He's the one that the normally uneffusive Ryan Moore describes as “rare” and “special” and “exciting” and perhaps the one of all the Coolmore contingent that has really captured the public imagination. In the wake of Wootton Bassett's sad and untimely demise, Constitution River has stepped forward to illuminate the potency of his sire with a Classic triumph against all the odds.Heading to Sandown's G1 Coral-Eclipse on Saturday a Classic winner against all the odds, he has that untouchable air and the confidence of the biggest stable in world racing behind his sails. Should he avoid the unforeseeable and land the odds as expected, he will hand Aidan O'Brien a historic fourth consecutive renewal of this 10-furlong monument in the process. That should be enough to ensure his legacy, but with this colt there is a sense that the best is very much to come.Unusually for a Prix du Jockey Club hero who defied a stopping draw of 15 of 16, the word that keeps coming out in reference to Constitution River is “straightforward” and with some huge targets ahead that lack of capriciousness should count in his favour. The Eclipse can sometimes host an enigmatic cast, but the old “clash of the generations” lacks complexity this time with Ballydoyle's number one the clear standard-setter.With the operation's fellow Wootton Bassett and Jockey Club runner-up Hawk Mountain and key older horses Gethin (Ghaiyyath) and Saddadd (Pinatubo) lacking the x-factor, this should really go according to the script. “Going from Chantilly to Sandown should be straightforward–we did it with St Mark's Basilica a few years ago and he's a high-class colt, very straightforward, and looks to have come out of the French Derby well,” commented the rider who first demonstrated his mental alacrity on the main stage in this very race on Notnowcato back in 2007 and who is chasing down Lester Piggott's record of seven successes.“All in all, I think my horse is very exciting and I'm looking forward to getting back on him. There are four likely challengers who are all capable of improving, of which Hawk Mountain is maybe the most legitimate of those given he's already a Group 1 winner.”Hawk Mountain, who relished the mile on testing ground in the Futurity Trophy in October, probably needs it softer than this which is also the case for the progressive Gethin who could be getting more credit than is warranted for pushing Ombudsman in the Brigadier Gerard. Saddadd needs the favourite to under-perform giving so much weight-for-age, while Ana O'Brien's Jockey Club fourth A Boy Named Susie (Starspangledbanner) keeps chasing the best of Ballydoyle and it is hard to see him bucking that trend here.Elsewhere on Saturday, Newmarket stages the G2 Lancashire Oaks with Haydock still in limbo and Sir Mark Prescott looks set to benefit the most from the venue switch with his Group 1 mare Tiffany (Farhh). Alpinista she is not, but the Elite Racing homebred has a class edge over a cast which is disappointing on the whole but which does include an improving three-year-old in the Noel Meade-trained Caught U Sleeping (Cotai Glory).Deauville gets started early, with the Listed Prix Roland de Chambure featuring Coolmore and Westerberg's TDN Rising Star Avec Toi (No Nay Never) while Minzaal could have his first Stakes winner in the Listed Prix Yacowlef if Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy's Minzelle follows the customary path of Karl Burke juvenile runners in France.Calandagan | Dubai Racing ClubOn Sunday, the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud offers the chance for Calandagan (Gleneagles) to put his Epsom blow-out firmly behind him as he again preps for the King George. He was horrible on the Downs, but so were Benvenuto Cellini and Pierre Bonnard and look what they did with a key change in the weather last weekend. Quite why the ground became so specialist on Derby day remains a mystery, but it is clear that the fixture's form is not to be trusted and the kingpin of The Aga Khan Studs will carry a lot of confidence into Sunday's mile-and-a-half feature.What might be of greater concern is the mental impact such a demoralising experience may have on the five-year-old, which was hinted at by Francis Graffard in the immediate aftermath of the Coronation Cup. This is a runner whose ego has been inflated by taking the fight to some of the world's finest and which is unaccustomed to so heavy a reversal. He also been to Japan and Dubai in recent months and it could just be that he is going through a temporary rut. We will only find out here.Very much second-best to that global superstar in last year's renewal, the Wertheimers' Aventure (Sea The Stars) has another go at him with her star contrastingly in the ascendant following her impressive defeat of Graffard's other representative Sunly (Night Of Thunder) in the Prix Corrida in May. Sunly is still unexposed at this trip and may get her perfect pace scenario courtesy of last year's Derby hero Lambourn (Australia). Campaigned like a pacemaker on his last two starts, Ballydoyle's representative keeps getting further and further away from being one of the Blue Riband's more commercial winners and a third consecutive drubbing in this would spell big trouble for his stallion prospects.There is a European Classic this weekend, with Hamburg's G1 Deutsches Derby featuring its normal bloated cast including the country's kingpin Gostam (Saxon Warrior). Undone but not disgraced when surrendering his unbeaten tag in the Prix du Jockey Club, the Preis der Winterfavoriten and Bavarian Classic winner is back in his comfort zone but has stall 17 to overcome tackling the Derby fourth Bay Of Brilliance (New Bay). Drawn favourably, the Ralph Beckett-trained raider bids to become Britain's second winner in the race's history and open up new avenues for his owners Valmont and Aziz Kheir.“We're drawn in six which is perfect, but there is rain forecast and we don't really want much as we think he's better on better ground–he finished closer to Maltese Cross on firm ground at Lingfield than he did at Epsom and he's a good moving horse,” Valmont's racing adviser Alex Elliott said. “The Derby was a very attritional race and we were toying with the Irish Derby, but Benvenuto Cellini went back there as did Christmas Day and James J Braddock so we thought we might be 33-1 at The Curragh where we could be 3-1 in Germany.”“Our biggest worry would be if Epsom left its mark, as they did finish very tired and as we saw in the Irish Derby, James J Braddock ran no sort of race,” he added. “Our Australian partners were keen to go to Germany, as the aim is to take him to Australia at the end of the year and to qualify for those Cup races out there you need to have finished in the first three of a Group One to gain automatic entry. Doing that in any Group One is not easy, but Germany felt the easiest choice to achieve that.”“If he finishes in the three this weekend, then he could race on in Europe a bit longer than anticipated,” he explained. “If he wins the German Derby we could be thinking St Leger and we'll take things one step at a time but he was sold to head to Australia later on this year.”The post A Total Eclipse for Constitution River? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.