ECLIPSE WAS SIRE OF ALL OUR STARS

Graham Buddry recalls the legend who launched racing's generation game

- Graham Buddry

The Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park is the first big clash of the generations, when the Classic crop of three-year-olds meet the older horses for the first time.

Along with Ascot's King George, the Eclipse constitutes one of the biggest races of the summer season, but who was Eclipse the horse? Most racing folk know he is one of the all-time greats and that almost every thoroughbred can trace ancestry back to him. Yet his race form remains a mystery to most with the exception of knowing he was never beaten.

Eclipse was foaled in 1764 and his sire was, and generally still is, registered as Marske although when his fame started to spread there were strong rumours of a conspiracy for profit and his real sire was Shakespeare but it was never proved beyond conjecture.

The Duke of Cumberland had bought Marske but he proved a poor investment, losing several match races where one owner pits his horse against another. At stud his fee dropped to just half a guinea where he proved no better. Cumberland also bought a chestnut mare, Spilletta, who ran only once, finishing last of four.

At stud she had produced only one foal in 10 years - yet she and Marske contrived to produce a chestnut foal, some accounts claiming Marske jumped a hedge to be with his beloved.

When Cumberland died his estates were sold off and William Wildman purchased several lots including number 29, a chestnut yearling with a thin white blaze and a white stocking on his rear hind leg. His name was Eclipse and by all accounts he was leggy, thick-winded with an ugly head while his croup was higher than his withers.

What was worse was that Eclipse was unruly to a point that sometimes made him dangerous to be near.

Most horses of this nature are quickly gelded to alleviate the problem...