Big-race preview & tips: Coral-Eclipse at Sandown

The race revolves around CITY OF TROY in just about every sense and I’m not expecting a shock, with Hans Andersen bound to set a decent gallop and Ryan Moore the best in the business when it comes to avoiding mistakes in terms of finding traffic problems. Punters could do worse than Ghostwriter in the ‘without the favourite’ market as he’s still sitting on a good chunk of potential, but Clive Cox’s colt is not exactly being missed around 15/8 and it’s just a race to savour.

Ben Linfoot – City Of Troy – Jayarebe straight F/C

This looks straightforward for an in-form City Of Troy and Jayarebe looks the underestimated one to fill the runner-up slot. He’s progressive and on a line through First Look he might well have the beating of second favourite Ghostwriter.

David Ord – Jayarebe (without City Of Troy)

Look the favourite will win this if anywhere near the level he was when winning the Betfred Derby so we’re scrambling around for the best of the rest. In the end the vote goes to JAYAREBE who is 9/2 in the market without the favourite and arrives here right at the top of his game. He beat King’s Gambit in the Hampton Court at Royal Ascot and can go well here under a similarly positive ride.

Pace Forecast : Even

Draw Bias : N/A

Specific Pace Hint : CITY OF TROY (USA) will be a popular selection and shouldn’t be concerned by any pace scenario.

Individual Price Hint : CITY OF TROY (USA) looks to have a good chance but has been beaten once before when trading at odds on in-running.

What the connections say

With a superstar colt comes “pressure”, concedes Aidan O’Brien, but also “excitement” – and that and more will be in play for the master of Ballydoyle when he saddles City Of Troy for the Coral-Eclipse on Saturday.

So disappointing in the 2000 Guineas, for which he had been the red-hot favourite throughout the long winter months, the Justify colt roared back at Epsom in the Derby, and now becomes O’Brien’s first winner of the premier Classic to go to the Eclipse.

O’Brien – who has seven Eclipse victories on his CV, the most recent of them being Paddington 12 months ago – has been happy with what he has seen since Epsom, but acknowledges City Of Troy will face one or two new experiences at Sandown. He has grown up and matured and we’ve been very happy with everything since Epsom,” he said. It was a very disappointing run at Newmarket and we were going into a lot of unknown territories at Epsom.

“We had a long way to get back from and you are never sure until it happens. We knew what he was last year, we knew what he was able to do, but we knew what happened in Newmarket – there was a lot riding on it (the Derby) for everybody.

“I was delighted, relieved, thrilled for everybody really. All you can ever do is your best and that is what we do every day. Hopefully everything goes well – he seems well, so hopefully he runs a good race. He’s a unique horse and with that type there has to be pressure, everyone knows what he can do and there’s a sense of excitement and anticipation to see what is going to happen.

“It’s his first run over a mile and a quarter, it’s his first run on a right-handed track and Sandown is undulating as well. There’s a lot of unknowns, it’s his first run against older horses, so I think everyone is looking forward to it.”

He went on: “We never thought any distance was a problem for him, from his time as a two-year-old he always galloped through the line, that’s what he does, he never seemed to be stopping in any of his races.

“We didn’t think coming back in trip would be a problem for him and I’m sure the lads have an eye on the (Breeders’ Cup) Classic at the end of the year, obviously they make their minds up race to race, but I think they have their eye on that.”

In third place at Epsom was stablemate Los Angeles, who stepped up to the plate to land the Irish Derby at the Curragh.

O’Brien went on: “He (City Of Troy) proved what he could do at Epsom over a mile and a half and the lads are very happy to expose horses to new things, they are not afraid of travelling and not afraid of getting beat, which is great for racing, they let them compete to see what will happen. If we’d wanted to play safe, he would probably have been a very short price in the Irish Derby; because he didn’t go, all the horses who went to Epsom competed again. So all those factors came into it and we obviously had another horse with a chance of winning it.

“I suppose they thought the Eclipse was the right thing to do for the bigger picture, taking on older horses for the first time and some three-year-olds, it definitely wasn’t the wrong thing for the horse either, as we’d learn more about him.I’m sure we considered the Eclipse for our other Derby winners, but I’m not sure any of them had the pace he had at two. They were all great horses, but he was champion two-year-old and won a Dewhurst.

“He had that profile from the very first day he raced and he has just looked different. He’s unique for us in what he is already, and I suppose we have to try to help him and guide him in the right direction and help him perform to the best of his ability. As he is at the moment, he is just really unique really.”

Joseph O’Brien will attempt to spoil the party when Al Riffa takes on the mighty City Of Troy. The son of Wootton Bassett was poised for a step up in trip following his most recent run at Saratoga, but has impressed connections since returning from the US, with a rethink seeing the four-year-old rerouted to this high-class 10-furlong event.

“He’s in very good form since America, originally it wasn’t our intention to come here, but he’s been very well since Saratoga,” said O’Brien. “It looks like a competitive renewal of the race with a few unexposed ones in there, but we hope we can mix it with them. We will just ride our own race and get a nice set-up for our horse.

“He ran really well in the Prix Ganay and even in America the last day he ran much better than the finishing position would suggest, so we are excited about the horse for the season ahead and hopefully he can keep taking forward steps.”

Al Riffa’s participation has led to Kieran Shoemark picking up the spare ride aboard Roger Teal’s Dancing Gemini, replacing Dylan Browne McMonagle. The son of Camelot has already clashed with City Of Troy once this season, with eight and a quarter lengths separating the pair in the Derby. However, Teal is hopeful a drop back to 10 furlongs can help bridge the gap between the Epsom winner and his French 2000 Guineas runner-up.

“He’s been very good, everything has gone nicely. We’ve just been ticking him over, really, and everything’s gone according to plan,” said the trainer. “He didn’t disgrace us at all (in the Derby). We’d have wanted a better trip round ideally, we were a long way back and then ended up going wide on the turn in and scrimmaging for a position.

“He ended up coming wide on dead ground from the day before so it wasn’t ideal, but taking that into consideration, he ran a blinder. The track will probably be more up his street and coming back a few furlongs won’t hurt him at all, everything seems to be a lot better suited to him. We deliberately missed Ascot to keep him fresh for this. Ascot comes pretty quick after Epsom and we knew we were going to have a battle at Epsom whatever happened.

“We decided before we ran there that we would keep our powder dry for the Eclipse, so hopefully it pays off.”

Owner Jeff Smith is represented by both Clive Cox’s Ghostwriter and Andrew Balding’s See The Fire, but it is the former who will carry the main hopes after two sterling efforts in Classic company this term.

Last year’s Royal Lodge winner was fourth in what has worked out as a red-hot 2000 Guineas on his return to action, while his brave effort to fill the same position in the Prix du Jockey Club has connections craving a return to a sounder surface at the London track.

“His fourth in the Guineas was a commendable effort, and that form has been franked by the Richard Hannon colts Rosallion and Haatem,” said Cox. “They finished just in front of him at Newmarket and have flown the flag for the Guineas since in Ireland and at Royal Ascot.

“We hoped he’d deal with what we thought would be just slightly easier ground in France, but the times were reflective of proper soft ground and I think it just took a little bit of his punch away from him. We are pleased to remain at a mile and a quarter and we are very much looking forward to Saturday. The way he finished off on the rising ground in the Royal Lodge was very pleasing and I see no reason why Sandown won’t suit him.”

Brian Meehan gives Jayarebe the chance to become his second Eclipse winner after registering his second win of the season at Royal Ascot. It is 18 years since David Junior struck for the Manton handler, but he has an improving colt on his hands in Jayarebe, who is deserving of this move into deep waters after his Hampton Court Stakes triumph.

Ahead of a key British Champions Series event, Meehan said: “I know they thought King’s Gambit was an unlucky loser at Royal Ascot, but Sean (Levey) committed Jayarebe early and he hit the line strong. We ran a very straightforward race and I don’t think you could say we were lucky winners. He’s very progressive and apart from Chester, where he didn’t handle the track, he’s done nothing wrong. He’s very, very good and he’s going to keep improving.”

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