The Grey Gatsby© Photo Healy Racing
Connections of The Grey Gatsby admit it will be a tough ask conceding lumps of weight to Derby hero Golden Horn in the Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday.
Winner of the Dante, French Derby and Irish Champion Stakes last season, the Kevin Ryan-trained four-year-old went down by just a short head to Free Eagle in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot after meeting trouble in running.
Jamie Spencer keeps the ride, with regular partner Ryan Moore once again unavailable as he is committed to riding Cougar Mountain for Aidan O'Brien.
The trainer's son Adam Ryan said: "The Grey Gatsby has come out of Royal Ascot fantastically well - he was bucking and squealing the very next day.
"He had a nice breeze on Tuesday and is ready to go now - it's just been a case of keeping him ticking over.
"He has his own idiosyncrasies but the course at Sandown should not be a problem. He's a very well-balanced horse and he proved last time that he goes right-handed.
"He's such a fluid mover that he's at his best on good ground, soft ground blunts his turn of foot. The quicker the better for him.
"It's going to be very hard work for him trying to give 11lb to Golden Horn, who looked very special in the Dante and even better in the Derby.
"To do that in any sort of race is tough enough, but to do that in a Group One against a horse that looks fairly special is a tough ask and it will probably take a career-best effort to beat him.
"But our fella has been there and done that and we couldn't be happier with him, he's absolutely bouncing.
"He is still Ryan Moore's ride, but he's not available so Jamie Spencer will ride him again. Jamie rode him a couple of times last year and gave him a great ride at Ascot, he did nothing wrong, he was just unlucky.
"Of course it was (frustrating at Ascot), but the great thing was he showed he's back to his best. He was an unlucky loser that day."
O'Brien has trained five previous Eclipse winners in Giant's Causeway (2000), Hawk Wing (2002), Oratorio (2005), Mount Nelson (2008) and So You Think (2011).
Cougar Mountain is fitted with blinkers for the first time for his first attempt at a mile and a quarter after a career-best effort to finish third behind Solow in the Queen Anne.
Andrew Balding's dual course winner Tullius completes the field and is a big outsider.
Balding said: "Obviously he's got a mountain to climb to be even making the first three, but it's good prize-money for the places and he's a very consistent horse that likes Sandown.
"Any rain that we get will help him, but I think he'd need mountains of rain to give him anything other than a minor place chance.
"He's a Group Two winner and he's Group One-placed. The only trouble with him is he's a soft-ground horse, otherwise he'd hardly have run in Europe.
"He's a grand horse and has won us a lot of prize-money and hasn't finished yet."
