Delacroix, a Stroke of Genius at Sandown

The Dubawi colt earned his first G1 victory with a spectacular finish in the Coral-Eclipse, as Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien once again took center stage

Racing wide, Delacroix caught Ombudsman in the final strides / SANDOWN

ESHER, Inglaterra (Special for Turf Diario).- In a scene that seemed ripped from a Baroque painting—tangled, intense, and chaotic—Delacroix delivered one of the most thrilling wins of the European season last Saturday at Sandown Park. The son of American champion Tepinclaimed the G1 Coral-Eclipse Stakes (2,002 meters, turf) thanks to a majestic ride by Ryan Moore, restoring faith for everyone who backed him from the very start.

The 2025 edition of the historic Eclipse, which since 1886 has served as the showdown between three-year-olds and older horses, drew just six runners, but the names carried weight. Among them was the recent hero of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot, Ombudsman (Night of Thunder), who went off as the favorite, and the French stayer Sosie (Sea The Stars). Yet none could match Delacroix’s explosive finish, which erased the memory of his ninth-place finish in the Epsom Derby (G1) and shone brighter than ever.

The race unfolded in an anything-but-conventional way. In a tactical, tightly run affair, Ruling Court (Justify) set the pace, followed by Ombudsman, while Delacroix and stablemate Camille Pissarro (Wootton Bassett) found themselves trapped at the back of the pack. “We had Plan A, B, even C… but what we ended up doing was Plan Z,” joked trainer Aidan O’Brien, who notched his ninth Coral-Eclipse win—a record.

The stretch run brought the race’s highest drama. Moore, cool under pressure, had to wait until the final moment to find a gap and release his mount. “I couldn’t do what I planned at first. I was behind Camille and couldn’t move. When I saw the space on the outside, I went for it and he responded like a true horse,” said the jockey, who claimed his fifth Coral-Eclipse triumph.

And respond he did. Delacroix unleashed a furious late charge, overtaking Ombudsman in the closing yards to win by a neck, covering the slightly over two kilometers in 2:05.92 on firm turf. French raider Sosie was third, unable to threaten the top two.

The victory was met with great enthusiasm from the colt’s camp, which finally saw him fulfill the potential spotted since his earliest days. “It was incredible how he made the difference from where he was. Last, trapped, and he wins a G1 like it’s nothing. It was a fantastic race,” summed up O’Brien, who did not rule out pointing him next to the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) in August at York, though he left the door open for longer distances as well.

Carrying Coolmore colors, Delacroix boasts an illustrious pedigree. A grandson of Bernstein on the dam’s side, he now has three wins from six starts and nearly £700,000 in earnings. His stature grows amid a competitive generation offering many options but no clear dominant. After this win, he climbed to second in the European three-year-old rankings, overtaking stablemate Lambourn (Australia), who had bested him at Epsom.

For Ombudsman, who ran a tremendous race but just missed out, there was the bitter taste of being caught late. Trainer John Gosden was frank: “There’s nothing to blame him for. He did everything right, but the other had more left. Congratulations to Delacroix, a great winner.”

The canvas is now hung among this year’s great moments—and it carries the signature of a colt named Delacroix.