PUNTERS hit the roof over the tiny four-runner field for Saturday’s £600,000 main event at Sandown.
The Coral-Eclipse is one of the premier Flat events of the season, with the winner scooping more than £340,000.
But this year’s clash over 1m2f has arguably lost some of its glamour already thanks to the small field.
The £10million wonderhorse Mishriff – winner of the world’s richest race, the Saudi Cup – heads the market at 6-4.
Aidan O’Brien’s St Mark’s Basilica is second favourite at 13-8, with Addeybb 11-4 and outsider El Drama a big 28-1.
The top three in the market are all rated in the 120s, while Roger Varian’s El Drama is 109.
Punters vented their anger at connections’ reluctance to put horses in to one of the prime races of the summer season, broadcast live on ITV.
The field is typically quite small, with seven running ran last year when Ghaiyyath won – yet punters objected to just a quartet going forward in 2021.
One said: “Four! 4! What a joke!”
Another wrote: “State of this.”
One comment read: “Don’t try and tell me Flat is better than National Hunt when this is the best you can do.”
A fellow Twitter user wrote: “Damn!!! This is POOR… Four horses?”
Another said: “A four horse Group 1 but with three of the best in the world lining up. Don’t know whether to celebrate or be appalled yet.
“Just baffles me in a time of prize-money crisis in the UK how many major stables ignore opportunities in well funded races like this.”
While a fellow punter wrote simply: “Embarrassing.”
Four leading contenders for the Group 1 contest pulled out on Monday this week.
Runaway Oaks winner Snowfall, Lord North, Love and Mohaafeth all opted to give it a miss.
Palace Pier, Mother Earth, Bolshoi Ballet and John Leeper are among the other horses who will skip the event, although their omissions were always expected.
Coral’s David Stevens said the race should still hold plenty of appeal for punters.
He commented: “Although there are only four runners lining up for this year’s Coral-Eclipse, it’s not unusual for this race to feature a small field.
“What’s more important is the quality of the quartet, and in Mishriff, St Mark’s Basilica and Addeybb, we have three multiple Group 1 winners taking each other on in a terrific clash of the generations.”
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