2026 Coral-Eclipse Stakes News - Quotes from connections

Jon Vine

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Last updated: Fri 03 Jul 2026 16:22

Jon Vine 3 hours ago

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Quotes from connections ahead of the 2026 Coral-Eclipse Stakes
This Group One takes place at Sandown on July 4th
Read quotes from Aidan O'Brien, Donnacha O'Brien, Owen Burrows and more

Aidan O'Brien and Jockey Donnacha O'Brien speak to the press at Sandown. (Getty)

Read exclusive quotes from connections ahead of the 2026 Coral-Eclipse, which takes place at Sandown on Saturday.

Here's what connections have had to say ahead of this huge Group One.

2026 Coral-Eclipse Stakes News - Quotes From Connections

Aidan O'Brien (Constitution River, Hawk Mountain and Flushing Meadows)

Hawk Mountain and Constitution River will run. The lads are happy for them to run against each other and everything has gone well with both of them since the French Derby.

We were delighted with them. Obviously, Hawk Mountain had a much better draw than Constitution River that day. Chantilly is a little bit like Sandown. It’s a kind of tight, right-handed track. Sandown is a little bit stiffer, but that shouldn’t be a problem for them.

Hawk Mountain is a very good horse. He always was and he showed that in last year's Futurity Trophy. Obviously this year he won his trial and he was just beaten in the French Derby so he's always been a very good horse and we've always thought a lot of him.

Everything has gone well for Constitution River since France, everyone is very happy. They both have their final pieces of work to do in the middle of the week and we will decide what to do after seeing them do that.

Owen Burrows (Gethin)

Touch wood he’s in a great spot at the moment. James (Doyle) came and had a sit on him on Saturday morning; it was just routine stuff on the all-weather but he was very happy and felt he was more focused which was interesting.

The Brigadier was only his sixth run and these horses can only get better as they go up in class. We’re very happy with him.

Roger Varian (Saddadd)

We’re looking forward to it and I’m really happy with the horse. This has kind of been the plan since he won the Gordon Richards and he did nothing in Ireland to derail us thinking he could run well in an Eclipse.

I thought he came out of Ireland with great credit although he didn’t win and he’s been good in his training ever since. We’ve minded him and his best days should still be ahead of him and in my opinion he belongs at this level. I just hope he proves that on Saturday.

I think you could upgrade that performance and given it was against a proper Group One field – often it can be a bit soft that race but it was a proper Group One this year – he emerged with great credit on what was only his eighth career start.

Donnacha O'Brien (A Boy Named Susie)

It was either Sandown or the Irish Derby. We are kind of not sure about the 12 furlongs just yet. I think it’s probably within his range, but Saturday is the race that we were working towards from the French Derby and there wasn’t any reason to change our mind. His work programme was always towards here, and we’ve just stuck to that plan.

It’s a stiff mile and a half at the Curragh and we knew the pace would be on. To be honest with you, looking back at the race, I’m glad we didn’t go there because it turned into a real test of stamina. I’m not saying we’ll never try mile and a half, but I think the Irish Derby probably wasn’t the place to try it.

He’s in good form. It’s hard to know whether he has improved since France. His weights are pretty similar. His work is good. He’s always been a good work horse.

He looks great. So, there’s no metric that I could tell you that he’s a 10 pounds better horse here than he was in France. But I guess the question is whether he was unlucky in France or not.

That’s kind of a thing that we’ll figure out on Saturday, whether if we had followed the pace, we would have been able to beat them or would we have paid for that later on? So I guess that’s where you’re hoping that the few lengths will come out of.