Stoute Stands Tall In Eclipse History

[Wandering Eyes]

Regarded by many as Great Britain’s premier 10-furlong weight-for-age race, the G1 Coral-Eclipse S., run at Sandown Park in the height of summer, has a rich history which supports its status as one of the world’s greatest races. Some legendary horses are among its past winners, with many great trainers and jockeys standing proud on its roll of honour. None stands prouder than Sir Michael Stoute, who holds the training record having saddled the winner on six occasions. Some would argue that he merely shares the record because the Manton-based Alec Taylor, Jr trained five outright winners and one dead-heater between 1909 and 1923; but any agonising over the semantics will become redundant if Stoute can win it again this Saturday, when he is set to be represented by Regal Reality (GB) (Intello {Ger}), the winner at Sandown in May of the race named after the great 1972 Eclipse winner Brigadier Gerard (GB) (Queen’s Hussar {GB}).

Opened in 1875, Sandown Park, in Esher in the London’s south-western suburbs, was the first racecourse developed as a commercial venture, charging race-goers for admission. It was so successful in this respect that it was used as the blueprint for both Leopardstown in Ireland and Belmont Park in New York when they opened in 1888 and 1905, respectively.

Sandown’s founding fathers were keen to make a statement of their aspirations for excellence so they created a new race to be their track’s flagship event. What better name to give a great race than that of arguably the greatest horse in history: the mighty Eclipse (GB) (Marske {GB}), undefeated in his 18 races in 1769 and ’70 before becoming a breed-shaping stallion.

First run in 1888, the Eclipse S. was the most valuable race in the world on its inauguration, boasting a prize of £10,000 thanks to the generosity of Leopold de Rothschild. It was won by a very good horse the first year: Bendigo (GB) (Ben Battle {GB}), who had a Derby winner and an Oaks winner behind him. The third running was won by a Derby winner, Ayrshire (GB) (Hampton {GB}). By the end of the 19th century its winners included Orme, Isinglass, St Frusquin, Persimmon, Flying Fox and Diamond Jubilee.

Benefitting in recent decades from one of the longest-running sponsorships in British racing courtesy of an arrangement with Coral Bookmakers which dates back to 1976, the Eclipse remains a natural target for many of the best middle-distance horses in Europe with Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) in 2015 being the most recent of the many champions who have completed the Derby/Eclipse double.

Sir Michael Stoute first won the Eclipse in 1993 with Sheikh Mohammed’s Opera House (GB) (Sadler’s Wells), who was not a former Classic performer because he was a late-developer, but ranks as one of the race’s better winners even so. Opera House enjoyed a terrific season as a 5-year-old in 1993, his Eclipse triumph being sandwiched between victories in Great Britain’s two most prestigious 12-furlong weight-for-age contests: the G1 Coronation Cup at Epsom and the G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond S. at Ascot. He went on to enjoy significant success as a stallion in Japan, where his offspring included T M Opera O (Jpn) and Meisho Samson (Jpn). The former held at one time the world record for earnings thanks to a haul which included victories in the G1 Japan Cup, G1 Arima Kinen and G1 Tenno Sho, while the latter landed the G1 Tokyo Yushun and G1 Tenno Sho.

Stoute took the Eclipse again the following year when Sheikh Maktoum al Maktoum’s Ezzoud (Ire) (Last Tycoon {Ire}) emulated Opera House by winning the race as a 5-year-old. This was one of three great weight-for-age triumphs for Ezzoud as he was a dual winner of the G1 Juddmonte International S. at York. His record may well, with better luck, have been even better still because he was hampered in the early stages of the ‘King George’ at Ascot three weeks later and unseated his regular jockey Walter Swinburn. Ezzoud subsequently joined the roster of the Royal Studs at Sandringham and sired some smart horses before dying relatively young

Three years later Stoute completed the remarkable achievement of winning the Eclipse with a 5-year-old three times within six years, saddling Lord Weinstock’s homebred Pilsudski (Ire) (Polish Precedent) to win the race in 1997. Pilsudski ended that year voted Europe’s Champion Older Horse with his Eclipse victory being followed by triumphs in the G1 Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown, the G1 Champion S. at Newmarket and the G1 Japan Cup in Tokyo. Like Opera House, he then went to stud in Japan.

Pilsudski, incidentally, was one of two magnificent 5-year-olds whom Stoute had in training that year, when he also lit up the season with the exploits of Pilsudski’s contemporary Singspiel (Ire) (In The Wings {GB}), who carried Sheikh Mohammed’s colours to victory in the G1 Dubai World Cup at Nad al Sheba, the G1 Coronation Cup at Epsom and the G1 Juddmonte International S. at York before retiring to Dalham Hall Stud.

Stoute’s next Eclipse winner (in 2001) was merely aged four: Cheveley Park Stud’s chestnut home-bred Medicean (GB) (Machiavellian), who successfully stepped up in distance following wins over a mile earlier in the season in the G1 Lockinge S. at Newbury and the G2 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot. He retired at the end of the year to Cheveley Park, where he has sired eight individual Group/Grade 1 winners including the Cheveley Park homebreds Dutch Art (GB) and Nannina (GB).

Normal service was resumed in 2007 when Stoute won the Eclipse with another 5-year-old: Notnowcato (GB) (Inchinor {GB}), who benefitted from an outstanding ride by Ryan Moore to defeat that year’s Derby hero Authorized (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) and the previous year’s 2,000 Guineas winner George Washington (Ire) (Danehill). Owned and bred by the de Rothschild family, Notnowcato was a fitting winner of the race which had got off the ground 119 years previously thanks to the generosity of their forebear Leopold de Rothschild. Notnowcato subsequently retired to Stanley House Stud where his winners were headed by the well-travelled champion sprinter Redkirk Warrior (GB), three times a Group 1 winner in Melbourne.

Stoute’s record-breaking (or record-equalling, depending on whether one counts a dead-heat as one win or half a win) sixth Eclipse winner was the Niarchos’ family’s impeccably-bred Ulysses (Ire), a son of the 2001 Derby winner Galileo (Ire) and the 2007 Oaks winner Light Shift (Kingmambo). An unplaced runner in the 2016 Derby, Ulysses, like all of Stoute’s Eclipse heroes, improved markedly as he matured, ending 2017 as Cartier Champion Older Horse thanks to beating Barney Roy (Ire) (Excelebration {Ire}) by a nose in the Eclipse and Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) by two lengths in the G1 Juddmonte International S. at York. Ulysses then joined the roster at Cheveley Park, conveniently filling a gap created by the retirement that year of Medicean.

In the run-up to this year’s Eclipse, most eyes will be on the mighty Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who ran Enable so close in last year’s G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf, but Stoute’s representative Regal Reality (GB) (Intello {Ger}) deservedly ranks as third choice in the betting following his impressive victory in the G3 Matchbook Brigadier Gerard S. at Sandown in May. Another typically progressive representative of the stable, the Cheveley Park homebred seems to be the latest beneficiary of his trainer’s patient methods.

Asked after Regal Reality’s Sandown win about the secret of his success with older horses, Stoute modestly explained that, “We are lucky to be sent some very well-bred horses, owned by people who allow us to take our time with them. And I have great staff looking after them and riding them out.” No doubt he will be similarly self-effacing if he finds his way to the Eclipse winner’s enclosure yet again on Saturday.

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