Vadeni makes history in a Coral-Eclipse to saviour

The high-class field of six certainly lived up to expectations in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park. It had been a long 52 years since the winner of the race came from France, but Vadeni has ended a wait for another. The French Derby winner prevailed over the Brits after a fine ride from classy Christophe Soumillon. It gave trainer Jean-Claude Rouget and owner, H H Aga Khan, a first win in the race.

In a thoroughly exciting renewal, the field were led by Alenquer, before Native Trail took over two furlongs out. Soumillon delivered Vadeni perfectly on the stands side to hold off his rivals. Mishriff returned to the track with a strong performance late in the day after a luckless trip, but feel a neck behind in second place. Native Trail was a further head behind to finish third, and Lord North ran very well in fourth, with the other two rivals three lengths behind.

He was remarkable, a superstar

Winning jockey, Soumillon said: “In the last 100 metres he stumbled when I hit the front and I wasn’t sure I was going to get it, he was a bit unbalanced. In the last 50 yards he just kept going and he was remarkable, a superstar.”

It caps a successful few weeks for the Belgian jockey, who rode Perfect Power to victory at Royal Ascot just three weeks ago. Connections will be heading back to France after a successful raid on British soil, and may have the Juddmonte International in their sights at York next month.