Sosie on parade at Sandown as master trainer Andre Fabre targets first Eclipse - but opinions differ whether ground will suit

There is always a heightened sense of anticipation when French master trainer Andre Fabre sends a Group 1 horse to Britain for the first time.

The four-year-old Sosie, currently market leader for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, faces a Coral-Eclipse showdown with red-hot favourite Ombudsman and four talented three-year-olds as he becomes Fabre’s first runner in the £1 million race in 20 years.

It is a set-up which adds great spice to a race which has produced countless fantastic stories and memories since its inception in 1886.

The Eclipse, owing to its longstanding position in the calendar, always has to compete with the tennis at nearby Wimbledon for television viewers, but a big crowd is certain to flock to Sandown, with Sosie one of the biggest attractions.

The question for punters is whether Sosie, the leading French-trained colt of his generation last year over a mile and a half, will be able to produce his brilliant best over a two-furlong shorter trip on going which may be the fastest he has encountered.

All five of his runs in 2024 were on ground officially described as ‘soft’, ‘very soft’ or ‘heavy’ and, barring an improbable Surrey downpour, Sosie will race on genuinely fast terrain. 

Certainly leading Racing Post tipster Paul Kealy sees this as a major issue, saying in this week's Weekender: "While Sandown will have been well watered, it's likely to be the fastest surface he has raced on. The quickest he has raced on was at Longchamp in April, when he scrambled home by a neck from Map Of Stars in the Prix Ganay – and that form probably isn't even good enough to make the first three."

Fabre, who has surprisingly never won the Sandown showpiece, and was last represented by the unplaced Diamond Green in 2005, remains unconcerned by the prospect and believes his colt could actually be better suited by a drier surface.

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“For sure, I prefer to run him on good summer ground,” he said. “Older horses do improve in terms of strengthening up, but it doesn't mean they're much better. They become stronger and easier to train. But the ability is the same.” 

He added: “Sosie has travelled over well. The opposition is strong and if he's in the first three I will be delighted.”

The Post's French correspondent Scott Burton backs Fabre's view. Burton said: "The worry some backers may have about Sosie is that he seems to have been doing his winning on a much easier surface. In fact, this is a colt who, like his sire Sea The Stars, has a marked preference for quicker conditions.

"French written descriptions do not translate well to the GoingStick equivalents in use in Britain and Ireland, and to get a more accurate idea of Sosie’s performances, we need to take the actual penetrometer readings as well as the sectional times. Sosie has run his last five races over three different distances but on the same Longchamp track, and his two Group 1 victories this season both came on ground measured at 3.4, which is somewhere between good and good to firm in our terms.

"Similarly the 3.5 of his Grand Prix de Paris win is soft on the French scale, but no worse than good to soft on the GoingStick. In all three races Sosie dipped well below 11 seconds for his penultimate furlong and ran sub-34 seconds for the final three furlongs. 

"Sosie has a couple of points to prove, notably that he has never raced anywhere other than Chantilly or Longchamp, but his vastly experienced trainer will have no concerns about his ability to handle summer ground."

Ruling Court (centre): 2,000 Guineas winner will be partnered by Oisin Murphy at SandownCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Murphy aims to rule Eclipse after court appearance 

Champion jockey Oisin Murphy, who pleaded guilty to drink driving on Thursday, takes his first rides in Britain since appearing in court and gets the leg-up on Ruling Court in the Coral-Eclipse.

Winner of the 2,000 Guineas in May, Ruling Court was beaten into third in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and is on the less fancied of Godolphin's two runners as retained rider William Buick has opted for Ombudsman.

It will be only the second time Murphy, who was fined £70,000 and banned from driving for 20 months, has ridden for trainer Charlie Appleby this season, with the BHA stating that the jockey is free to continue to participate in races despite his conviction.

Appleby said: "The tempo of the St James’s Palace Stakes was completely different to what Ruling Court encountered in the 2,000 Guineas. They went an end-to-end gallop and he never really looked comfortable throughout the race. 

"We've always wanted to step him up in trip and a mile and a quarter is probably the ideal distance to aim for as a first try over middle distances. Conditions at Sandown look likely to suit. He's won around the course before and has a significant weight pull against the older horses, which can often come into play in an Eclipse."

Contrasting build-ups for O'Brien pair

The build-up to this year's Coral-Eclipse has been quite different for trainer Aidan O'Brien compared to 12 months ago, when City Of Troy was the focus following his magnificent return to form in the Derby.

This time around, O'Brien has a horse who is seeking to banish memories of a poor Derby run in Delacroix, who was sent off favourite at Epsom but never landed a blow, and another who is seeking to burnish his reputation following a victory in the Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby, on his most recent start in Camille Pissarro.

O'Brien said: "We're happy with Camille Pissarro and everything has gone well with him since he won at Chantilly most recently. We felt Delacroix got hampered at the top of the hill in the Derby and, as well as that, it might have been a little far for him so we're looking forward to dropping him back in trip here."

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