Ombudsman crushes Royal Ascot field to top Europe’s ratings

Ombudsman turned the Prince of Wales’s Stakes into a hierarchy shift at Royal Ascot, winning by four lengths on June 17 and earning a Timeform rating of 134. The Godolphin colt jumped to the top of Europe’s Flat standings, just ahead of Calandagan, after he handled a field that included Daryz, Minnie Hauk, Almaqam and See The Fire under William Buick.

Timeform said the Group 1 was run over 1m1f212y on good-to-firm ground, drew eight runners and carried £567,100 in prize money. Ombudsman settled into the race before Buick asked for his effort, then produced the decisive burst once the pacemakers had done their work. Daryz, last year’s Arc winner, finished second 1 3/4 lengths behind, while the performance confirmed that this was a real test of the middle-distance division rather than a protected spot for a favorite. Timeform’s Rory King said the 134 was the highest mark achieved in Europe since Baaeed.

The result also gave the race a sharper place in the season’s conversation. Ombudsman had been installed as the 11-10 favorite before the race, but he still had to prove himself against a lineup built around established class and emerging threats. Minnie Hauk and Almaqam were both in the mix, and the margin left little doubt that Ombudsman had done more than merely defend a title.

Ascot said Ombudsman became only the fourth horse to win consecutive runnings of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, a race with a long and changing identity. It was reintroduced in 1969 after a break from 1946 to 1968, later changed to one mile and two furlongs, upgraded to Group 1 status in 2000 and is now worth £1 million. The win gave John Gosden a seventh Prince of Wales’s Stakes success as a trainer, delivered Godolphin a seventh victory in the race and marked Buick’s third. It also strengthened the case that the Gosden stable may now hold Europe’s defining 10- to 12-furlong horse, with the Eclipse, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and a possible Arc rematch now looming as the next measuring sticks.