Ombudsman dominates at Royal Ascot, wins Prince of Wales’s Stakes again
Ombudsman became the first horse in more than 30 years to repeat in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, streaking four lengths clear in a race with eight runners at Royal Ascot.
Ombudsman did more than defend his crown at Royal Ascot. He became the first horse in more than 30 years to win back-to-back renewals of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, and he did it with a display that turned a marquee middle-distance race into a statement of authority.
Held up behind an early pace set by Mississippi River and Devil’s Advocate, the Godolphin colt was delivered by William Buick with precision once the race began in earnest. Buick angled him toward the middle of the track, where Ombudsman changed gear decisively and pulled clear of genuine top-level opposition. Minnie Hauk, a strong filly in her own right, finished four lengths adrift in second, with Arc winner Daryz another 1 3/4 lengths back in third from the eight-runner field.
The performance underlined more than just class. It showed a horse who could absorb a proper pace, quicken when it mattered and sustain that effort all the way to the line over 1 mile 1 furlong 212 yards. On a stage where reputations are made quickly, Ombudsman looked less like a useful Group 1 winner and more like one of the defining older horses of the season, the sort of runner who can anchor the Gosden-Godolphin middle-distance picture through the summer.
The result also carried real historical weight for John Gosden. Ascot lists Muhtarram as another successive Prince of Wales’s winner for the trainer, having taken the race in 1994 and 1995, while the only other dual winners noted are Connaught in 1969 and 1970 and Mtoto in 1987 and 1988. That puts Ombudsman into a tiny, exclusive club in one of the most important races at the meeting.
The Prince of Wales’s Stakes itself has long been one of Royal Ascot’s defining tests. First run in 1862, it was removed from the calendar from 1946 to 1968 before returning in 1969, and it was elevated to Group 1 status in 2000. Now worth £1 million, it remains a key midseason marker for older horses, and Ombudsman’s repeat victory suggests he has moved from star of the meeting to a central figure in the season’s older-horse division.
Gosden noted before the race that Aidan O’Brien had brought a pacemaker and that the pace scenarios converged coming into and off the bend. Those dynamics only sharpened Ombudsman’s achievement. Once the serious running started, the race belonged to him.
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