Ratings Update: Hawkbill wounds The Gurkha in Eclipse thriller

There was no Golden Horn or Sea The Stars in this year's Coral-Eclipse, but it was at least an average running of the longstanding Group 1. There were three three-year-olds in a seven-runner field and the two most interesting fought out the finish, with Hawkbill getting the better of The Gurkha after a battle. There’s no doubt the race was tactical—highlighted by the proximity of pacemaker Countermeasure in fourth—and Hawkbill was perfectly positioned, but he won on merit on the day and has been raised from a Timeform master rating of 118 to 125. The supplemented Hawkbill took a further big step up in class in his stride, completing a six-timer and impressing with his speed and resolution. Looking ahead, he has options up in trip, including the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes in three weeks’ time, though the pattern of races at a mile and a quarter, starting with the Juddmonte International, seems a more likely route.

The Gurkha ran creditably upped from a mile, with no excuses on account of being set too much to do this time, unlike in the St James’s Palace Stakes. His trainer Aidan O’Brien was keen after the race to suggest he was just defeated by the trip on soft ground ('a speedy Galileo'), though in truth he looked beaten fair and square and is now rated 127 from 127p. The Gurkha is now set to drop back to a mile for the Sussex Stakes next and a rematch with the 126-rated Galileo Gold.

Time Test was allowed to take his chance on soft ground and ran respectably in third; he’s had his master rating tweaked from 128 to 127. His campaign is in danger of being washed away completely, though the failure of Countermeasure to set a pace that suited him (which would have been hard to pull off anyway) was as much the reason for his defeat as the ground. He’s better than this effort indicates and is likely to be of interest again in races such as the International or the Irish Champion.

My Dream Boat was presented with a similar sort of race to in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, again tactical and on soft ground, but he failed to confirm that form and finished only fifth. This race perhaps came too soon 17 days after Royal Ascot, though the first two also ran at the same meeting. He remains rated 126.

The Group 3 Coral Charge (Sprint) was won by Brando whose short-head winning margin over Monsieur Joe doesn't begin to tell just how dominant he was in an otherwise up-to-scratch renewal. The nature of the track at Sandown, particularly on soft ground, underplayed the quality of Brando’s performance—he had the race won a furlong out—and his new figure reflects that, now rated 121p from 117. Monsieur Joe appeared to run the best race of his very long career—edged up 1 lb to 116—only four days after winning at Hamilton, though the body of evidence suggests the nine-year-old will do well to reproduce the form.

Light Up Our World caused a bit of a shock when winning no more than an average renewal of the listed Coral Distaff over a mile. Shas been in better heart than the form figures suggest since her good runner-up effort in the Fred Darling on her reappearance, so is probably value for the improvement shown on this occasions (now rated 106 from 101), for all that she enjoyed the run of things from the front to a degree. That said, the runner-up Wilamina appeals as the best prospect in the field and is now rated 103p from 95p. She was fast-tracked into this grade just a month after her debut and justified that decision with another significant jump forward. She’ll be shortlist material for a similar event next time and is also worth a try at a mile and a quarter at some point, certainly bred to stay that far given her dam won over 14 furlongs.

The listed Coral Marathon went to Sandro Botticelli (new rating 114 from 112) who was seen to much better advantage than he had been when fifth in the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot, ridden much handier than previously this year and showing a good attitude to prevail in a tight finish. He's clearly well served by two miles and is likely to go next for the Goodwood Cup, though that will a tougher assignment again. The runner-up She Is No Lady has taken her form forward (now 109 from 101) since moving up in trip on her last two starts and could be another one for Glorious Goodwood, with the Lillie Langtry against her own sex appealing as a good option.