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Stars to be eclipsed at Sandown

By Angus | July 1, 2009

Odds-on favourite and 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner Sea The Stars simply must be opposed in this Saturday’s Coral Eclipse Stakes on Saturday.

There are far more attractive options in the field when the history of Sandown’s big Group 1 race is considered, and the betting market is just crying out for brave punters to take on the John Oxx-trained favourite.

That isn’t to knock Sea The Stars’s class, which was evident at Newmarket in the Guineas, nor his ability to stay a mile-and-a-half, which was confirmed by his Derby win (watch the race below).

It’s just that a brief look at the Coral Eclipse shows that both favourites and Derby winners have horrible, horrible records in the race. You have to go back to Nashwan in 1989 to find a Derby winner who won the Eclipse, and Refuse to Bend is the only favourite to have delivered in the last ten years.

Since then Motivator and Authorised, two of the most highly-rated Derby winners in recent memory, have failed to deliver at Sandown’s right-handed track.

Watch for a great, late and ultimately unsuccessful run by our selection, Rip Van Winkle. He can improve on this on Saturday.

To be fair, Sea The Stars has already emulated Nashwan in one respect by winning the Guineas and the Derby. If any horse can follow that up with an Eclipse win, this is the one. But at 10/11 – some bookies go with 5/6 – it’s not a risk I fancy taking.

With this in mind it’s tempting to lay Sea The Stars on Betfair – and I’m sure my colleague Bernie will be doing just that. But I prefer tipping winners to laying losers, so I’m looking for a betting tip that can win.

I’m interested in the next three horses in the betting, which historically have a better record of producing Eclipse winners than the market leader. They are: last year’s St Leger winner Conduit, Aidan O’Brien’s Rip Van Winkle, and the Luca Cumani-trained Cima de Triomphe.

Conduit followed up his Doncaster victory with a Breeders Cup Turf win, but was subsequently beaten over Eclipse course and distance by Cima de Tromphe in the Brigadier Gerard. Although the distance was only a nose, that race would be enough to make me prefer the 10/1 available on Cima de Triomphe (at Bet365 and BlueSquare among others) to the 4/1 on offer about Conduit (again at BlueSquare).

Sandwiched in between the pair in the betting is Rip Van Winkle, fourth in both 2,000 Guineas and Derby. If you watch both those races you’ll see the dark blue Coolmore colours coming with a late run, seemingly just too late to catch Sea The Stars.

Sandown is a completely different track to Epsom and the Eclipse a completely different race. I’ll happily back Rip Van Winkle to make it third time lucky against Sea The Stars, and the 9/2 available at race sponsors Coral looks a good bet. Put me down for three points.

Selection