Unequivocal Ruling Made by Ombudsman

For a few strides in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes it seemed possible that the great set-piece of the week might be hijacked by the pacemakers, but what followed quickly turned into a performance that left even seasoned Royal Ascot watchers grasping for adequate description, according to racingpost.com. Devil’s Advocate and Mississippi River had served their purpose with such commitment that, straightening for home, they briefly threatened to make the race their own, only for William Buick to have Ombudsman coiled behind them with a perfect target and an engine ready to ignite. As the leaders began to tire, Buick angled his mount into daylight and the response was immediate, brutal and spectacular, the five-year-old sweeping past Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Daryz and a rejuvenated Minnie Hauk in a manner that made high-class opposition look almost stationary. The roar from the stands told its own story, with Ascot racegoers, hardly strangers to brilliance, treated to one of those turn-of-foot displays that stays in the memory long after the form book records the bare result. John Gosden, winning the Prince of Wales’s Stakes for the seventh time, said the pre-race tactical discussion had played out as expected once both camps sent forward their designated pace influences. “Aidan [O’Brien] had a pacemaker and we thought we’d have ours doing what we wanted to do as well, so they ended up meeting coming into the bend and they obviously agreed on the pace,” he said. The trainer admitted that, with a furlong to run, Devil’s Advocate still appeared to have taken some catching, but Ombudsman’s trademark weapon changed the race in seconds. “Ombudsman has a phenomenal turn of foot, great acceleration for a mile-and-a-quarter horse, and he just showed that class – it was quite something for him to come away from a field like that,” Gosden said, adding that Minnie Hauk and Daryz had both run with credit, while Almaqam may not have shown his true form. Having been unbeaten at three, Ombudsman reached a higher plane last season, winning this race before chasing home Delacroix in the Coral-Eclipse and then claiming an unusual running of the Juddmonte International, and York again appears the obvious late-summer objective. Gosden said the stable would let the horse guide the timing of any next step, noting that “we always watch them for a week to ten days and the horse will tell you,” while making clear that the Juddmonte International remained a major target at a track already proven to suit. Inevitably, comparisons with the Gosden yard’s best horses followed, though the trainer was careful to frame them through gratitude for the owners who provide such talent, saying “you can’t train empty boxes” and describing Ombudsman as “right up there now with what he’s done.” Buick, recording his 40th Royal Ascot winner, was no less emphatic, calling the performance “very special” and adding: “He’s an unbelievable horse and I feel so privileged to ride him. He can do things that very few horses can and that was mind-blowing.”