Addeybb Faces Six in Depleted Eclipse

Known in Australia for his heart-stopping tussles with Horse of the Year elect and five-time Gr1 winner Verry Elleegant (Zed), the William Haggas-trained Addeybb (Pivotal-Bush Cat, by Kingmambo) will face six other runners on Saturday in a depleted renewal of the Gr1 Coral Eclipse at Sandown in England. Having not started since his half-length victory over Veery Ellegaant in the $4m Gr1 Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick, Addeybb will be tackling the might of the Aidan O'Brien yard, who trains three of his six competitors; St Mark's Basilica (Siyouni), a winner of Group 1 races at his last three starts, Japan (Galileo), a Group 1 winner who finished third in this race last year behind Darley shuttler Ghaiyyath (Dubawi) and Enable (Nathaniel), and Armory (Galileo), second in the Gr1 WS Cox Plate three starts ago behind Sir Dragonet (Camelot). Set to be partnered by his regular jockey Tom Marquand, who, although confident heading into the race, is under no illusion that it will be easy. "People are saying it's a shame that there are so few runners in the Group 1, but when it's a race with the runners this one looks like it's going to have it's still going to be a proper test."