Nelson Rocks Eclipse Rivals

6th July 2008

A remarkable European season for both Coolmore stallions and Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle stable continued at Sandown on Saturday when the Rock Of Gibraltar colt Mount Nelson (4c Rock Of Gibraltar-Independence, by Selkirk) prevailed in the G1 Coral-Eclipse.

The four-year-old, winner of the G1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud as a juvenile, returned to his very best to beat Phoenix Tower by a short-head in an epic finish to the 10-furlong Sandown event under Johnny Murtagh.

"He is a very good horse this fellow," said O’Brien. "He had a few little problems at three and tore off a shoe at the start of the spring last year and took half of his foot with it. There was bone damage and if you look at his foot you can still see it.

"The whole team did a great job to get him back and they need to take all the credit. He is an amazing horse to come back and we didn't think he would make it.

"He was a G1 winner at two and has run well this season. He has been progressing all of the time and you will see more improvement from him. I wasn't sure whether he had won at the line but Johnny felt he won a bit cosy."

Murtagh added: "He is going in the right direction and even though it was close, I still felt we had plenty of time inside the last half furlong. This was his first run at the trip this year but I felt from early in the season that a mile and a quarter would suit him well."

Mount Nelson - a son of the 2001 G2 Sun Chariot Stakes heroine Independence - was bred by Philip Freedman’s Cliveden Stud and sold for 320,000 guineas at the 2005 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

His Sandown success means that of the 19 British and Irish Group 1s run so far this season, 14 have been won by Coolmore-sired or owned horses.