Vadeni Defeats Talented Field In Group 1 Coral Eclipse

Vadeni (3c Churchill - Vaderana, by Monsun) followed up last month’s impressive Prix du Jockey Club success with a thrilling victory in Saturday’s Group 1 Coral Eclipse at Sandown.

Jean-Claude Rouget’s charge took on older horses for the first time at Sandown, for which HH Aga Khan supplementing their homebred Classic winner at a cost of £50,000. The bay was held up by Christophe Soumillon, who oozed confidence in the straight and waited until the two furlong pole to make his move. Ridden to lead a furlong out, he ran on strongly to win by a neck from the fast-finishing Mishriff - he one of four Group 1 winners to chase Vadeni home.

“It was great,” Soumillon said after the race. “When I asked him quicken he came so well. 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.”

Vadeni will now aim to complete a hat-trick of Group 1 wins in the Irish Champion Stakes, according to his trainer. The four-time Stakes winner headlines a talented first crop by champion two-year-old and dual Guineas victor Churchill.