AIDAN O’Brien and Ryan Moore have combined to win four of the last five runnings of the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown and next Saturday they could be represented in the 10-furlong Group 1 race by either Prix du Jockey Club winner Constitution River or runner-up Hawk Mountain.

Following confirmation this week that Ombudsman will miss the race in favour of a short break before the International at York in August, the Eclipse looks at the mercy of Ballydoyle’s selected runner.

Other likely runners include the Owen Burrows-trained Gethin, Donnacha O’Brien’s A Boy Named Susie and the Roger Varian-trained Saddadd.

THE company running Chelmsford City racecourse outside London has failed in its appeal against the British Horseracing Authority’s decision not to grant it a licence to stage racing. The Essex track was closed in April when the original company operating the track - Great Leighs Ltd - was placed into administration, reportedly with more than £30 million in debts.

A new company, Golden Mile Racing, took over and applied for a racing licence but this was turned down by the BHA.

The reasons for their decision included that the BHA had been misled by property owner John Holmes about the racecourse’s finances, the revised business plan was deficient, and they were not sufficiently satisfied that Holmes would not be involved in running the business in the future.

WILLIE Mullins was presented with life membership of the Royal Dublin Society this week. After receiving the honour, the champion trainer told RTÉ News: “The horse industry keeps rural Ireland going. The Dublin Horse Show creates a huge amount of excitement down the country.”