Ombudsman, Son of Night of Thunder earns Automatic Berth into $5 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) for Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar
Godolphin’s Ombudsman (IRE) won the £1 millionPrince of Wales’s Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot, earning a free berth in the $5 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In.
The Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series is an international series of 93 stakes races in 15 countries whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, scheduled to be held Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California.
Jockey William Buick guided the John and Thady Gosden-trained 7-1 shot, Ombudsman, to victory in the Prince of Wales’s Stake (G1), giving the father/son training partnership their staggering fourth win of the meeting.
The race was run at a searching gallop, with Aidan O’Brien’s duo, 13-8 favorite Los Angeles (IRE), and 100-1 outsider Continuous (JPN), setting extremely fast fractions. The Ballydoyle tactics proved unsuccessful, and the finish favored the 8-runner field’s late challengers. Coming from behind, Buick did not get the gap he necessarily wanted, but, after switching to the outside of the track, the 4-year-old showed an impressive burst of speed to shoot 1¾ lengths clear of the pack. The winning time was 2:02:51 on going which was good to firm.
The 5-1 third favorite, Shadwell Estate Company Ltd.’s Anmaat (IRE), finished strongly in second, while late supplementary entry See The Fire (GB) stayed on to grab third.
Ombudsman, by Night of Thunder (IRE), was having only his sixth start to date, having never hit the track as a 2-year-old. He was unbeaten in his 3-year-old campaign, culminating his season with an impressive win in the Prix du Prince d’Orange (G3) at Paris Longchamp in September. He was, however, unable to keep up his winning streak as a 4-year-old and was second in his seasonal debut, also in his most recent run, in the May 29 Brigadier Gerard Stakes (G3) at Sandown.
This represented a sixth win in this iconic contest for John Gosden, who paid tribute to owner Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in the immediate aftermath of the race. He said: “It was a case of waiting for the gap and this horse has an extraordinary turn of foot. He’s a special horse and it’s just a question of an owner giving you the time to let them mature and get there. Sheikh Mohammed is without doubt the nicest and easiest owner I’ve ever trained for, he says ‘do what we think is right.’ I never get pushed; he’d never be the horse he was unless I had such a patient owner.”
Looking ahead to the Breeders’ Cup later this year, Thady Gosden added: “Very possibly he could go there. Of course, it’s a long season. He’s just done a mile and a quarter there very well. There’s every chance he could stay the mile and a half at Del Mar, but we’ve got a long time to go until then.”
As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders’ Cup will pay the entry fees for Ombudsman to start in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf. Breeders’ Cup will also provide a travel allowance for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships.
