Ombudsman lays down the law in G1 Juddmonte International

Ombudsman registered a second top-level success and avenged his Eclipse Stakes defeat as he decisively beat Delacroix in the G1 Juddmonte International, with Birr Castle running an extraordinary race to take third in the York showpiece on Wednesday, 20 August.

Supplemented into the race to ensure a strong pace, Birr Castle lived up his duties as Rab Havlin sent the Andre Fabre-trained five-year-old into an early 10-length advantage. Danon Decile raced in second, with William Buick happy to track the Dubai Sheema Classic winner on Ombudsman in third.

Birr Castle streaked further clear and had around 20 lengths in hand over his five rivals at the top of the straight. The pack started to close approaching the final quarter-mile, with Night Of Thunder colt Ombudsman unleashing a potent turn of foot to reel in the leader just inside the final furlong.

Ombudsman powered clear to become only the third horse to win the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and Juddmonte International in the same year. Eclipse victor Delacroix made late gains to snatch second from Birr Castle inside the final half-furlong, finishing three and a half lengths adrift of the impressive John & Thady-Gosden trained winner.

John Gosden said: “I realised when the Japanese jockey took back, I thought ‘uh oh’, and then at the two-furlong pole, I thought it looked dangerous. Luckily, when they started properly racing, Ombudsman showed that brilliant turn of foot, and William said he went from second gear straight to fifth. He went into overdrive and won well, clearly from Delacroix, so that settles the Eclipse story, which was a muddling affair.

“The pacemaker is a proper Black Type horse from France with a turn of foot. He was cruising along and then kicked, taking another five lengths out of the field. All is well that ends well, but I can tell you that it was a nervous time.

“The obvious races for Ombudsman are the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and the Champion Stakes at Ascot. He is entered in the Arc, but I would not want to run him in deep ground. He has that wonderful acceleration, which is hard to show in heavy ground.  The mile and a half at Del Mar could be a possibility. We will see how he is when we get him home and go from there.

“We always thought Ombudsman was top class, but he had an injury at two and then we brought him along gently as a three-year-old. He is a very smart horse, although there is no doubt that when the ground is slow, he does not like it. He could be the dominant horse over this distance, provided the ground is not soft or heavy.”

William Buick said: “The idea was to run a pacemaker and how he would be used on the day would be decided by the shape of the race, as it always is. We have had a couple of races this season where we wished we had one, especially in the Eclipse. We had a plan in our head about how the race would work and I think Rab [Havlin] got the tactics spot on. He built up a lead that was worrying as Birr Castle is a proper Stakes horse and giving a lead like that on a flat track like York is always a danger. I thought it was a bit dangerous and I was hoping Danon Decile would cut the deficit. He is proven over further and I thought he would be ridden closer to the pace.

“Ombudsman produced a good performance because I had to cut the deficit myself, and then he went again, which is a hard thing to do. He was very smooth and in a rhythm, but had to chase the race himself. To still have that finish in him at the end was amazing. He is a beautiful horse to ride, with stacks of quality. We could not believe he got beaten in the Eclipse, but it was such a hard race to assess in any shape or form. Today he put it right and showed how good he is.”