Aidan O’Brien’s latest edit to racing’s record book will come in Saturday’s Coral Eclipse Stakes should Paddington emerge best in the first major intergenerational clash of 2023.
Once again just four runners line up for the Sandown highlight which traditionally sees the season’s top classic stars face-off against their elders.
A couple of years ago St Mark’s Basilica also faced just three Eclipse opponents but his rout of the top class older pair, Addeybb and Mishriff, was enough to earn him championship honours.
That was a sixth success in the race for O’Brien, taking him alongside Sir Michael Stoute and Alec Taylor who collected his half-dozen victories between 1909 and 1923.
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The Irishman now has a shot at the outright Eclipse record, just the latest in a series of benchmark accomplishments this season that include reaching 100 European classic wins and becoming the most successful Royal Ascot trainer of all time.
Paddington, a son of Siyouni, like St Mark’s Basilica, contributed to both of those having followed up his Irish 2,000 Guineas success with a smooth defeat of the English Guineas winner Chaldean in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
For a colt that began the season winning the Madrid Handicap, Paddington’s progress through the ranks has been impressive but now he faces the biggest test of his career.
Emily Upjohn’s Coronation Cup victory at Epsom confirmed her a filly of the highest class while Dubai Honour mirrored his former stable companion Addeybb by propelling himself to a top-class rating via winter Group One victories in Australia.
Unlike St Mark’s Basilica, who had previously won the French Derby, this will be Paddington’s first attempt past a mile. But stamina issues don’t appear to be a concern to the Ballydoyle team. “He is out of a Montjeu mare whereas St Mark’s was out of a Galileo mare, but they are both by Siyouni,” said O’Brien. “Paddington can quicken, he’s a miler that can quicken, but then St Mark’s did that as well.”
Last weekend’s Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh saw a Group 1 clash of the generations between fillies that ended with the older contingent firmly on top.
Paddington is the sole member of the classic generation in Saturday’s highlight and the stakes are high. “The Eclipse is obviously a very prestigious race for a stallion. It’s the first time the generations really meet, and everybody gets a feel of where they all are,” O’Brien added.
The memory of how Ryan Moore mugged his 2007 Eclipse opposition by successfully switching to the stands rail on Notnowcato, as well as the innate unpredictability of small fields, mean his tactical battle with Emily Upjohn’s new jockey William Buick will fascinate. It might even lead to Dubai Honour turning both favourites into “muggees”.
However, both St Mark’s Basilica and Vadeni a year ago underline the difficulty of older horses beating a top-notch three-year-old in this race and Paddington looks another one of those.
Ballydoyle’s Group One focus switches to Deauville on Sunday where Meditate is one of four fillies taking on colts in the €400,000 Prix Jean Prat, due off 2.50pm Irish time.
For once Meditate doesn’t have Tahiyra to cope with in a seven-furlong contest that went to her stable companion Tenebrism a year ago and Ken Condon’s Laws Of Indices in 2021.
Chaldean has been supplemented with Oisin Murphy replacing the suspended Frankie Dettori. It leaves James Doyle to team up with Hi Royal, placed in both Guineas at Newmarket and the Curragh.
Later on the Deauville card Sheila Lavery’s Torivega, out of the money in a Listed race at the track last Sunday, will try again in the Group Three Prix De Ris-Orange (4pm).
