Coral Eclipse Tip: Workforce

It is disappointing that the Coral Eclipse has cut up leaving only five runners. Of those five the best horses remain, with Workforce the greatest of the lot.

A winner of the Derby and the Arc, it is wonderful to see him in training at four. Given the strength in depth of older middle distance horses, he seems to have been slightly forgotten. Pigeonholed as a soft ground performer, pundits seem happy to ignore him until Longchamp in October.

This is a mistake. Firstly, he broke the course record at Epsom on fast ground, not the sign of a horse who is going dependant. His flop in the King George probably had more to do with him feeling the effects of that massive Derby run, as opposed to the firm ground.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Workforce is a top class performer who needs time between big races. It has been over a month since his seasonal debut and the trainer admitted he wasn’t fully tuned up first time out. Remember his sensational Derby win was also his second start of the season.

The long term target has always been the Arc but that is far enough away for him to recover from a big run in the Eclipse. I’d imagine this race is one of Workforce’s big targets of the year and expect him to be at his very best.