Aidan O'Brien will run both Constitution River and Hawk Mountain in the Group 1 Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday.
The master of Ballydoyle had indicated that one or the other would run but both will now be declared after finishing one-two in the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly last time.
After supplementing Hawk Mountain for the German Derby on Monday the picture looked clear, but that was muddied on Tuesday when he was taken out of the race and he halved in price for the Eclipse with bookmakers going 6/1 from 12s.
Those odds have been trimmed further now into a general 4/1 with Hawk Mountain joining Constitution River on the lorry to Sandown giving O'Brien the strongest of hands.
Constitution River remains the 5/4 favourite.
O'Brien is going for a 10th success in the contest after Giant's Causeway (2000), Hawk Wing (2002), Oratorio (2005), Mount Nelson (2008), So You Think (2011), St Mark's Basilica (2021), Paddington (2023), City Of Troy (2024) and Delacroix (2025).
He is also going for a fourth consecutive win in the race and looks to have doubled down his efforts in order to do so.
Tipster View: Ben Linfoot
It is a little surprising to see both Constitution River and Hawk Mountain pointed at the Coral-Eclipse.
Even before the final declarations Constitution River is a best of 11/8 and Hawk Mountain a best of 5/1, and there aren’t many examples where O’Brien ran two that short in the betting in the Coral-Eclipse.
Indeed, despite having run multiple runners in the Eclipse on 14 occasions, only twice has O’Brien fielded two runners at single-figure prices in the race – and interestingly he won neither renewal.
In 2014 he saddled up Verrazano (7/1) and War Command (8/1), with both running down the field behind Mukhadram, while in 2018 Saxon Warrior (9/4) and Happily (11/2) were beaten by Roaring Lion.
That offers a slither of hope for punters wanting to take on the pair, but in all honesty that looks a tactic fraught with danger after O’Brien has so clearly strengthened his hand in his bid for a fourth consecutive win in the race and 10th overall.
Perhaps the way to play it is to side with one over the other and the 11/8 about Constitution River makes plenty of appeal.
He did incredibly well to win the Prix du Jockey Club from stall 15 and he could well confirm his superiority over his stablemate at a track that looks set to play to his considerable strengths.
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