Coral-Eclipse preview | What lies next for two-time Prince Of Wales's winner Ombudsman?

The Coral-Eclipse is a bit of an enigma of a race.

Unlike a lot of top-level events, it’s not an early-closer, which in theory gives owners and trainers more time to assess the development of their contender over the initial months of the season before committing to a demanding middle-distance race that sits between Royal Ascot and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

This certainly makes a difference for those with three-year-olds who are either at (or close to) the top level, though in truth most of the owners with suitable horses can probably stump up the readies for a late supplementary entry without asking for a lend. It’s also a race that suits those potential non-stayers in the Derby, rather than asking them to go again in the Irish equivalent a week earlier.

The older Eclipse winners have often been those who have run in the race previously and not gone off to stud/the paddocks; 2014 winner Mukhadram was third 12 months earlier. But it’s also not unusual to see slow-burning types make their impact on the first attempt; the 2020 winner Ghaiyyath was a good example, his Sandown victory his second win in a five-year-old season that also yielded wins in the Coronation Cup (run at Newmarket) and Juddmonte International, while even 2016 winner Hawkbill – despite winning in his Classic season – was making his Group 1 debut having been steadily brought along.

Enable – who chased home Ghaiyyath a year after winning the race herself - was another five-year-old winner, but she was obviously more precocious and, in truth, something of a freak. To win an Oaks by five lengths and then be winning the King George by a similar distance three years later was just not normal. And that’s still the view of John Gosden when asked to put Ombudsman’s second Prince Of Wales’s win into context.

“He’s right up there but when you’re talking about Enable, she won everything.”

Gosden knows all about back-to-back Prince Of Wales’s winners, having done it before with Muhtarram in 1994/5 when the race was still a Group 2, and he knows something about Coral-Eclipse winners as well, though it’s worth noting that Muhtarram was well beaten in it on his next start and Gosden’s first didn’t come until Nathaniel in 2012.

Perhaps crucially, none of his four went from Ascot to Sandown, with his three-year-old winners going straight from Epsom and his older winners making their seasonal reappearance in the race.

In hindsight then – for all the defeat of Ombudsman by Delacroix last July still doesn’t make total sense but perhaps sums up the unpredictable nature of horse racing that keeps us all on the edge of our seats/flying by the seat of our pants – it was perhaps a little inevitable.

After all, three-year-olds have won the last five renewals, making the most of the 10 lb that they receive from the older horses, coupled with a race programme that has often given them a longer gap between their top-level races, plus a (general) lack of more than one truly top-class older opponent. After all, three of the last five favourites were three-year-olds, albeit very classy ones trained by Aidan O’Brien.

So, what’s the Eclipse story this year after Ombudsman’s career-best effort on Wednesday? A win described by Timeform as “by our reckoning, the best performance in Europe since Baaeed, narrowly ahead of the figure awarded to his Champion Stakes conqueror Calandagan.”

He’s staying at a mile and a quarter - “He’s too good to go a mile-and-a-half," according to Gosden Snr (that comment is all yours Lydia...) – and only a couple of bookmakers have him odds-against for next month’s contest which takes place on July 4 – a gap of just 17 days, the same as last year. He’s coped with a quick turnaround before, and it obviously didn’t do him much harm last season as he went on to easily reverse form with Delacroix at York the following month, but it probably isn’t ideal.

There’s also the question of Sandown. He has looked uneasy on the track at times - certainly when compared to how comfortable he has appeared in three starts at Ascot – and has been beaten twice in three starts there, unimpressive when beating Gethin on the other.

But will it be too tempting when connections look at the potential three-year-old opponents?

City Of Troy did the Derby/Eclipse double in 2024, but that was a poor renewal, and Christmas Day is more likely to head down the Irish Derby and St Leger route following his strong-staying performance in desperate ground.

The more likely Ballydoyle youngsters appear to be the Prix du Jockey Club one-two Constitution River and Hawk Mountain, with last week’s winner Precise likely to wait for later assignments against her own sex (Falmouth?), and Diamond Necklace seemingly on target for the Pretty Polly at the weekend.

But did Gstaad throw his name into the ring with his rallying second to Bow Echo in the St James’s Palace this week?

The Sussex would be the more obvious route (and perhaps race) but is there any real reason why he should reverse the form with George Boughey’s (now surely) undoubted star in a race that often favours those with a turn of foot? In that department, in comparison to Bow Echo at least, Gstaad is lacking.

What he’s not lacking is stamina and determination, and I don’t get the impression that Aidan O’Brien and ‘The Lads™’ are the type to repeatedly bang their heads against the same brick wall.

Though more straightforward, Gstaad reminds me a little of Oratorio, the forgotten horse from that great generation of future stallions that included Footstepsinthesand, Dubawi and Shamardal.

Beaten in both Guineas, Oratorio was also held fair and square in the St James’s Palace which that year – 2005 - was run at York. Just 18 days later, he was sent off at 12/1 but managed to run down the front-running Derby winner Motivator, before going on to win the Irish Champion Stakes a couple of months later.

Might Gstaad need a longer break? Quite possibly. He’s already had nine races - just three behind the two-year-older Ombudsman – but not once has he shied away or taken a backward step. Twenty-one days between his Guineas runs? Tick. Twenty-four days between the Curragh and Ascot? Tick.

The perfect example of not always believing what you see on paper in the sales brochure, Gstaad is a son of the top-class Aussie/Irish sprinter Starspangledbanner, his dam was winless in 11 starts, all but one of which came over five furlongs, and none of his five siblings have won over further than six furlongs. Perhaps his half-brother Vandeek – whose first foals landed this year - will one day return from a spell at stud over a mile.

Silliness aside, would you look at Tuesday’s performance and swear that the Eclipse wouldn’t be in range for Gstaad? I wouldn’t.

Perhaps connections will dip their toe into the Juddmonte International instead, the easier finish of York perhaps the safer bet.

Racing doesn’t need that, though, racing needs battles like we saw at the Royal meeting; like the St James’s Palace, whose to-and-fro battle was emulated by the stayers in the Gold Cup two days later.

I’m not sure Ombudsman will run at Sandown, and if there’s feasible opposition, I’ll be looking to take him on if he does. Constitution River and Hawk Mountain may be the more obvious ones for Coolmore, who love the race, but personally, I hope Gstaad heads to Esher. And I’ll be backing him if he does.

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