Tom Marquand: top-class Eclipse will be a proper challenge for Addeybb

Jockey Tom Marquand is confident Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse will prove a proper test at the highest level despite the small field as he seeks to capture one of the season's midsummer highlights with Addeybb.

A maximum of six rivals will take on the seven-year-old in the Sandown Group 1, with that number likely to be even smaller with Hardwicke Stakes winner Wonderful Tonight highly unlikely to run according to her trainer David Menuisier.

However, with the likes of Mishriff, St Mark’s Basilica and Armory – successful in the Huxley Stakes last month in between placed efforts in the Cox Plate and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot – in opposition, Marquand is relishing the prospect of a thorough challenge at the weekend.

“People are saying it’s a shame that there are so few runners in the Group 1 but when it’s a race with the runners this one looks like it’s going to have it’s still going to be a proper test,” he said.

“I don’t think it takes away from the race and I think you’d rather have five horses in a Group 1 that are top horses who can be competitive rather than a dozen where most don’t have a chance of winning.”

Addeybb is the 100-30 third favourite behind 13-8 market leader Mishriff and 7-4 shot St Mark’s Basilica with the sponsors Coral for the Eclipse, a race his trainer William Haggas landed with Mukhadram in 2014.

Should Addeybb emulate Haggas’s previous winner on Saturday he would be scoring at the top level for a fifth time, having won last season’s Champion Stakes and three Group 1s in Australia, the latest of which came on his most recent start in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick in April.

Tom Marquand: Addeybb a genuine Group 1 horseCredit: Matt King

Marquand does not think his mount has anything to prove. He said: "As usual with him it’s going to depend on the ground and if there’s no soft in the description then he won’t run, but the forecast is looking encouraging on that ground.

“We know what he likes and what he’s best on, which means he usually races at the start or the end of the season here or elsewhere in the world. It’s good that he can run here though.

“If anyone still doubts he’s a Group 1 horse then they only need to look at the form book. He’s won four Group 1s, he’s beaten the best in Australia not once but twice and won the Champion Stakes beating numerous Group 1 horses – I don’t think his profile can get any higher than it is right now.

“We’re all very lucky to be part of his career and to have a horse like him who is competitive and classy in the best races anywhere in the world.”

The going at Sandown was described as good to soft, soft in places on Tuesday with showers forecast later in the week.

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