John Gosden<\/a> said, \u201cbut to that extent we knew we\u2019d be comfortable where we were. It was just the question of when you get in the straight, would you get the luck?<\/p>\n\u201cWilliam wasn\u2019t in a position where he could swing around the field, it was more a case of waiting for the gap. And he was very patient, but I knew when he got a gap at the furlong pole, that this horse has an \u00adextraordinary turn of foot. He was patient and he was rewarded.<\/p>\n
\u201cOmbudsman is a mile-and-a-quarter horse [with] a wonderful turn of foot and has done nothing but grow in stature.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ombudsman\u2019s win was the \u00adGosdens\u2019 fourth of the meeting, \u00adputting them two clear of O\u2019Brien \u2013 who saddled True Love to win the \u00adopening Queen Mary Stakes \u2013 with three days remaining. Their \u00addouble, meanwhile, was worth nearly \u00a3750,000 in prize money, more than enough for them to leapfrog O\u2019Brien to the top of the overall Flat trainers\u2019 championship.<\/p>\n
The Gosdens also have two live runners \u2013 Trawlerman and Sweet \u00adWilliam \u2013 on Thursday in the Gold Cup, where O\u2019Brien will saddle the likely favourite, Illinois, as they go in search of a win in the feature event for the third day running.<\/p>\n
The success on Wednesday sets up the intriguing possibility of a rematch between Ombudsman and Ed \u00adWalker\u2019s Almaqam, the horse that ended Ombudsman\u2019s previously unbeaten record in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown last month.<\/p>\n
Almaqam was steered around the Royal meeting due to a preference for some ease in the ground, but weather \u2013 and\/or watering \u2013 permitting, the two colts could renew their rivalry in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in July, with the International Stakes at York in August and the Champion Stakes back at Ascot in October also on the agenda.<\/p>\n
The only disappointment for the Gosden stable on Wednesday was the \u00adfailure of the King and Queen\u2019s \u00adRainbows Edge to justify strong support as the 3-1 favourite for the \u00adKensington Palace Stakes. She \u00adfinished mid-division under Ryan Moore as Miss Information gave Oisin Murphy his first win of the week.<\/p>\n
Tethered hot air ballons in the Royal Enclosure during day two of the Royal Ascot meeting. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
The punters had a much better time of it in the Royal Hunt Cup, \u00adhowever, as Roger Varian\u2019s My Cloud, the 3-1 favourite in a 30-strong field, came home as one of the shortest-priced winners in the race\u2019s 182-year history.<\/p>\n
Like Buick in the feature, Silvestre de Sousa had to bide his time on My Cloud at the back of the stands\u2019 side group, but he made smooth progress to lead when his rider found running room to beat Bullet Point by three-quarters of a length with the 50-1 shot Bopedro, owned by the Brighton & Hove Albion footballer Georginio Rutter, in third.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that was a mighty performance for an inexperienced horse,\u201d Varian said. \u201cWe hope he is a horse who could progress out of handicaps and into Group company.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second day ended with three jockeys \u2013 Ryan Moore, James Doyle and Billy Lee, the winner of the Queen\u2019s Vase on Wednesday on Carmers \u2013 tied on two winners for the \u00admeeting and all to play for in the race for the jockeys\u2019 prize with 21 races to come.<\/p>\n
Candelari can strike Gold for French<\/strong><\/p>\nThe recent retirement of Kyprios, who would have been attempting to win the Gold Cup for the third time in four years, has robbed this year\u2019s Royal meeting of one of its major stars, but it also creates an intriguing contest for supremacy in the division between the seven-year-old Trawlerman and two up-and-coming four-year-old stayers, Illinois and Candelari.<\/p>\n
The front-running Trawlerman forced Kyprios to dig deep for his victory 12 months ago, and ran close to that level when finishing five lengths clear of his field in the Henry II Stakes at Sandown last time out.<\/p>\n
But he is unlikely to improve significantly at seven years of age and while Illinois, who was just a neck behind the winner in last year\u2019s St Leger, has obvious scope to progress this summer, Francis-Henri Graffard\u2019s Candelari (4.20)<\/strong> has even fewer miles on the clock and could improve past his two market rivals on Thursday.<\/p>\nCandelari did not see a racecourse until December 2024 and progressed rapidly through the ranks this spring to win last month\u2019s Group One Prix Vicomtesse Vigier at Longchamp by three-and-a-half lengths. He showed an impressive turn of foot to seal his victory there and that could again prove decisive when battle is joined in the home straight.<\/p>\n
Royal Ascot 2.30<\/strong> By his own sky-high standards, Aidan O\u2019Brien has as surprisingly poor record in this juvenile event with only three wins in 25 years, and his colt Whistlejacket was the beaten odds-on favourite 12 months ago. In every other respect, though, O\u2019Brien\u2019s Charles Darwin <\/strong>is a standout in this year\u2019s field, <\/strong>with an exceptional timefigure to back up the form of his easy win at Naas last time.<\/p>\nQuick GuideGreg Wood’s Thursday tipsShow<\/p>\n
Ripon <\/b>2.05 Fiftyshadesaresdev 2.40 Lucky Hero 3.15 Mr Jetman 3.50 Trefor 4.30 Pendragon 5.10 Mark\u2019s Choice 5.43 Perfidia<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chelmsford<\/b> 2.15 Palazzo Persico 2.50 Coming Attraction 3.23 Moulin Booj 4.00 Empress Of All 4.35 Star Pupil 5.05 Dubai Beach<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Royal Ascot<\/b> 2.30 Charles Darwin 3.05 Sing Us A Song (nb) 3.40 Catalina Delcarpio 4.20 Candelari 5.00 The Lost King 5.35 High Stock 6.10 Gleneagle Bay (nap)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wetherby <\/b>5.48 Adalida 6.20 City Of Poets 6.50 Rose Of New Jersey 7.20 Rumba Bay 7.50 Cosmos Raj 8.20 Arlington 8.50 Titainium<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lingfield <\/b>5.58 Persian Phoenix 6.38 Vlad 7.10 Night Step 7.40 Royal Accord 8.10 Kessar Power 8.40 White Crown Star<\/p>\n
Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n
Royal Ascot 3.05<\/strong> Ralph Beckett\u2019s Sing Us A Song <\/strong>showed a willing attitude to stay on well up the hill at Sandown in April and the form of his win there is working out well. He was a big-money transfer to the Wathnan Racing operation soon afterwards, is bred to improve for the step up in trip and looks big at around 8-1 to recoup at least a little of his purchase price here.<\/p>\nRoyal Ascot 3.40<\/strong> Paddy\u2019s Twomey\u2019s Catalina Delcarpio <\/strong>should probably be unbeaten in two starts after a luckless run in a Group Three last time out, but she has shown considerable promise on both trips to the track and could well find the necessary improvement to come out on top in an open renewal of the Ribblesdale Stakes.<\/p>\nRoyal Ascot 5.00<\/strong> A typically competitive renewal of the Britannia Handicap and a majority of the runners are likely to be well ahead of their current marks, but it is still seems odd that Andrew Balding\u2019s The Lost King <\/strong>is on offer at prices up to 50-1. He faded only late in the day on his return to action behind Fifth Column, also runner in this race, at Sandown in April, races off the same mark today and is drawn with the pacier horses towards the stands\u2019 side.<\/p>\nRoyal Ascot 5.35<\/strong> This race looked like the obvious next step for High Stock <\/strong>when he ran the useful Mount Kilimanjaro to a neck in the Dee Stakes at Chester in May, having opened his account in the Wood Ditton at Newmarket in April, and he could well improve past John & Thady Gosden\u2019s Detain, third home in the French Derby.<\/p>\nRoyal Ascot 6.10<\/strong> The Victoria Cup over course and distance in May looks like the strongest form on offer and Gleneagle Bay, <\/strong>just a nose and a short-head away from victory after racing away from the first two home, has a fair chance to gain some compensation at around 7-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The only British stable to wrest Royal Ascot\u2019s top trainer award away from Aidan O\u2019Brien over the course…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-196423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114708574624880322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}