Ballydoyle no-show in Coral-Eclipse as O'Brien plots US raid with Stone Age

The three-year-old challenge in the Coral-Eclipse (3.35 Saturday) has been weakened after Aidan O'Brien said Stone Age will skip the Sandown spectacular in favour of the Belmont Derby.

It will be left to French Derby winner Vadeni and Irish 2,000 Guineas hero Native Trail to fly the flag for the Classic generation after O'Brien also ruled Aikhal, an impressive 20-1 winner at the Curragh on Saturday, out of the £750,000 contest.

Aikhal and O'Brien's third Eclipse entrant, High Definiton, are both being prepared for Group 1s in France, meaning O'Brien will not get the chance to become the most successful trainer in the history of the race. He has won it six times in all with Giant's Causeway (2000), Hawk Wing (2002), Oratorio (2005), Mount Nelson (2008), So You Think (2011) and St Mark's Basilica (2021).

Aikhal: an impressive winner at the Curragh last weekendCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Stone Age was as short as 10-1 with the sponsors to hand O'Brien a record seventh win, but the Derby sixth is heading stateside instead in a bid to emulate stablemate Bolshoi Ballet, who won the $1 million event last year.

O'Brien told the Racing Post on Wednesday morning: "Stone Age is not going to run in the Eclipse. He's going to go to America the following weekend instead for the Belmont Derby.

"We think the Belmont Derby will suit him and it's just giving him a little bit more time to recover from the Derby. It's obviously against three-year-olds as well and it's a mile and a quarter which we think will suit him."

On Aikhal and High Definition, O'Brien added: "The other two probably won't run at Sandown either. We're thinking of going to France with Aikhal for the Grand Prix de Paris and High Definition will go to Saint-Cloud for the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. That's the way we're thinking at the moment."

O'Brien has won the Grand Prix de Paris in three of the last four years, most recently with Mogul in 2020, while Broome did the business for the Ballydoyle trainer in the 2021 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

Coral-Eclipse (3.35 Sandown, Saturday)

Coral: 6-4 Vadeni, 100-30 Native Trail, 7-2 Bay Bridge, 13-2 Mishriff, 7 Alenquer, 16 Lord North, 25 Dubai Honour

Read more on the Coral-Eclipse:

'It's time for him to show us what he can do' - Vadeni primed for Eclipse bid

Vadeni joins Native Trail and Mishriff in star-studded Coral-Eclipse line-up

Who wins the Coral-Eclipse? Assessing the key contenders for a Sandown stunner

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