Coolmore duo to clash again
French Derby 1-2 Constitution River, Hawk Mountain set for rematch in Coral Eclipse
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Constitution River (Ryan Moore) finishing ahead of Hawk Mountain (Christophe Soumillon) in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club (2,100m) at Chantilly on May 31.
PHOTO: SCOOPDYGA
SANDOWN – Aidan O’Brien has revealed that stablemates Constitution River and Hawk Mountain will take each other on once more in the £1 million (S$1.7 million) Group 1 Coral-Eclipse Stakes (2,000m) at Sandown on July 4.
The Irish master trainer had four of the nine entries at the five-day stage on June 29, but it then remained to be seen which of the quartet would line up, with Hawk Mountain and Causeway both still in contention for Hamburg’s Group 1 German Derby (2,400m) on July 5.
As it turned out, both Hawk Mountain and Causeway were taken out of the German Derby on the next day, and in a surprise twist of events, O’Brien confirmed to the Racing Post on July 1 that the former would instead head to Sandown.
“It looks like both Hawk Mountain and Constitution River will run,” said O’Brien to the Racing Post.
“The lads (Coolmore) are happy for them to run against each other. Everything's gone well with both of them since the French Derby.”
Ryan Moore negated a wide draw when steering Constitution River to a comfortable three-quarters of a length success over Hawk Mountain in Chantilly’s Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club (2,100m), also known as the French Derby on May 31.
The British champion jockey took the Wootton Bassett colt’s record to two from two as a three-year-old following his power-packed defeat of subsequent Group 3 Hampton Court (2,000m) winner Generic in the Dee Stakes (2,100m) at Chester on May 7.
Also by Wootton Basset and a winner of the Group 1 Futurity Trophy Stakes (1,600m) at Doncaster as a juvenile, Hawk Mountain will head to Sandown looking to get back to winning ways having landed the Group 3 Prix de Guiche (1,800m) on his reappearance on May 4 before finding Constitution River too strong last time.
Declarations for the Coral-Eclipse took place at 10am (5pm in Singapore) on July 2, with O’Brien – who is seeking a record-extending 10th success in the race as well as a fourth straight win – also suggesting that Causeway or Flushing Meadows could be allowed to take their chance.
Constitution River is currently a 5-4 favourite, with most pundits making Gethin the main danger at 11-4, with Hawk Mountain a 5-1 chance.
Trained by Owen Burrows for Wathnan Racing, Gethin, a grey four-year-old by Ghaiyyath, went close to snaring his fourth win in the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes (2,000m) at Sandown on May 28, only to be narrowly denied by the formidable Ombudsman for Godolphin. RACING AND SPORTS
