Ombudsman (Ire)

Saturday's G1 Qipco Champion Stakes featured the winners of all the big 10-furlong prizes in 2025, but in the end it went to the horse who had still to win over the trip. While Calandagan (Gleneagles) was in danger of being pigeon-holed as a mile-and-a-half performer following his wins in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and King George this summer, The Aga Khan Studs homebred went through Ascot's test with ease under Mickael Barzalona. Swooping wide approaching the final furlong, the 15-8 second favourite powered to the line to beat...

Saturday's G1 Qipco Champion Stakes will feature all the big guns, with Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder), Delacroix (Dubawi), Calandagan (Gleneagles) and Economics (Night Of Thunder) set for a memorable showdown. There will be 11 in the line-up for the feature, where the draw has not been kind to Ombudsman and Economics in nine and 10 respectively but has been to the race's most intriguing runner Almaqam (Lope De Vega) in stall one. There will be 16 lining up for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, with Juddmonte and the Gosdens'...

For a long while in Wednesday's G1 Juddmonte International Stakes, it looked as if we would have another pacemaker summer shock but ultimately the class of Godolphin's Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) told once again and common sense prevailed on the Knavesmire. Blessed with the best acceleration of the sextet, the Gosdens' 7-4 favourite was the first to claw back the operation's rabbit Birr Castle (Cloth Of Stars), who was proverbially in another district under Rab Havlin turning for home, and register a 3 1/2-length defeat of...

Coolmore's G1 Eclipse hero Delacroix (Dubawi) will renew rivalry with Godolphin's Sandown runner-up Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) and is one of six runners booked for Wednesday's G1 Juddmonte International Stakes at York after three of nine overnight contenders were scratched from the extended 10-furlong contest at Monday morning's declaration stage. The former will attempt to provide Aidan O'Brien with a record-extending eighth renewal from stall three, while Ombudsman bids to regain the winning thread from stall five. Godolphin is also represented by the Andre Fabre-trained £85,000 supplementary entry Birr Castle...

Off his late heroics in the GI Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 2, Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) once again cracked the LONGINES World's Best Racehorse Rankings. Owned by Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith, last year's Eclipse Champion 3-year-old rolled from the back of the pack as is his style to take the Whitney by a length. The Chad Brown trainee is now rated 120 on the 2025 list. Topping the chart at 127 is still a three-way tie between Field...

In the race that Ryan Moore is coming to call his own, Coolmore's number one delivered his Ballydoyle pick Delacroix to deny Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) in the dying strides of a dramatic G1 Coral-Eclipse on Saturday. Having ditched a Classic winner for the dream Dubawi-Tepin creation who had been undone by Epsom last month, the rider had already caused a stir and he needed all of his guile to rescue a seemingly lost cause to reel in the 6-4 favourite close home. "It was a steadily-run race for that...

When it comes to Sandown's G1 Coral-Eclipse, there has been a shift of power to the Classic generation in recent times with seven of the last ten going their way. Saturday's renewal will either see a fifth consecutive success for the 3-year-olds or a break in the sequence and the onus is on Ombudsman to reestablish the reputation of the older horses. Godolphin's son of Night Of Thunder is the key protagonist on his emphatic Prince of Wales's Stakes success last month and to date has no blemish on his...

Godolphin's G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes hero Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) will face five opponents after a select half-dozen were confirmed for Saturday's £1-million G1 Coral-Eclipse at Sandown. The John and Thady Gosden trainee, who has drawn stall five, encounters fellow four-year-old Sosie (Sea The Stars), who will bid for a fourth success at the highest level for the Andre Fabre stable from the neighbouring stall four. The Classic generation enjoys strong representation and features G1 2000 Guineas hero Ruling Court (Justify) and G1 Prix du Jockey Club victor Camille...

Thriving for a searching pace made by the Ballydoyle runners, Godolphin's Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) leapt to the fore to win Wednesday's G1 Prince of Wales's Stakes. Anchored behind by William Buick early, the John and Thady Gosden-trained 7-1 shot powered past labouring rivals and beyond the reigning Champion Stakes title-holder Anmaat (Awtaad) to score by two lengths in a show of finishing power. There was a 2 1/2-length margin back to See The Fire (Sea The Stars) in third, with the 13-8 favourite Los Angeles (Camelot) looking to have...

Ballydoyle's Los Angeles (Camelot) will face eight rivals in Wednesday's G1 Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot, with his chief G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup rival Anmaat (Awtaad) set to renew rivalry. Also in the 10-furlong feature are the progressive Map Of Stars (Sea The Stars), Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) and See The Fire (Sea The Stars), with White Birch the only withdrawal. In the supporting races, Luis Saez will partner Lennilu (Leinster) in the G2 Queen Mary Stakes and Flavien Prat is on Tough Critic (Caravaggio) in the Listed Windsor Castle...

Having promised to make his presence felt in the better middle-distance contests for a while, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum's Almaqam delivered on Thursday evening in Sandown's G3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes. Taken to the front early by Oisin Murphy, the 7-4 second favourite predictably faced his sternest challenge from the 5-4 market-leader Ombudsman inside the last two furlongs but stayed on strongly to end that rival's unbeaten sequence by 1 3/4 lengths. This win came at the track at which the apple of Ed Walker's eye had wowed 12 months ago...

There is every chance that Sunday's G3 Prix du Prince d'Orange was a hot affair and so all credit goes to Godolphin's Ombudsman (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}--Syndicate {GB}, by Dansili {GB}) for extending his unbeaten sequence in ParisLongchamp's 10-furlong test. Impressive on good ground in the Listed Prix Nureyev at Deauville last month, the 3-5 favourite raced in the box seat behind the leader First Look (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and was gifted a clear run up the rail as that G1 Prix du Jockey Club runner-up drifted...