Exclusive: Delacroix Defies Traffic Chaos to Land Thrilling Coral-Eclipse for Aiden O’Brien and Ryan Moore

A tactical and slightly chaotic running of the Group 1 Coral Eclipse saw Delacroix defy significant traffic problems under Ryan Moore, to give trainer Aidan O’Brien a ninth success in the contest.

Despite attracting only six runners, this year’s renewal was full of quality, with the 2000 Guineas winner, Ruling Court, the Prix Du jockey Club winner, Camille Pissarro and the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes winner, Ombudsman all lining up.

It was a race that had to be watched a few times to fully comprehend how the race un-folded. With the field constantly changing and jostling for position, it makes Delacroix’s victory even more impressive, considering he was unable to implement his preferred front running approach. 

Last of the six with two furlongs to go, he was boxed in by stable-mate Camille Pissarro and forced to switch, giving first run to the field. He powered down the outside to lead in the dying strides, narrowly denying Ombudsman for second, with Ruling Court back in third.

It was Ballydoyle’s third victory in successive years and Delacroix joins a star-studded list of previous winners, such as Enable, St Mark Basilica and City Of Troy.

A delighted O’Brien said: “Ryan [Moore] said he changed his plan four times. Going out, he was happy to make the running, but clearly, he wasn’t the only one and the picture of the race kept changing. He said to me at the beginning of the week he’s a very fast horse and he wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a miler, but I always thought he was a mile and a quarter horse. As the race went on that’s all that was going through my head." 

“Ryan stayed calm, and we had one go at it. What he did in the last two furlongs was very different, but the way he quickened in his two trials, he wasn’t doing it like a mile and a half horse. He’d get to the two marker, and he was taking off. On this latest occasion, It was incredible to make that amount of ground up in that short space of time," he told SportsBoom.com. 

“This is a very good race, the second is a fantastic horse and it takes a bit of beating to go and beat the older horses.”

It is unclear where he will head next, with dropping back to a mile a possibility for a horse who evidently possesses a wicked turn of foot.

“He’s hardy, he’s not soft and he’s a big physical horse,” continued O’Brien. 

“He’s very strong and he’s a bit of an unusual son of Dubawi."

“He shouldn’t be afraid to race, Ryan will be the best judge as to how much he had left, but where he came from and what he did to quicken, you’d be surprised if there was anything left, because coming up that hill is tough."

“We might go back to a mile, we’ll see what the lads say at home, but if he stays over this trip I’d also be delighted. When you can relax and quicken like he did, it’s a brilliant thing to have up your sleeve, I think it’s a tough mile and a quarter round here, but I didn’t see any fractions because there was so much going on through the race.”

GROUP RACES BECKON FOR CLASSIC

Richard Hannon was delighted to see Classic get his head in front after narrow defeats in the valuable Coral Challenge Handicap under Sean Levey.

A change of tactics was deemed the key to this horse, changing from his usual hold up style to dictating proceedings from the front and this difference may propel this horse to Group company.

“I was sick of seeing him be unlucky,” said Hannon. 

“He’s an extremely talented horse and has had a lot of near misses."

“He’s made several jockeys look like they gave him moderate rides, but I think that was more on the horse."

“He never used to settle, we had to get him behind horses and show him a brick wall because he was far too keen. This year he has grown up, so we thought we’d let him roll. He could go back to seven furlongs next time, he has plenty of speed.”

SPRINT STAKES FOR RUMSTAR

Two of the last four renewals of the Group 3 Coral Charge, formerly the Sprint Stakes, had been won by trainer Ed Walker, but while his Balmoral Lady could only finish ninth, Jonathan Portman’s Rumstar produced a career best performance to claim the honours under Rob Hornby.

Formerly won by smart sprinter Battaash, the five-year-old shouldered a penalty to arrive late in the day and run-down long-time leader She’s Quality, for Irish raider Jack Davison.

Portman said: “Everything needs to go just right on the day for him, he didn’t like Haydock and at Royal Ascot he got into top gear too soon and we were a little wide, it just didn’t work."

“We made a conscious decision today to hold onto him and come through the field, which is risky at Sandown because you can often find traffic, but Rob found the gap perfectly."

“We may have to step back up to six furlongs next time, because of the lack of options over five.”