the eclipse

4 runners oh dear

Would you prefer 15 runners or whatever we had for the Lockinge and Queen Anne with only one group 1 horse turning up, OR Or a small field with at least 2 genuinely competitive, top class animals? The market tells you the answer.

Quality over quantity. Some rather moderate performers have won the Eclipse over the years but not this year.

hills were supposedly 8/1 adeyeb 2 days ago best i saw with them was 11/2 ,as said its still a cracking renewal EVEN WITH JUST THE 4 .

soz for the caps ^^^

prize money down to 6th (£8100).
Pathetic turnout.

An intriguing race and may well come down to which jockey rides the best race - Bosra Shame anyone!!

Playing the percentages I think that Addeybb is the value at 7/2. Rain would be a big bonus.
I'd expect him to make the running so will be a real tactical battle - but he is very tough and loves a stiff right handed track so may be hard to pass if Tom can get the fractions right.

Part of me would like to see St Marks Basillica show a devastating turn of foot and win impressively and proove he is a real top notch 3 year old,  but it's hard to know what the, visually impressive, French form is worth. His Dewhurst win has not exactly worked out very well.

Absolutely. 6th places paid and no takers.  Ridiculous.

hopefull of rain for adeyeb  .

no 7 yo has won the eclipse but addeyeb was very impressive in last seasons champion stakes ,granted he had his" ground" but the forcast is for rain through the day  and we have had a fair bit overnight down south  .top rated here and at least 3 pound clear ,of course we have mishriff and st marks who are very good and prob still progressing but so to is  addeyeb and  for me the value in the race ,had mishriff back in 5th in last years champion stakes over course and dist on heavy going and had some top class opponents behind that day inc magical ,skalletti lord north etc , 7/2 on here and around 4/5 the place looks decent imo.

soz a bit early ! champ stakes at ascot not sandown ^ right handed suits and a tough battler who finds more and  has progressed  through the handicap route into a group 1 performer .

30mm of rain overnight in the south east in places.

Bit surprised they haven't deployed a pace maker for Mishriff? so hopefully no crawl & sprint? Granted a fair gallop, I think he's the one to beat, I've had a few £££ on.

Backing St Marks Basilica.

Mishriff for me - I think if SMB was that good he'd have been running in our classics

I'm a big fan of Addeyyb and have backed him a couple of times. However, even on top form he's up against it here, and at the age of 7 I'm not sure he'll be at his very best anyway. I'm no expert on Australian form but I very much doubt that recent win was of the same level he's shown before.

In my opinion Mishriff was just an average Gp1 winner as a 3yo, similar to the level of Hurricane Lane this year. He's going to need to improve more than average from 3 to 4 in order to keep winning Gp1s. I'm also no expert on dirt form in Saudi, or even if it would be relevant to his grass form, so rightly or wrongly I'm ignoring it. As to his Sheema Classic win, that looks pretty ordinary Gp1 form as far as I'm concerned. That was back in March, you never know, Gosden might get some more improvement out of him from then, but I wasn't very impressed.

Maybe, as people have said, the Dewhurst form hasn't worked out, but that still doesn't detract from the fact that SMB put up a decent time performance when winning it. It's no reflection on him that the rest have gone backwards. The situation with him reminds me very much of what happened with Shamardal. That horse won the Dewhurst in a decent time (a couple of pounds better than SMB). Then won a slowly run French Guineas and Derby, leaving him with plenty in the tank to put up a big performance in the SJP. SMB has won the same French races, which again were not run truly run, so he hasn't had to run anywhere close to the figure he put up in the Dewhurst. This is why I always say that luck often plays a part in some horses' having longer winning sequences than others.

There's no way of knowing for sure if SMB is still capable of running as fast as he did in the Dewhurst, but to me in both of those French races he looked a horse who hadn't been fully extended. I think he still has a big performance in the tank, which would be too good for Addeyyb to give 10lbs to, and Mishriff would need to show better form than he has so far. The one doubt would be if Moore allows the race to develop into a crawl and sprint, as those 10lbs will count for much less than in a truly run race. However, I still think SMB has more like a 1/2 chance so I'm backing him.

Would prob get battered over a mile by Poetic Flare, and by Adayar over a mile and a half, so 10f looks the best option for him and AOB prob see this as a soft looking Eclipse. (and he'd be right)

I think SMB might have a slight edge when it comes to the maths, but I'm not sure about the sort of horses he's been running against. The elders here are very tough and if it turns into a battle 3 out, I can see SMB wandering under pressure and losing the race as a result. He's a lay for me.

Oh dear - made a real mess of that. Figgis, a 1-2 shot looked about right. Well done.

well done winners ,the place on adeyeb saved me !lost small change  on the race .

good stuff Figgis - the 10f races look like SMS's for the taking

Ta chaps. Yes Howellsy, he did it nicely. I can see why you thought he was worth opposing on this season's form and I would've thought the same, but it was the Dewhurst run that was key for me.

what a performance.........juddemont, irsh champion, english champion..........coolmore stud county tipp...........he wont be kept in training.

'Lay' him at 9.4 for The Arc. Someone wants over £1k. Easy money, I firmly believe.

he wont run over 12f.....they have love, snowfall and now broome for those races

another easy win for SMB, seems to be finishing his races off really well and you'd have to hopeful he can win at 12f, now rated 127 OR