by Myra Lewyn

Trainer Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle juggernaut rolled to another Group 1 victory on Saturday when Mount Nelson outbattled Phoenix Tower in the closing stages to nail him at the wire in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes (Eng-G1) at Sandown Park.

The County Tipperary, Ireland, operation, whose runners are primarily furnished by Coolmore, has been nearly unstoppable this season, compiling 12 Group 1 victories, four of which came in the seven races offered at the Royal Ascot meeting in June. The Coral-Eclipse win moved O’Brien more than halfway to equaling his world record 23 Group 1 wins in 2001.

As the victor in the 2006 Criterium International (Fr-G1), Mount Nelson was the only Group 1 winner in the 1 1/4-mile Coral-Eclipse, but Weatherbys Earl of Sefton Stakes (Eng-G3) winner Phoenix Tower garnered 5-to-2 favoritism off runner-up finishes in Group 1 races at Royal Ascot and Newbury in his two previous starts.

Khaled Abdullah’s homebred Phoenix Tower appeared poised to prevail after edging past Campanologist at the furlong marker. However, he could not withstand the torrid late rally from Mount Nelson, who began his advance two furlongs out and gamely responded to pressure from Johnny Murtagh for the victory by a nose.

Mount Nelson, sent off at 7-to-2 odds in the eight-horse field, covered the distance in 2:05.56 on good to firm turf and improved to three wins in eight career start.

The lightly raced four-year-old Rock of Gibraltar (Ire) colt, whose three-year-old season was curtailed by a foot injury, tallied his first win in five starts since capturing the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud as a two-year-old. He entered the Coral-Eclipse off a fifth-place finish to stablemate Haradasun at Royal Ascot on June 17 in the Queen Anne Stakes (Eng-G1), which was preceded by a third-place finish in a Group 3 race at Chantilly.

Murtagh was pleased with the gutsy win and praised Mount Nelson.

“Aidan has got some marvelous horses, and this is another one,” he told Racing Post. “He idled a bit in front, and I think there’s more to come from him. This might not have been the strongest Group 1, but you just try winning one.”

Cheveley Park Stud’s homebred Pipedreamer finished third, one length behind Phoenix Tower, in pursuit of his first stakes win. 

Bred in England by Cliveden Stud, Mount Nelson is campaigned by Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith. He is out of multiple group stakes winner Independence Day, by Selkirk.

Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times Today editor