By Tom Frary
In the race that Ryan Moore is coming to call his own, Coolmore's number one delivered his Ballydoyle pick Delacroix to deny Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) in the dying strides of a dramatic G1 Coral-Eclipse on Saturday. Having ditched a Classic winner for the dream Dubawi-Tepin creation who had been undone by Epsom last month, the rider had already caused a stir and he needed all of his guile to rescue a seemingly lost cause to reel in the 6-4 favourite close home.
“It was a steadily-run race for that class of race, but this horse has a really good turn of foot and it made the difference,” Moore said of the heavily-supported 3-1 second favourite, who delivered the surge that had characterised his Derby preps this spring to beat Godolphin's market-leader by a neck and extend Aidan O'Brien's tally in the Sandown monument to ten. Ruling Court (Justify) was another 1 3/4 lengths away in third.
“It wasn't the first or the second or the third plan! He began okay, but nobody really wanted to make the running and I had to give way to William [Buick] as he was on an older, bigger horse. I thought we'd wait and go around, then Camille Pissarro came, so we had to wait again, but it was a good turn of foot that got him out of trouble.”
“He was the only horse here that hadn't won a Group 1, but he'd threatened to and right from the start as a two-year-old he's been held in high regard and he's obviously out of a great racemare and by Dubawi.”
What. A. Race
storms home to win the 50th running of the @Coral-Eclipse.
That's three successive Eclipses for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore @coolmorestud | @Ballydoyle pic.twitter.com/MTBgJeGGTP
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) July 5, 2025
Handed TDN Rising Star status at The Curragh in August, Delacroix showed incremental improvement on his later juvenile tests without starting any fires. He showed in all three of his Pattern races that he could battle, but came out on the wrong side twice with Hotazhell (Too Darn Hot) edging the photo for the Futurity Trophy.
Forging his way to the top of the pecking order for the Blue Riband with emphatic wins in Leopardstown's key preps, the Ballysax and Derby Trial, he was all at sea in the main event and rolled home in ninth as the Ballysax runner-up Lambourn flew the flag. To many, it was a surprise that he was able to draw Ryan Moore from a Prix du Jockey Club winner in Camille Pissarro (Wootton Bassett) but as the market began to shout on Saturday it was clear there was no doubt who was the expected one
This was far from a fast-run Eclipse for the first five furlongs, with Sosie (Sea The Stars) and Hotazhell not pressing on from the front and Ombudsman denied the strong tempo he enjoyed at Royal Ascot. Having broken well, Delacroix was eventually forced to race in a pocket with the favourite sent forward out wide to shut the door.
From three out, the dash began and in a hot final quarter mile Ombudsman saw off Camille Pissarro and looked to have it won in the process, with Moore labouring on the eventual winner still adrift. It may be that the Prince of Wales's winner was paying for his early exertions up the notoriously demanding hill climb to the line, but nonetheless the impressive final sectional of Delacroix would have been hard to resist even at full strength.
This was in many ways the race that first announced Ryan Moore to the world, with his 2007 masterclass on Notnowcato showcasing his extraordinary riding intelligence and the pre-eminent jockey of his generation now has five in the bag. Four of those have come in last five years, a remarkable tally even allowing for the stable from which they emanated. It was a case of the 3-year-olds holding sway once again on Saturday, making it five in a row to form a distinct pattern in this stallion-making race.
Aidan O'Brien was quick to pay tribute to the jockey who keeps making the operation's dreams come true on these big days. “I'd say it was one of his best rides,” he said. “It was kind of a fog to me, as there was so much happening but it looked incredible. We see him do it so often, whether it is from the front or the back.”
“We see Ryan every day and the things he does. I don't know how long he has been riding for us now, but I say every year he gets better. He makes himself better all the time. He was calm, collected and clinical there.”
Of Delacroix, he added, “When you can relax and quicken like that over a mile and a quarter it is a brilliant thing to have up your sleeve. He came at the death and it was mind-blowing from where he came from but Ryan did say to me that Delacroix is a very fast horse and he wouldn't be surprised if he is a miler.”
“I can't tell you how important Delacroix is. The lads have been looking for a Dubawi all their life and he is out of a champion. He is a total outcross for all the mares and has power and strength–a beautiful, big horse. Christophe [Soumillon] was delighted with Camille Pissarro. He said he is fast and probably a miler. He is a classy horse and found the mile and a quarter today tougher for him.”.”
John Gosden said of the runner-up, “It didn't turn out the way we thought, but he has run a wonderful race. He was trapped rather wide and he got close to a pace where the others have ended out the back with it and Delacroix has run us down late. Full marks to the winner and he has outstayed the lot of them and at the end it was down to stamina.”
Charlie Appleby said of Ruling Court, “Ten furlongs is his trip. Of course you want to go out and win, but I came here with the mindset that if I finish third in this calibre I will take a lot of positives out of it. It was a race that none of us expected to be run like that if I'm brutally honest with you. It wasn't our original plan to be where we were, but one thing I will say is that we know we are going now and that is to Deauville for the Prix Guillaume d'Ornano. He is a horse next year that hopefully we will be working back from a Prince Of Wales's Stakes.”
Pedigree Notes
Delacroix is sadly the final foal out of the multiple top-level winner and Breeders' Cup Mile and Queen Anne heroine Tepin (Bernstein), who also provided this operation with the G1 Prix de Royallieu winner Grateful (Galileo) prior to her untimely passing. The second dam Life Happened (Stravinsky) is also responsible for four times Graded-Stakes winner VY Jack (Into Mischief).
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