Racing of the very highest calibre is in prospect when a string of European Flat racing’s biggest stars go head to head in Wednesday’s Juddmonte International Stakes (Gr.1) at York.
The bookmakers’ favourite is last year’s winner, Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder), who most recently took the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Gr.1) at Royal Ascot.
He is trained by John and Thady Gosden and, as always, is partnered by Godolphin’s first jockey William Buick. Ombudsman currently sits second in the Longines World Rankings and third in the TRC World Rankings.
Second favourite for the race, which carries a first prize of £850,000, is the winner of the French Derby, the Prix du Jockey Club (Gr.1), Constitution River (Wootton Bassett).
Since that Chantilly success the three-year-old colt has also landed the Coral Eclipse Stakes (Gr.1) at Sandown. He is trained by Aidan O’Brien and once again has Ryan Moore in the saddle.
A race in which last year’s winner takes on the winner of the French Derby is, of course, quite a coup for the York executive. Item (Frankel) also lines up. He won the Dante Stakes (Gr.2) at York in May and was then ninth in the Epsom Derby, where the soft ground was hardly in his favour. Most recently he took the Sky Bet York Stakes (Gr.2) – over course and distance – in July.
Trainer Andrew Balding had switched jockeys for that one. Ireland’s Colin Keane partnered him in the Derby, Rob Hornby took over for the York Stakes, and on Wednesday Keane is back in the saddle.
One final outsider worth a mention is the five-year-old son of Lope De Vega, Almaqam, who is trained by Ed Walker and ridden by Kieran Shoemark. He was fourth behind Ombudsman in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, but before that he won the Tattersalls Gold Cup (Gr.1) at The Curragh.
