Coral-Eclipse latest: Ground likely to play its part in Group One date for Gethin

Owen Burrows will be keeping a close eye on ground conditions at Sandown before deciding whether to let Gethin line up in the Coral-Eclipse on Saturday week.

A runaway winner of the Magnolia Stakes at Kempton on his first start of the season, the Wathnan Racing-owned four-year-old was then beaten just a neck by last week’s brilliant Prince of Wales’s Stakes scorer Ombudsman in the Brigadier Gerard at Sandown.

Gethin’s connections opted to sidestep the Royal meeting in favour of waiting for a Group One assignment next weekend, but whether that takes place at Sandown or in France remains up in the air.

When asked whether Gethin was on course for the Eclipse, Burrows told the Press Association on Friday: “I think so. He’s obviously got the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud option the following day, so we’ll just keep an eye on the weather and keep in touch with the weather people and see what’s going to happen after such a scorching hot week.

“He’ll go for one of the two for definite. We just wouldn’t want to run him on rapid quick ground and obviously it’s a bit of a concern after such a hot week. There is bits of pieces of rain around, so we’ll just keep an eye on that at the beginning of next week and see if anything is changing.”

The Lambourn handler was pleased see Ombudsman boost the Brigadier Gerard form in spectacular fashion at Royal Ascot, adding: “I thought that was as good a performance as I’ve seen for a long time at Ascot last week and I’m not just being biased as such – I thought it was mighty impressive.

“Ombudsman obviously had the 7lb penalty at Sandown. It was only nine days after he ran in Dubai that we ran at Kempton, so I’d say he was fit enough, but obviously that 7lb penalty needs to be taken into account and what he did at Ascot, you don’t see that very often.”

Gethin is the 5-2 second-favourite for the Eclipse with the sponsors, who make Aidan O’Brien’s French Derby winner Constitution River their 2-1 market leader and his stablemate Hawk Mountain a 9-2 shot.

Coral’s David Stevens said: “It’s been a lively week in the Coral-Eclipse market, with Gethin backed, Ombudsman ruled out, and now Constitution River apparently very much in the reckoning to give Aidan O’Brien an unprecedented fourth successive victory in the race.

“Given his trainer’s fantastic record in the Coral-Eclipse, if he lines up next Saturday, Constitution River will start favourite for the £1million showpiece.”