French Derby winner Constitution River is among nine contenders left in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday, with Aidan O’Brien also retaining Hawk Mountain, Causeway and Flushing Meadows for the £1million Group One.
The latest confirmation stage has put the Chantilly Classic winner at the centre of the first major all-aged clash of the British Flat season, over Sandown’s 1m1f209y trip on 4 July.
O’Brien had indicated last week that Ballydoyle still had a decision to make between Constitution River and Hawk Mountain, the Prix du Jockey Club runner-up, but both remain in the Sandown reckoning for now.
King’s Gambit Added To Wathnan Eclipse Team
Donnacha O’Brien’s A Boy Named Susie, fourth in the French Derby, and Joseph O’Brien’s Galen are also in contention, strengthening the Irish challenge around one of the summer’s key Group Ones.
The home defence is headed by Owen Burrows’ Gethin, who chased home subsequent Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner Ombudsman in the Brigadier Gerard at Sandown. Burrows said James Doyle sat on Gethin on Saturday and that connections were “looking forward to Saturday” after what he described as routine work.
Wathnan Racing have also paid the £50,000 supplementary fee for King’s Gambit, who could serve as a pacemaker, while Roger Varian’s Saddadd completes the possible field after winning the Gordon Richards Stakes and finishing third in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
According to IrishRacing.com, the nine-horse list leaves Sandown with a live three-year-old-versus-older-horse Eclipse shape, and with Constitution River now carrying Classic form into a race O’Brien has repeatedly targeted with elite middle-distance colts.
