Declaration Of War takes on Al Kazeem in Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse

Declaration Of War lifts the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, but will Saturday’s race stretch his stamina? Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

After his stylish victory in the one mile Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, Aidan O’Brien said of Declaration Of War: "He’s all speed, he’s all Danzig. He has all the options, but I’d drop him back in trip more than anything, rather than stepping him up."

With Camelot in need of a rest, O’Brien has decided to step Declaration Of War up in trip by two furlongs in Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park, race four in the Middle Distance division of the QIPCO British Champions Series, and it remains to be seen how that pans out.

He was won over a mile and a quarter and even a furlong further last year, but that was against comparatively weak opposition.

This move looks to be a fact-finding mission and it’s hard to see him having the stamina to match his main rivals unless it’s a slowly run race.

With Mukhadram in the line-up, who set a blistering pace in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, that looks unlikely.

In that race, Al Kazeem showed his fantastic turn of foot to cut down Mukhadram inside the final furlong.

Both horses have taken a big step forward this year and while only a neck separated them at the line, it’s hard to see Mukhadram reversing that form.

Such is the acceleration that Al Kazeem possesses, had his jockey, James Doyle, made his move earlier at Ascot, he would surely have won more easily.

Also very much in the mix is the third in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, The Fugue.

She made eye-catching late headway and although she has over three lengths to turn around with the front two, that was her first start of the season and she can be excepted to finish a lot closer on Saturday.

Miblish looks outclassed, but German raider Pastorius has to come into calculations.

Last year’s German Derby winner has solid form, including finishing fourth behind Frankel in last year’s QIPCO Champion Stakes, but he might not appreciate the likely fast ground on Saturday.

Mars, O’Brien’s second contender and the only three-year-old in the race, is the dark horse and should not be under-estimated. 

After staying on strongly over a mile in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes and meeting trouble in running in the Investec Derby, Saturday’s mile and a quarter could be his ideal distance.

Three-year-olds have a decent record in the race in recent years, winning five of the last 14 runnings.

Al Kazeem is the only five-year-old in the race and they have been successful four times in that same period, while the rest of the field are aged four and that age group accounts for the other five runnings in this period.