Aidan O’Brien is responsible for four of the eight runners confirmed at the
six-day stage for Saturday’s Eclipse S. (Eng-G1), run over one mile and two
furlongs at Sandown.
SO YOU THINK (High Chaparral [Ire]) heads the team for the Irish handler who
won his sixth successive Irish Derby (Ire-G1) on Sunday when Treasure Beach
(Galileo [Ire]) led home a one-two-three for Ballydoyle. So You Think, a
multiple Group 1 winner in Australia, was sent off at long odds-on for the
Prince of Wales’s S. (Eng-G1) at Royal Ascot after having won his first two
starts in Ireland in impressive style. He suffered a narrow defeat at the hands
of Rewilding (Tiger Hill) when ridden by Ryan Moore, but the five-year-old is
likely to need a new pilot this weekend, with the English champion set to ride
Epsom Derby (Eng-G1) and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) hero WORKFORCE (GB)
(King’s Best) for his boss, Sir Michael Stoute.
“We’re looking at the Eclipse, but we’ll see how he is at the start of the
week and we’ll sit down and chat about it,” O’Brien said. “Joseph (O’Brien)
rides him out every day, Seamie (Heffernan) rides him in all his work, and
Seamie rode him the day he won the first time at The Curragh. I don’t think
there’s any scarcity of riders, so we’ll decide if he’s going to run or not
first and then we can talk about who is going to ride him.We’re delighted with
him and everything has been good since Ascot.”
So You Think is joined by stablemates CAPE BLANCO (Galileo [Ire]), JAN
VERMEER (Montjeu [Ire]) — who acted as a pacemaker for So You Think at Royal
Ascot — and ALEXANDER POPE (Danehill Dancer), who is the only three-year-old in
the field.
Workforce is an intended runner and it will be the 2010 Derby and Arc
winner’s second start of the season having made a successful reappearance over
course and distance in the May 26 Brigadier Gerard S. (Eng-G2). CONFRONT (Nayef)
could perform a pace-making role for Sir Michael Stoute’s four-year-old.
The confirmations are completed by last year’s runner-up SRI PUTRA (Oasis
Dream [GB]) and SNOW FAIRY (Intikhab), who could be re-routed to Sandown having
been forced to miss her intended reappearance in the Pretty Polly S. (Ire-G1) on
Saturday when the ground went against her. The trainer will not make a final
decision on her participation until later in the week, however.
“Nothing is definite with a horse who has gone to Ireland and come back in
the space of 36 hours,” Ed Dunlop said. She seems fine and has started back
cantering. She lost quite a bit of weight because of the journey, but she is
putting it back on rapidly. I have also entered her in the Lancashire Oaks
(Eng-G2) at Haydock, just in case something weird happened with the weather, so
we’ll see. I think she’ll run somewhere this weekend as long as I’m happy with
her as, after that, we are going to get a bit lost with her.”
The Lancashire Oaks is contested over one mile and three furlongs. Aside from
Snow Fairy, Royal Ascot winners BANIMPIRE (Holy Roman Emperor) and FOX HUNT (Dubawi)
are among the 14 entries for the Group 2 race.