'I can't tell you how important he is' - Aidan O'Brien on Coolmore's Eclipse hero Delacroix

Regally-bred colt Delacroix added an all-important first Group 1 to his record when he produced a brave performance to win the Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday. 

The colt's triumph provided the Coolmore team with a vital victory. Not only did he earn his Group 1 stripes in a stallion-making race but, as a son of Dubawi out of the Queen Anne Stakes heroine Tepin by Bernstein, Delacroix is a complete outcross for the regal Coolmore broodmare band which is dominated by brilliant daughters of Galileo.

Speaking to ITV Racing in the immediate aftermath of the race, winning trainer Aidan O'Brien was quick to acknowledge just how pivotal Delacroix's success could be to the future of Coolmore's bloodstock empire.

"I can't tell you how important he is. The lads have been looking for a Dubawi all their life and he's out of a champion. He's a beautiful big horse with power, strength and everything you want. I am delighted for the lads that he has won," said O'Brien, who was registering a remarkable ninth win in the race.  

Although his year-older Galileo half-sister Grateful won the Group 1 Prix de Royallieu over a mile and six last year, Delacroix failed to stay the Derby trip at Epsom last time out and Ryan Moore believes the colt has the speed to drop down in distance. 

"I think ten furlongs is fine but if anything he would probably run shorter," commented the jockey who was winning the race for the third year in a row and the fifth time in his career.

Tepin: the 2016 Queen Anne Stakes scorer fetched the second highest price of the day at Fasig-TiptonCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photo

"We have always held him in high regard right from his two-year-old days. He is out of a great racemare and by Dubawi and only time will tell how much they can step it up when they race."

Bred by the Tepin syndicate, Delacroix is the third Eclipse winner sired by Darley's outstanding stallion Dubawi following on from Al Kazeem (2013) and Ghaiyyath (2020) but is his first three-year-old winner of the race. 

Delacroix is the second top-level winner foaled by Tepin who sadly died two years' ago at the age of 11. She was bought by MV Magnier for $8,000,000 at Fasig-Tipton's November Sale in 2017 in foal to Curlin. The two-time Eclipse Award winner was the second most expensive breeding prospect on the night, with Mandy Pope going to $9,500,000 for Songbird.

The daughter of Bernstein won six Grade 1 races in three different countries, including the Breeders' Cup Mile, Just A Game Stakes, Jenny Wiley Stakes and the First Lady Stakes as well as the Woodbine Mile.

She is a half-sister to triple Grade 2 winner Vyjack and they are out of the unraced Stravinsky mare Life Happens.

Dubawi: sired his third Eclipse winner on Saturday

He made his debut in late July last year, finishing runner-up to Green Impact over a mile at Leopardstown but dropped back a furlong for his next start when he got off the mark at the Curragh. A rematch with Green Impact in the Group 2 Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown during Irish Champions' Festival returned the same result as their first battle. He then followed up that performance with a victory at Group level when defeating Stanhope Gardens in the Group 3 Autumn Stakes at Newmarket.

The bay tackled Group 1 company in the Futurity Trophy on the final start of his juvenile season, going down by a nose to Hotazhell, who finished fifth in Saturday's Sandown Group 1. 

Aidan O'Brien sent him down Ballydoyle's tried and tested Derby route and he appeared to be a live contender for Epsom honours after his victories in the Group 3 Ballysax Stakes, where he defeated subsequent Derby and Irish Derby hero Lambourn, while he also landed the Group 3 Derby Trial at the Dublin track.

He was sent off favourite for the Derby but was never at home on the track and eventually finished ninth, 16 lengths adrift of his winning stablemate.  

Down in trip for the Eclipse he showed an electric turn of foot to overcome trouble in running and snatch victory from Ombudsman in the shadow of the post. Dubawi sired the winner and is also the grandsire of Ombudsman but the 23-year-old's 62nd individual Group/Grade 1 winner could be the most important of them all as far as Coolmore are concerned.

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