Heffernan eager for the Eclipse

RACING:SEAMIE HEFFERNAN is counting down the hours until he is reunited with Australian superstar So You Think in a fantastic renewal of the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown today.

The son of Coolmore stallion High Chaparral enjoyed a fantastic career Down Under for legendary trainer Bart Cummings, winning the Cox Plate twice and running a highly-creditable third in the Melbourne Cup.

He moved to Aidan O’Brien for the start of the current turf campaign and won his first two races at the Curragh without coming off the bridle, with Heffernan guiding him to victory in the Mooresbridge Stakes before Ryan Moore took over in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

Moore was again on board when the five-year-old lined up as a red-hot favourite for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, where he suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Rewilding.

With Moore claimed to ride last year’s Derby and Arc hero Workforce this weekend, Heffernan has been recalled to ride Ballydoyle’s major hope and he is confident his mount will have improved since his Ascot reverse. “I’m really looking forward to getting the leg up on him again in what is a very good race,” said Heffernan. “I just don’t think things went right for him at Ascot and I’m hoping things go a bit smoother tomorrow.

“We think the run at Ascot will have brought him on. He hasn’t really done enough at home since then to tell us whether he’s improved, but we hope he will have done. He’s an absolutely gorgeous horse. We know it’s going to be a tough race but we’re hopeful we can come out on top. Whichever horse wins deserves to win. I wouldn’t have any worries about the ground. Good horses like him normally handle any conditions.”

So You Think ran in the colours of Malaysian tycoon Dato Tan Chin Nam in Australia and while the big hitters from Coolmore stepped in to buy a controlling share, he still has a significant interest in the entire.

Dato Tan’s racing and bloodstock manager Duncan Ramage is under no illusions about the task in hand, and is particularly wary of the threat posed by Ed Dunlop’s multiple Group One-winning mare Snow Fairy.

“It’s a very exciting opportunity and for him to win would be a feather in his cap,” said Ramage. “I’m based in Australia and obviously don’t have any hands-on experience, but reports from Ireland have been favourable. The horse has done well since Royal Ascot and there’s been no setbacks, which is obviously great news. Workforce won the Derby and the Arc as a three-year-old and then turned in a grinding performance in the Brigadier Gerard, so he’s a horse of exceptional merit. But the horse that caught my eye was Snow Fairy. I thought she was an exceptional horse the day when she won in Japan.”