Buick looks set to stay loyal to Ombudsman in the Eclipse William Buick is gearing up for a significant challenge as he prepares to ride Ombudsman in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, a race that marks the first major clash of generations this season. Ombudsman’s Strong Form Post-Ascot Triumph William Buick is poised to maintain his partnership with Ombudsman in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday, despite Charlie Appleby’s 2000 Guineas winner Ruling Court holding an entry. Speaking on a media Zoom call, joint-trainer Thady Gosden confirmed Buick is set to take the ride on the four-year-old, who was a brilliant winner of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. “The Prince of Wales’s was a very tough race against plenty of hard-knocking Group One horses and he was still relatively inexperienced, it was his first run in a Group One,” said Gosden. Confidence is high in the camp that he can follow up in the traditional first clash of the generations, albeit respectful of the fact the gap between the Royal meeting and the Eclipse is a relatively short one. “Obviously it is a very tight turnaround, we’d rather have given him longer, especially when they are running in solid Group One races. But he’s in very good order, he’d only had the one run before Ascot at Sandown in the Brigadier Gerard when he was second to Almaqam,” Gosden added. Strategic Decisions for Field Of Gold The turn of foot on display at Ascot means Ombudsman has been all the rage for this, so much so that any thoughts to run his stablemate Field Of Gold in the race were immediately shelved after he was also successful at Ascot, in his case over a mile in the St James’s Palace Stakes. “Field Of Gold was particularly impressive, just the natural speed he has, and the raw speed he showed there, why rush into a mile and a quarter when you know he’s got the class over a mile that he’s shown,” said Gosden. The decision reflects a strategic choice to preserve Field Of Gold’s strengths for races better suited to his current form, avoiding the immediate step-up in distance. Facing a Formidable Field of Three-Year-Olds The Coral-Eclipse will see Ombudsman face a strong contingent of three-year-olds, including the French Derby winner Camille Pissarro and Sosie, considered one of France’s best at 10 to 12 furlongs. “It’s the first meeting of the generations. The three-year-olds look very good, you’ve got a French Derby winner in there (Camille Pissarro), some serious three-year-olds,” Gosden noted. “Of course you’ve got Sosie who is probably the best 10/12-furlong horse in France coming over as well,” he added. The Gosden camp acknowledges the challenge posed by these younger horses, who benefit from a weight advantage, and recognizes that Ombudsman may need to elevate his performance to compete against rivals like Sosie, who previously bested their horse Sardinian Warrior in the Prix d’Ispahan.
