The Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park on the 8th of July is shaping up to be the contest of the season with Coronation Cup heroine Emily Upjohn and impressive Prix du Jockey Club winner Ace Impact identifying the 1m2f contest as a possible target.
Andrew Balding's The Foxes is another name to add to the list of possible starters, after his fifth in the Epsom Derby on Saturday. The colt stumbled as he came out of the stalls and although he came with a run at three furlongs out, he weakened in the closing stages to finish eight-and-a-quarter lengths behind the winner Auguste Rodin.
Racing manager for King Power, Alastair Donald said: "It was 100 per cent the case that he didn't stay the trip. He got a little further back than ideal, but I don't think it made a massive difference. He came with a good run to look like he was going to finish a nice third, and then didn't get home in the last furlong and a half. Looking at the sectionals, it clearly shows that.
"We hoped he might stay a bit further, but he is the same as his half-brother Bangkok – it looks like he will end up being very much a 10-furlong horse."
With some of the main protagonists from the Epsom Derby remaining over twelve furlongs for their next engagement – Auguste Rodin to the Irish Derby, Dubai Mile to the Grand Prix de Paris – there may be an opportunity for The Foxes to represent the Classic generation at the top level over ten furlongs.
Donald added: "We are just weighing things up at the moment. The Eclipse is in the thinking for his next race, but we will certainly look at international options as well.
"But I definitely think he will be campaigned at 10 furlongs and we wouldn't be afraid to drop him back to a mile. In the Craven, he travelled the strongest of any horse over a mile, so we wouldn't be afraid to drop him back.
"We think we still have a very good horse and I think it will prove to be a pretty strong Derby. Sometimes you have a good first three and the rest don't tend to do much in future, but I think quite a lot of good horses will come out of that race over various different distances."
