A CLASH between three of the very best middle distance horses in Ireland, Britain and France looks set to take place in next Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.

Royal Ascot Group 1 winner Ombudsman is the early favourite for the 10-furlong race and he is expected to be taken on by the André Fabre-trained Sosie and Aidan O’Brien’s Camille Pisarro.

Ombudsman, a four-year-old by Night Of Thunder, has only been beaten once in six lifetime starts. That defeat came over the Eclipse course and distance last month when, making his seasonal debut, he finished an eyecatching second to Almaqam in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes. Trained by John and Thady Gosden, Ombudsman won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and his new official rating of 128 makes him the best horse in Europe, 2lb ahead of Field Of Gold.

Sosie promises to pose a serious test for the favourite, having won two Group 1s already this season since finishing fourth in last year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

“Sosie is still on target for the Eclipse, I’m very happy with him,” said Fabre this week. “He’s shown good form this season and the owners are keen to run him.”

“It could be a small field, we’ll see. The Prix du Jockey Club winner [Camille Pissarro] could run too and he looks a nice horse. It should be a good race, that is what you expect, proper competition.”

Camille Pissarro could be joined at Sandown by stable companion Delacroix, who was last seen finishing down the field in the Derby at Epsom, having started favourite.

“We’re probably thinking of letting Delacroix take that slot along with Camille [Pissarro], that’s what we’re thinking,” O’Brien told the Nick Luck Daily podcast.

Jessica Harrington is considering running her Irish 2000 Guineas third Hotazhell if some rain falls. The son of Too Darn Hot excelled as a juvenile, winning four times and ending the year with Group 1 honours when edging out Aidan O’Brien’s Delacroix at Doncaster in the Futurity Trophy.

After missing his intended return in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains on account of fast ground at ParisLongchamp, Hotazhell was a respectable third behind impressive winner Field Of Gold when making his belated reappearance in classic company at the Curragh.

“At the moment the plan is to go to the Eclipse with Hotazhell,” said Harrington. “We’re just hoping the weather might break next week in England and we get some rain and the idea would be to go to the Eclipse, but the weather will dictate as we don’t want firm ground.

“He could have gone to France this weekend for a Group 2 (Prix Eugene Adam), but we might as well wait and there are also plenty of races in the autumn for him.

“He ran very well at the Curragh and that was his first run of the year and a mile and two will be fine for him.”

An ease in the ground would also suit the Owen Burrows-trained Anmaat, who finished a fine second to Ombudsman at Royal Ascot. Shadwell racing manager Angus Gold said: “You could say he’d prefer easier ground, but that’s not the reason he got beaten – he got beaten because a better horse beat him. The Eclipse certainly comes soon enough for a horse we know can handle soft ground better than some, so we don’t want to put him through the mill right through the summer in every top Group 1 and find we don’t have a horse left in the autumn.

“We’ll monitor him and the ground and the race. The early signs are good that he’s come out of it OK, but he is a seven-year-old and we’ve got to do the right thing by him.

“You’ve got the Juddmonte International and the Irish Champion and obviously the Champion Stakes again later in the year, so we’ll look at all of them. He’s a star and the only top horse we’ve got at the moment, so we’ve got to look after him a bit.”

Charlie Appleby has mentioned the Eclipse as a possible target for 2000 Guineas winner Ruling Court who put in a disappointing effort over a mile at Royal Ascot. As Ombudsman is in the same ownership, Ruling Court could wait for the Grand Prix de Paris over a mile and a half on July 14th.

Coral-Eclipse Stakes

Latest betting: 6/4 Ombudsman, 7/2 Sosie, 5 Camille Pissarro, 8 Gezora, Delacroix, 12 Almaqam, 14 bar.