Last year the Group I Juddmonte International (1m2 ½ f) at York produced a virtuoso performance from City of Troy (USA), who will be paraded at Coolmore Australia this Sunday and the overnight renewal of the race produced a Pride of Jenni like spectacle before the favourite Ombudsman prevailed to win.
Trained by John and Thady Gosden and ridden by William Buick, Night of Thunder stallion Ombudsman won the Group I Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and was looking to bounce back from a second to Delacroix in the Group I Coral Eclipse Stakes last month.
With a pacemaker engaged in Birr Castle to set the tempo it was expected Ombudsman would have conditions to suit, but the plan nearly went pear shaped when Robert ‘Rab’ Havlin did a Pride of Jenny on Birr Castle and opened up a huge lead.
William Buick got to work on Ombudsman and he eventually hunted down the leader to forge clear and win by three and a half lengths over Delacroix with Birr Castle hanging on for third.
Buick was relieved to get Ombiudsman home for his second G1 win and his sixth victory in total from eight starts.
"We had a plan and to be honest Rab got the fractions spot on. Birr Castle is a proper stakes horse, if you give a horse a lead like that around a flat track like York it's always a danger,” he said.
"I was thinking, 'This is a bit dangerous'. I had to cut the deficit myself and then he went again, which is a hard thing to do. He had to chase the race himself and to have that finish still at the very end was amazing. He's got stacks of quality."
John Gosden has more G1 goals in the pipeline for Ombudsman.
"The Eclipse(last start) was a muddling affair but full marks to Delacroix, he got up on the line and won," Gosden said.
"Ombudsman is a very good horse. He's proved he's a class horse – he blew them away in the end. The obvious races are the Irish Champion and the English Champion. He's in the Arc as well but he'd need one of those very occasional fast-ground Arcs. We'll see.”
Ombudsman was purchased for 340,000 guineas from the Tattersalls October Book 2 Yearling Sale for Godolphin by Stroud Coleman Bloodstock.
He is the best of two winners from winning Dansili mare Syndicate, a full sister to Group III winner Runnymede and stakes-winner Stipulation.
Ombudsman was one of two stakes-winners on the card at York for Dubawi’s champion son Night of Thunder, who stands at Darley at a fee of €150,000.
He shuttled to Australia for one season in 2016 and produced seven stakes-winners from that lone crop of foals headed by G1 Queensland Derby winner Kukeracha.
The other stakes-winner at York for Night of Thunder was two year-old colt Gewan, who beat race favourite Italy (Wootton Bassett) to win the Group III Acomb Stakes (7f).
