Coral-Eclipse memories: Great clashes of the generations at Sandown
With three-year-old Vadeni favourite for Saturday's Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, Timeform's John Ingles looks at past renewals in which the classic generation have clashed with older rivals.
Dancing Brave v Triptych (1986)
Dancing Brave, or perhaps more precisely his jockey Greville Starkey, had something of a point to prove when lining up for the Eclipse just a month after an infamous defeat in the Derby. But with Shahrastani spectacularly following up his Epsom success with an eight-length victory in the Irish Derby the previous Saturday, Dancing Brave's form was strong and he was sent off the shortest-priced favourite for the Eclipse since Brigadier Gerard 14 years earlier.
The other three-year-old in the field was the Kentucky Derby runner-up Bold Arrangement but he’d finished a long way behind Dancing Brave at Epsom. Instead, it was Dancing Brave’s older rivals who provided his sternest opposition, and in beating them comprehensively in a strongly-run race (he recorded the best time performance of the whole season), he put up the best effort of his career to that point.
Four lengths behind him in second was the top-class French four-year-old filly Triptych, who would win the Champion Stakes later in the year after finishing behind Dancing Brave again when third in both the King George and Arc. A never-dangerous third at Sandown was the six-year-old Teleprompter, winner of the previous season’s Arlington Million. Teleprompter and Bedtime were among the first geldings to contest a Group 1 in Britain following a change in the rules which had previously barred them from such races.
Nashwan v Indian Skimmer and Warning (1989)
The ‘race of the century’ label is used a bit too often to be taken seriously but such was the hype ahead of three-year-old Nashwan’s clash with top-class older rivals Indian Skimmer and Warning in the 1989 Eclipse.
Nashwan had recently added to his 2000 Guineas success with a breath-taking five-length victory in the Derby and started at 2/5 to retain his unbeaten record at Sandown. Four-year-old Warning had been Timeform’s Horse of the Year the previous season and was stepping up from a mile for the first time after his latest top-class performance when winning the Queen Anne Stakes by four lengths. Nashwan’s other chief rival (it was 80/1 bar three in the field of six) was the five-year-old mare Indian Skimmer who had been a brilliant winner of the 1988 Champion Stakes and had won both her races in the current season.
All three of the principals were held up, and, despite neither Indian Skimmer nor Warning giving their running, Nashwan ended up having a harder race than his five-length winning margin would suggest. Reflecting on the race at the end of the season, Nashwan’s rider Willie Carson admitted ‘I gave that horse too far a lead and I asked my horse to make it up in too short a time…and he did it but it was a hell of an effort to do so’.
‘That horse’ was Indian Skimmer’s 200/1 pacemaker Opening Verse who was still well clear turning for home and, having been headed by Nashwan, and despite tiring, held on for second by a short head from Indian Skimmer with Warning a well-held fourth.
Pilsudski v Benny The Dip and Bosra Sham (1997)
Benny The Dip was in the unusual position for a Derby winner of being an underdog in the 1997 Eclipse. That was partly down to him being a narrow winner of what proved a run-of-the-mill Derby in which the hot favourite Entrepreneur had disappointed. But Benny The Dip’s odds of 6/1, making him only third choice in the Eclipse betting, also reflected the fact that he was up against a couple of top-notch older rivals in a mouth-watering clash.
The winner of the previous season’s 1000 Guineas and Champion Stakes, the four-year-old filly Bosra Sham was sent off the 4/7 favourite in a field of five after running away with the Prince of Wales’s Stakes by eight lengths on her most recent start. Five-year-old Pilsudski, who’d ended the previous season winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf, had been beaten at Royal Ascot – he was second in the Hardwicke Stakes - but he looked fitter at Sandown where he started at 11/2. It was Pilsudski who came out on top, though in a falsely-run race much of the focus afterwards – hence the Racing Post headline ‘Bosra Shambles’ – was on the nightmare run of the favourite.
After Benny The Dip had set only a very steady pace, Bosra Sham became trapped on the rail behind him. Bosra Sham’s rider Kieren Fallon initially went for a gap on his inner before it closed on him and, once switched wide, she kept on strongly but Pilsudski had the race won by that point under a canny ride from Michael Kinane. They had a length and a quarter to spare at the line, while Benny The Dip held on by a short head from Bosra Sham for second.
Giant’s Causeway v Kalanisi (2000)
The Eclipse was the first of two memorable encounters between three-year-old Giant’s Causeway and four-year-old Kalanisi in what proved to be a sequence of five Group 1 victories for the Ballydoyle colt, all of which were achieved with less than a length to spare. As well as being his first encounter with older rivals, Giant’s Causeway was stepping up to a mile and a quarter for the first time at Sandown after beginning that winning streak with a typically gritty success, after making most, in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
Earlier on the same afternoon at Royal Ascot, the lightly-raced Kalanisi had run a career best to win the Queen Anne Stakes, needing every yard of the stiff mile, also shaping as though more of a test would suit. Neither started favourite, however, and instead it was Derby runner-up Sakhee who was more widely fancied to come out on top for the classic generation in a field which also featured two more leading contenders among the older runners, Shiva and Fantastic Light, who had won the Brigadier Gerard and Prince of Wales’s Stakes respectively last time out.
But after being close up from the outset, Giant’s Causeway was in no mood to relinquish his lead once taking over in front from Fantastic Light’s pacemaker. Pat Eddery appeared to have brought Kalanisi with a perfectly timed challenge inside the final furlong but George Duffield got a terrific response from the rallying Giant’s Causeway who prevailed by a head, the pair of them clear of Shiva, Sakhee and Fantastic Light. The verdict was again a head in Giant’s Causeway’s favour when the first two met again in the Juddmonte International later in the summer.
Notnowcato v Authorized and George Washington (2007)
Unusually, three-year-olds outnumbered their older rivals by five to three in the 2007 Eclipse and with a top-class Derby winner, Authorized, heading the younger generation, the older brigade looked up against it. Authorized was sent off at 4/7, with his chief rival according to the betting being the previous season’s champion three-year-old George Washington, winner of the 2000 Guineas and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
George Washington had originally been retired to stud after being beaten in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on what should have been his final start but returned to training in the spring after failing to deliver as a stallion. Although beaten at odds on for his return in the Queen Anne Stakes, there was enough promise in his close fourth to make him the 4/1 second favourite at Sandown. Just a head separated Authorized and George Washington who fought out a tight finish on the far side but it turned out to be for the places only.
Ryan Moore on the five-year-old Notnowcato, runner-up the previous season and winner since of the Juddmonte International and Tattersalls Gold Cup, had committed early in the straight while his main rivals were still out the back, opting to plough a lone furrow up the stand side. Moore’s manoeuvre proved decisive as Notnowcato responded well and passed the post a length and a half ahead of Authorized on the opposite side of the track.
St Mark's Basilica v Addeybb and Mishriff (2021)
After being restricted to older horses in the Covid-hit season of 2020, the Eclipse was back to serving its purpose as a clash of the generations in 2021 and, despite a field of only four, it fulfilled that role admirably.
Representing the older generations were the top-class four-year-old colt Mishriff and the high-class seven-year-old gelding Addeybb. Both were making their first starts of the season in Britain after lucrative campaigns overseas earlier in the year. Mishriff had won the Saudi Cup and Dubai Sheema Classic, while Addeybb had won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in Australia for the second year running.
However, against the proven Group 1 performers, it was three-year-old St Mark's Basilica who was sent off the even-money favourite having had the fourth member of the field, El Drama, a long way behind him when winning the Prix du Jockey Club last time to complete a double in the French colts' classics. Almost inevitably given the small field, it proved a tactical race but that didn't prevent St Mark's Basilica running out a decisive winner with a top-class performance.
Addeybb cut out the running until Mishriff, who'd taken a strong hold behind him, went on over two furlongs out, but neither had any answer when the patiently-ridden St Mark's Basilica was produced to lead approaching the final furlong. Ryan Moore just needed to push him out for a three and a half length win over Addeybb who regained second from Mishriff by a neck.
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