Dettori hoping hill scuppers Minnaloushe

Frankie Dettori hopes the stiff uphill finish at Sandown will be the undoing of favourite Black Minnaloushe in tomorrow`s Stg#325,000 Coral Eurobet- Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.

The Italian rides Vodafone Derby third Tobougg in the mile-and-a-quarter Group One contest for Godolphin and is hopeful of a big run.

'The Derby form`s worked out really well so hopefully he`ll run a really big race,' Dettori told Channel 4.

'This is the first test against older horses, but they look to be a really good bunch of three-year-olds.'

However, he admitted that the Aidan O`Brien-trained Black Minnaloushe is the rival he fears the most.

'The race looks to be set up for him as he`s got a great turn of foot but we hope that the Sandown hill will find him out. But he`s definitely the one they have to beat on the book,' he said.

Kieren Fallon, who leads this season`s race for the jockeys` championship reports his mount, Medicean, to be in good order.

'He ran a great race in the Lockinge to get up on ground he didn`t really like and he`s grown up,' he said.

'He`s run once over a mile and a quarter before in the Magnet Cup last year but he`s a different horse now, I hope he`ll get the trip.'

The threat of overnight rain dramatically softening the ground appears to be diminishing, according to Sandown`s clerk of the course Andrew Cooper.

'They told us we`d get showers this afternoon but none have arrived,' he said.

'We are forecast more showers tomorrow but whether they will come remains to be seen. I think it will be good ground.'

Dettori is positively relishing the possibility that heavy rain might arrive and get into the ground.

'If we get a load of rain there`s about three horses that might not even run,' he said. 'Tobougg won the Salamandre in very deep ground so he`s already been on it and he won. But everybody`s just hoping it will be good ground to make it a fair race.'

Fallon admitted: 'If it did rain and the ground changed, I would be worried.'

And colleague Michael Hills, who rides French Derby third Grandera for James Fanshawe, is another who is hoping that the rains stay away.

'He is in another race next week if we had to pull him out but he`s bursting at home, he`s virtually hot like a gun and we desperately want to run him,' the jockey said.

'He`s certainly good, you don`t finish third in a Classic without being a good horse and although it`s hard to beat older horses, he wouldn`t be running if we didn`t think he had a chance.'

Eclipse betting: 2-1 Black Minnaloushe, 5-2 Tobougg, 11-4 Medicean, 7-1 Endless Hall, 10-1 Grandera, 16-1 Holding Court, 25-1 Bach, 50-1 Broche, 100-1 Darwin.