Pipedreamer looks a Sandown winner

Jul 5 2008 The Journal

EVEN allowing for the considerable strength in depth of talent Aidan O’Brien has at his disposal and his domination of Group One contests this year, I think it’s worth opposing his only runner in today’s Coral-Eclipse at Sandown.

Mount Nelson gets his chance to take centre stage because Duke Of Marmalade, the best performer over 10 furlongs in Europe, is being aimed by O’Brien at the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot later this month.

After winning the Group One Criterium International as a juvenile, Mount Nelson was restricted to only one run as a three-year-old, and last time we saw him at Royal Ascot he finished fifth in the Queen Anne Stakes without threatening his successful stablemate Haradasun.

It’s possible he is returning to his best and the step in distance will bring further improvement, but Mount Nelson doesn’t go into battle with the same credentials as O’Brien’s previous Eclipse winners.

Sharing favouritism with the O’Brien raider is Phoenix Tower, trained by Henry Cecil, who has provided three winners of this race, the last 30 years ago with Gunner B. In 2000, Shiva finished third for the stable and this year’s challenger must have bright prospects of at least making the frame. Although no match for Duke Of Marmalade in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, he confirmed earlier form with Pipedreamer and meets nothing of the winner’s calibre on this occasion.

But my idea of the winner is Pipedreamer. Remember him romping home in the Cambridgeshire last autumn? Winning a big handicap and making his presence felt at the highest level is one huge step for a horse, but Pipedreamer was most progressive as a three-year-old and has continued on the upward curve this season. He is trained by John Gosden and will be attempting to emulate double Eclipse winner Halling who was trained by the gentle giant to win the 1994 Cambridgeshire and landed the Sandown feature for Saeed Bin Suroor the following summer.

Third in each of his three starts in Group company, Pipedreamer is closely matched with Phoenix Tower who beat him half a length in the Earl of Sefton Stakes but were separated by only a short head when the pair filled the minor placings behind Duke Of Marmalade at the Royal meeting.

Gosden is hoping the rain stays away because his colt was not suited by the loose ground at the Berkshire track and I expect Jimmy Fortune to show his hand a bit later as well.