Monday, 9 July 2012: John Gosden and William Buick had a nice day at Sandown on Saturday which included winning the Eclipse Stakes with Nathaniel.
He's owned by Lady Rothschild, and her filly Great Heavens, also trained by John Gosden, led all the way to win the Lancashire Oaks in impressive fashion, with Shimmering Surf 5 1/2 lengths behind her and a further 1 1/4 lengths to Set To Music.
Back at Sandown there was a bit of an upset in the Sprint Stakes G3 when Caledonian Lady took the prize at 9/1. She won by a nose from Confessional 28/1 in a thrilling finish with Free Zone 14/1 just 1/2 length ahead of the favourite Spirit Quartz.
The Eclipse was a very good race with Nathaniel too good for the rest although Farhh shows that he could develop into a nice stayer with a good run to finish second. It was Twice Over who showed his liking for the trip and the track to come home third.
And finally can we please not have so much Americanisation of race names, particularly in calling a race a "marathon" when it is only a 3200m race!
