Ratings Update: Delacroix delivers much-improved display

Beaten Derby favourite Delacroix (129+ from 116p) was the only runner in Saturday's six-strong Coral-Eclipse who hadn't won at the highest level, but he showed much-improved form to collar Ombudsman (remains 130), Timeform's highest-rated four-year-old in Europe.

Ombudsman wasn't quite at his best only 17 days after such an impressive performance in the Prince of Wales's Stakes, but Delacroix still deserves plenty of credit for making up so much ground inside the final furlong, and his new rating has been upgraded to take into account his troubled passage and his fast closing sectional. He is now comfortably Timeform's highest-rated middle-distance three-year-old this season. Indeed, he is rated half a stone superior to Derby and Irish Derby winner Lambourn, the horse he beat emphatically in the Ballysax Stakes in March.

Field of Gold (132p), an impressive winner of the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, has achieved a slightly higher level of form than Delacroix as things stand, but both colts could still have more to offer so a clash between the pair in the Juddmonte International Stakes could define the division. Last year's Juddmonte was won by City of Troy who produced a career-best performance to beat Calandagan and earn a Timeform rating of 130p. Delacroix has already reached a similar level as his much-vaunted former stablemate.

The opening race on Sandown's Eclipse card, the Coral Charge, was won by Rumstar (119 from 117) who showed form bordering on very smart to prevail under a penalty. Rumstar had made no impact in the Temple Stakes or the King Charles III Stakes, but he bounced right back to the sort of form he had shown when winning the Palace House at Newmarket. His performance on Saturday has been rated the best in the race since Battaash announced himself as a sprinter to be reckoned with in 2017. In an open division, Rumster is worth another crack at the highest level.

At Haydock, Plage de Havre (109 from 102) showed much-improved form to run out an emphatic winner of the Old Newton Cup, scoring by four lengths. A well-run race looked the key to getting the best from Plage de Havre, who tends to race keenly, and he should remain competitive in top-end handicaps even after a big rise in the weights, mindful that he's still unexposed on turf after only three starts on grass.

There was a significant two-year-old performance at Naas where Aidan O'Brien's Daytona (106p from 90p) won the mile listed race in the style of one well up to winning at an even higher level. Daytona still looked green at Naas, despite having won a seven-furlong maiden at Gowran Park last month, but he proved suited by the increase in trip and stayed on well to score by three and a quarter lengths with the runner-up three lengths ahead of the third. That victory earned Daytona a Timeform rating of 106p which has been bettered by only stablemates Gstaad (111p), Charles Darwin (110p) and Albert Einstein (107p) so far this season.