We’re back in Group 1 action tomorrow at Sandown with the Coral Eclipse. It’s a 1m2f race for horses aged 3 years and older. 3 year olds carry 8 stone 13 – Delacroix, Camille Pissarro, Ruling Court and Hotazhell. The 4 year olds, Ombudsman and Sosie will be carrying 9 stone 9.
Topping the market is Ombudsman who is now the highest rated flat horse currently in training in the world, with a rating of 128. He’s extremely well fancied and trading at even money after his emphatic performance in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot last month.
Starting with our THM Score we can see Ombudsman’s performance at Royal Ascot was highly regarded, achieving an 897 and almost breaking the elusive 900 barrier. This score last time out is way clear of the rest of the field, with next best being Sosie who posted an 834 and Camille Pissarro who posted an 833. Both these scores were achieved in France on Good to Soft ground. Delacroix and Ruling Court both under achieved last time out, with their scores dipping from previous races.
Both Ruling Court's weaker performances have come on Good To Firm ground. The going is set to be Good tomorrow. Ruling Court is undefeated and 3 from 3 on Good ground. Sosie is also 3 from 3 on Good ground so these two will be hoping the going remains as it is.
Delacroix went off the 2/1 favourite in the Derby last month but ended up too far back from the off. He didn’t find much up the home straight either, but he’ll be back down in trip tomorrow in more familiar territory and to a trip in which he is 2 from 2. All the top 4 in the market have won over 1m2f before but the same can’t be said for Ruling Court or Hotazhell who will both be up in trip tomorrow.
From a course form perspective only Ombudsman and Ruling Court have run at Sandown before. For Ombudsman this was his only loss so far, where he came 2nd in May this year. This was his seasonal reappearance though so we can definitely cut him a bit of slack for this. Ruling Court won his career debut, which was at Sandown. This was last year but he hasn’t run at the track since.
On our Average Speed tab we can see the standouts are Ombudsman, who ran 2kph faster than the THM Standard Average last time out for races run at Ascot, on the Good To Firm ground and over 1m2f. Camille Pissarro posted 2.22kph faster than the THM Standard Average last time out for races run at Chantilly, on Good To Soft ground and over 1m2f. However, you must tread carefully with speed figures posted in French races as the standard averages tend to be quite slow. Still a solid performance though.
Best of luck!