Authorized has been backed into 4-6 on Betfair for Saturday’s Coral Eclipse Stakes, as his main rival George Washington continues to prove friendless with every drop of rain that falls and has drifted to 7-2 in the betting.  

And, interestingly, the money is now arriving for the latter’s stablemate Duke Of Marmalade. Available at 35-1 on Betfair yesterday afternoon, the St James’s Palace Stakes neck runner-up has been supported into 16-1

The Betfair betting suggests that Authorized could well shorten a good deal further in the coming days, as the race mirrors the ground and cuts up. 

It is 11-1 bar the front two, which brings in Notnowcato. And the odds available on Betfair about the likes of Lucarno (54-1) and Admiralofthefleet (64-1) would indicate that their connections may possibly have their sights set on other prizes later in the season.

Timeform have narrowly sided with Authorized in the Eclipse match-up against George Washington. Peter Chapple-Hyam’s three-year-old is rated 133p after his imperious Derby performance, making him the best Derby winner of the last decade.

This accolade makes the race with George Washington all the more mouth-watering, given that Aidan O’Brien’s colt recorded, according to the Halifax number-crunchers, the best performance by a three-year-old over a mile in the last decade when winning the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot last autumn.

So, in the opinion of the Timeform handicappers, Saturday’s duel pitches the best recent Derby winner against the best recent three-year-old miler, over the intermediate distance of ten furlongs. Because of the weight-for-age scale, Authorized emerges 2 lb ahead of his Irish rival on Timeform ratings.

Sandown’s Coral Eclipse Stakes – Betfair bet: 4-6 Authorized, 7-2 George Washington, 11-1 Notnowcato, 16-1 Duke of Marmalade, 28-1 Archipenko, 54-1 Lucarno, 64-1 Admiralofthefleet, 100-1+ others

Timeform Ratings for Eclipse

Admiralofthefleet           126

Archipenko                    123

Authorized                  142p

Champery                      115

Duke Of Marmalade        132

Dylan Thomas                136

George Washington    140

Kandidate                      126

Lucarno                         127

Mashaahed                    123

Notnowcato                   135

Pressing                        126

Yellowstone                   121

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