the sad decline of the eclipse.

​Anyone who reads autobiographies of pre-1970’s flat jockeys, as I do, will be aware that in the list of their accomplishments are races that either no longer exist or are much reduced in prestige. Eph Smith, for example, brother of 5-times champion jockey Doug Smith and rider of the 1939 2,000 Guineas and Epsom Derby winner Blue Peter, considered winning the Bibury Cup in 1946 worthy of inclusion in the record of his big race successes. In the same year he won the Brown Jack Stakes at Ascot and in 1947 the Lanark Silver Bell. In 1964 he won the Great Yorkshire Handicap, in 1963 the Ripon St. Leger Trial and in 1962 the Great Metropolitan Handicap. He did not record these successes as his career had free-falled since his Epsom Derby victory and won none of the races that are now labelled Group races as in the year of his retirement in 1965 he won the Pretty Polly at Newmarket and in 1962 the Cheveley Park, the Royal Lodge and St.James’ Palace. As with the Brighton Autumn Cup, the aforementioned races were considered races of consequence and merit in their day.
The Bibury Cup is still raced for, it is just not considered today as anything more than just another race. The Doncaster St.Leger and Lincoln Handicap are two races that today no longer garner the anticipation and excitement as once they did. Sadly, Sandown’s Eclipse Stakes is another historic race that is becoming more and more diminished as the years pass by.
I am a tradionalist; a sentimentalist, if you care to think so. To set aside the history of the sport for no other reason than to implement change for the sake of change is always a mistake. Sometimes, as with Royal Ascot stretching out to 5-days, it brings benefits, as will be the case when the Cheltenham Festival goes in the same direction, though with Cheltenham it is the financial windfall where the benefit will be appreciated. And as much as I would like the Lincoln to be returned to its former glory when attached to the Grand National it formed one half of the Spring Double, in its present form it is going to drift further and further into the dusky realms of just another handicap.
The Eclipse is named after the horse that was the sport’s first great racehorse and a sire who has influenced the breeding industry for the past 250-years. His name is so hallowed that to allow the race his name honours to slip from its perch as one of the highlights of the flat season will be unforgivable. This season, and yes travel restrictions might be playing its part, though I doubt this reason is the answer as foreign invaders have become fewer for over a decade now, there might be as little as four runners, with Wonderful Tonight highly doubtful to participate unless a monsoon washes across Esher on Friday evening. Addeybb also requires soft underfoot conditions, so is equally unlikely to run and though Aidan O’Brien has three entries, will all three take part? Quite easily the field might only comprise Mishriff, St,Mark’s Basilica, Armory and El Drama and possibly Japan. Owners and trainers are voting with their entry money and finding alternative races in Ireland and France. Perhaps now is the moment to consider my radical, and many times put forward, idea to scrap the Eclipse as it presently stands and upgrade it to classic status.
Yes, classic status. Modern breeders are in want of stallions that have won over 10-furlongs. So, think of this for a moment: a classic triple crown comprising the 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and Eclipse. 8-furlongs, 12-furlongs, 10-furlongs. The 5 classic races neatly raced-for by the middle of the summer and not drawn out to late autumn when the Arc, Champions Day and the Breeders Cup dominate the racing sphere.
Trainers do not need the Eclipse as they once did, the paltry entry for this year’s renewal proves the point, as they have races in Ireland, France and elsewhere to party at. And I am not suggesting we abandon the St.Leger to its fate. I would make it all-age; I would do everything possible to make it the most valuable flat race in Britain; I would keep it the same distance and at the same racecourse, and I would set its date for a month before the Arc.
An Eclipse upgraded to classic status, restricted, obviously, to 3-year-olds, could, and perhaps should, have the winners of multiple classic races taking part as 10-furlongs is easily within the compass of most 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas, Derby and Oaks winners.
It will never happen, of course. Perhaps it will never even be debated. And the B.H.A. is far too much plough-driven to recognise the potential in embracing radical change. And I would only countenance the change myself to classic status if the St.Leger is equally enhanced.