SIX IS OUT SINCE 1886

Stats ace Andy Newton examines the form and trends ahead of the Sandown showcase

- Andy Newton

This month also sees excellent Group 1 action in the shape of the Coral-Eclipse as this season's three-year☐ old crop are able to take on the older horses.

Run over a trip of 1m2f, the showcase Sandown race will be staged on Saturday July 6. this year.

It's one of the mid-season Flat highlights that carries a purse of around £750,000 - with the winner banking just over £425k.

The Eclipse was first run back in 1886, so the race has plenty of history behind it too and it's another long-standing sponsored event with Coral pulling the financial strings since 1976.

Twelve months ago, we saw another superstar Aidan O'Brien horse in Paddington beat off Emily Upjohn by half a length giving the Ballydoyle maestro his seventh Eclipse win and a third for jockey Ryan Moore, They are sure to be back for more with a strong hand.

While it was also the third winning 3yo in as many years and the sixth since 2015.

Let's look at the main Eclipse trends that have built up over the years.

Age: The Eclipse is a race open to horses aged 3+ but it's rare that we see horses older than five take this race with many of that age (and older) retired off to stud.

This is backed up with ALL of the last 22 winners aged five or youngerin fact there's only been one winning six year-old and that came in the very first running in 1886 (Bendigo).

As mentioned, the last three winners have also been aged three and it's worth remembering the younger male horses (3) in the race get a handy 10lb weight pull from their elders and 7lb less than any 4+ yearold mares in the race.

Since 2009 (16 runs), there have been 14 winners aged either three or five.

Recent Runs: A massive 82per cent of the last 22 winners had run at least twice that season already, with 71per cent of those having been on the track 2-3 times already that term.