Ombudsman rules for red-hot Gosden team as Royal Ascot roasts in the sun

The only British stable to wrest Royal Ascot’s top trainer award away from Aidan O’Brien over the course of the last decade continued its strong run through this year’s meeting here on Wednesday, as John & Thady Gosden’s Ombudsman, in the Group One Prince of Wales’s Stakes, followed up the success of Crimson Advocate, in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes, for a 59-1 double on the day.

The feature race, though, was not an easy watch for either the joint-trainers of Ombudsman or his backers at 7-1, at least until William Buick, his rider, finally managed to extract him and find running room with around a furlong to go, after being caught in a series of pockets. Buick was forced to switch twice in the straight, but when he did eventually take aim at the lead, Ombudsman’s response was immediate and overpowering.

Ombudsman was around two lengths behind Anmaat, last season’s Champion Stakes winner over the same course and distance, passing the furlong pole, alongside 100m later and then two lengths ahead and going further clear at the line.

“The plan was to just relax off the pace, which was strong and set up for [O’Brien’s] Los Angeles,” John Gosden said, “but to that extent we knew we’d be comfortable where we were. It was just the question of when you get in the straight, would you get the luck?

“William wasn’t in a position where he could swing around the field, it was more a case of waiting for the gap. And he was very patient, but I knew when he got a gap at the furlong pole, that this horse has an extraordinary turn of foot. He was patient and he was rewarded.

“Ombudsman is a mile-and-a-quarter horse [with] a wonderful turn of foot and has done nothing but grow in stature.”

Ombudsman’s win was the Gosdens’ fourth of the meeting, putting them two clear of O’Brien – who saddled True Love to win the opening Queen Mary Stakes – with three days remaining. Their double, meanwhile, was worth nearly £750,000 in prize money, more than enough to see them leapfrog ahead of O’Brien to the top of the overall Flat trainers’ championship.

The Gosdens also have two live runners – Trawlerman and Sweet William – in Thursday’s Gold Cup, where O’Brien will saddle the likely favourite, Illinois, as they go in search of a win in the feature event for the third day running.

Wednesday’s success sets up the intriguing possibility of a rematch between Ombudsman and Ed Walker’s Almaqam, the horse that ended Ombudsman’s previously unbeaten record in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown last month.

Almaqam was steered around the Royal meeting due to a preference for some ease in the ground, but weather – and/or watering – permitting, the two colts could renew their rivalry in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in July, with the International Stakes at York in August and the Champion Stakes back at Ascot in October also on the agenda.

The only disappointment for the Gosden stable on Wednesday’s card was the failure of the King and Queen’s Rainbows Edge to justify strong support as the 3-1 favourite for the Kensington Palace Stakes. She finished mid-division under Ryan Moore as Miss Information gave Oisin Murphy his first win of the week.

Tethered hot air ballons in the Royal Enclosure during day two of the Royal Ascot meeting. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

The punters had a much better time of it in the Royal Hunt Cup, however, as Roger Varian’s My Cloud, the 3-1 favourite in a 30-strong field, came home as one of the shortest-priced winners in the race’s 182-year history.

Like Buick in the feature, Silvestre de Sousa had to bide his time on My Cloud at the back of the stands’ side group, but he made smooth progress to lead when his rider found running room to beat Bullet Point by three-quarters of a length with the 50-1 shot Bopedro, owned by Brighton & Hove Albion footballer Georginio Rutter, in third.

“I thought that was a mighty performance for an inexperienced horse,” Varian said. “We hope he is a horse who could progress out of handicaps and into Group company.”

The second day ended with three jockeys – Ryan Moore, James Doyle and Billy Lee, the winner of Wednesday’s Queen’s Vase on Carmers – tied on two winners for the meeting and all to play for in the race for the jockeys’ prize with 21 races still to come.

Candelari can strike Gold for French

The recent retirement of Kyprios, who would have been attempting to win the Gold Cup for the third time in four years, has robbed this year’s Royal meeting of one of its major stars, but it also creates an intriguing contest for supremacy in the division between the seven-year-old Trawlerman and two up-and-coming four-year-old stayers, Illinois and Candelari.

The front-running Trawlerman forced Kyprios to dig deep for his victory 12 months ago, and ran close to that level when finishing five lengths clear of his field in the Henry II Stakes at Sandown last time out.

But he is unlikely to improve significantly at seven years of age and while Illinois, who was just a neck behind the winner in last year’s St Leger, has obvious scope to progress this summer, Francis-Henri Graffard’s Candelari (4.20) has even fewer miles on the clock and could improve past his two market rivals on Thursday.

Candelari did not see a racecourse until December 2024 and progressed rapidly through the ranks this spring to win last month’s Group One Prix Vicomtesse Vigier at Longchamp by three-and-a-half lengths. He showed an impressive turn of foot to seal his victory there and that could again prove decisive when battle is joined in the home straight.

Royal Ascot 2.30 By his own sky-high standards, Aidan O’Brien has as surprisingly poor record in this juvenile event with only three wins in 25 years, and his colt Whistlejacket was the beaten odds-on favourite 12 months ago. In every other respect, though, O’Brien’s Charles Darwin is a standout in this year’s field, with an exceptional timefigure to back up the form of his easy win at Naas last time.

Royal Ascot 3.05 Ralph Beckett’s Sing Us A Song showed a willing attitude to stay on well up the hill at Sandown in April and the form of his win there is working out well. He was a big-money transfer to the Wathnan Racing operation soon afterwards, is bred to improve for the step up in trip and looks big at around 8-1 to recoup at least a little of his purchase price here.

Royal Ascot 3.40 Paddy’s Twomey’s Catalina Delcarpio should probably be unbeaten in two starts after a luckless run in a Group Three last time out, but she has shown considerable promise on both trips to the track and could well find the necessary improvement to come out on top in an open renewal of the Ribblesdale Stakes.

Royal Ascot 5.00 A typically competitive renewal of the Britannia Handicap and a majority of the runners are likely to be well ahead of their current marks, but it is still seems odd that Andrew Balding’s The Lost King is on offer at prices up to 50-1. He faded only late in the day on his return to action behind Fifth Column, also runner in this race, at Sandown in April, races off the same mark today and is drawn with the pacier horses towards the stands’ side.

Royal Ascot 5.35 This race looked like the obvious next step for High Stock when he ran the useful Mount Kilimanjaro to a neck in the Dee Stakes at Chester in May, having opened his account in the Wood Ditton at Newmarket in April, and he could well improve past John & Thady Gosden’s Detain, third home in the French Derby.

Royal Ascot 6.10 The Victoria Cup over course and distance in May looks like the strongest form on offer and Gleneagle Bay, just a nose and a short-head away from victory after racing away from the first two home, has a fair chance to gain some compensation at around 7-1.