Basilica (132)
Just the four runners went to post for the 2021 Eclipse, but once again it delivered a thrilling clash of the generations, involving three horses (of various ages) who all had multiple Group One wins to their name already.
The-three-year-old St Mark’s Basilica was the well-backed favourite, bidding for his fourth Group One success in a row after wins in the Dewhurst Stakes, Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey Club. The four-year-old Mishriff, who had won the Prix du Jockey Club himself in 2020 before winning twice in the Middle East earlier in 2021, was the main danger according to the betting ahead of the veteran Addeybb, who was bidding for his fifth top-level win at the age of seven.
In the event, however, it was all about one horse as St Mark’s Basilica justified the confidence behind him with a decisive victory, overcoming the run of the race somewhat to land the spoils by three and a half lengths. He had been held up last of all in the early stages as Addeybb dictated just an ordinary gallop, so it was to his credit that he won as easily as he did, the race all over as a contest when he quickened to lead over a furlong out.
Clearly much the best horse on the day, St Mark’s Basilica produced a top-class performance, even if the other pair weren’t quite on song on their first outing of the summer. He earned a performance rating of 130 but had a bit in hand so was value for a couple of pound extra.
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Discover Sporting Life Plus Benefits4. So You Think (131)
This was an eagerly anticipated renewal of the Eclipse, featuring only five runners but two proper ones in the shape of So You Think and Workforce, both top-class older horses.
So You Think had already won six Group One races, including back-to-back renewals of the Cox Plate when trained in Australia by Bart Cummings, while Workforce had warmed up for the Eclipse with a comfortable victory in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes over the same course and distance on his seasonal reappearance, that coming after a three-year-old campaign in which he had won the Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Admittedly, the race lacked a little depth otherwise, with no three-year-old representation at all, but the ‘big two' delivered with both horses running right up to their best.
It was a clean fight between them up the straight after Workforce’s pacemaker Confront had set a sound gallop. Workforce pressed on three furlongs out to utilise his stamina, but So You Think's extra bit of speed at the trip enabled him to gain the upper hand close home, ultimately winning by half a length as the first two pulled five lengths clear of the rest in a memorable contest.
5. Giant’s Causeway (130)
Derby runner-up Sakhee, beaten only by Galileo at Epsom, was sent off the 7/4 favourite to go one place better in the 2000 Eclipse. In the end, however, it was another member of the classic generation who came out on top, namely Giant’s Causeway, who fought off the four-year-old Kalanisi following a thrilling battle between the pair.
After filling the runner-up spot in both the English and Irish equivalents of the 2000 Guineas, Giant’s Causeway lined up in the Eclipse having gained a deserved victory in the St James’s Palace Stakes on his previous start, that success coming on the same Royal Ascot card as that of Kalanisi in the Queen Anne Stakes.
The pace was rather muddling at Sandown, decidedly steady for the first two furlongs before suddenly picking up into a full-blown gallop as the Godolphin second string was rushed to the front. Close up from the outset, Giant’s Causeway led with two furlongs to run and then battled on in the gamest fashion possible against the rail, rallying having been headed by Kalanisi inside the last.
Giant’s Causeway eventually passed the post in front with a head to spare, but the drama didn’t end there – one of the best races of the season ended up being marred by all the wrong headlines as George Duffield on the winner (a late substitute for the injured Mick Kinane) and Pat Eddery on the runner-up were both banned for 10 days by the stewards for excessive use of the whip.
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