York Wednesday

Juddmonte International Stakes (Group 1)

FEATURE race on day one of York’s historic Ebor Festival was the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes in which 7/4 favourite Ombudsman (John & Thady Gosden/William Buick) won as expected, but not before his pacemaker Birr Castle (Andre Fabre/Rab Havlin) had seriously threatened to become the second 150/1 shot to win a British Group 1 in a matter of weeks. The French raider went to the front soon after the start, but as he was asked to stride on by Havlin, all the others were content to drop anchor, with the result that the leader was able to build up a lead of 25 lengths by setting a strong, but not suicidal pace.

It was only in the last two furlongs that the pack began to reel the pace-setter in, and even then it was just Ombudsman who was able to put him to the sword, with the winning margin growing to three and a half lengths at the line, while Birr Castle only ceded second in the final strides to Delacroix (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore), who finished half a length to the good of the long-time leader.

John Gosden seemed relieved as much as ecstatic with the result, saying afterwards: “The plan was to go a good even pace. The Japanese jockey was with Rab on the pacemaker, then [he] kept taking back and back so the whole field took back and let Rab slip the field.

“When William let Ombudsman go, he said he absolutely flew. He said he went from second gear to fifth gear like that [clicking his fingers]. He’s just taken it away from Delacroix who has finished second in the end and obviously the pacemaker is third. He’s collected his supplementary fee.

“The obvious races now are the English and Irish Champion. He’s in the Arc as well, but will need one of those rare fast ground Arcs, but they do happen occasionally. We’ll see how the horse is when we get back and I’m going to have a fun call with Andre.”

PRIDE Of Arras (Ralph Beckett/Rossa Ryan) got his campaign firmly back on track to land the Group 2 Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes. The Dante winner looked a big player in the Derby after his impressive effort here in May, but he failed to shine in either the Derby or the Irish equivalent, and arrived here with some questions to answer. Perhaps the decision to geld the son of New Bay after the Curragh was a catalyst, but he looked right back to his best here, looming up to the leaders in the home straight and finding more than his rivals to beat Queen’s Vase winner Carmers (Paddy Twomey/Colin Keane) by a length, with Arabian Force (William Haggas/Tom Marquand) running on well from the rear to be third in a close photo for the minor honours.

Last of 10 in the Irish Derby at the end of June, Pride Of Arras seemed to appreciate the break and/or the surgery to belatedly build on his Dante success, but if Beckett was delighted, Aidan O’Brien must have been shaking his head, with his four runners in the race filling the last four positions. That quartet were headed on paper by dual Derby hero Lambourn, who was well placed before fading in the straight. It’s very possible that he needed the run after a break, and it’s clear that the St Leger is a more important target than this, but this will still go down as a missed opportunity.

As for the final classic, the winner is not eligible to run as a gelding, and is more likely to cut back to 10 furlongs for the British Champion Stakes on the final day of the turf season proper.

“It’s just good to see him back on a level playing field,” said the winning rider. “You can see what he can do. Everything just went smoothly; I was behind the bridle the whole way and it’s lovely.”

THE Andrew Balding-trained Gewan kept his unbeaten record intact when holding off the late challenge of Italy (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) to win the Tattersalls Acomb Stakes under P.J. McDonald at odds of 11/2.

Winner of a novice at Newbury on his debut, winner Gewan was pitched into Group 3 company on just his second start.

After settling nicely in behind front-running May Angel, he led early in the straight and stayed on strongly to score by a length and a half from Italy, who was ridden with more restraint by Moore.

Disappointment of the race was Godolphin’s warm favourite Distant Storm, who pulled much too hard in the first half of the race and had nothing left to give as Gewan pressed on in the straight.

The winning jockey blamed himself for getting to the front too soon and believes that there is a lot more to come from Gewan, saying when interviewed on ITV Racing: “He’s very nice, his mind is A1.

“He’s going to learn a hell of a lot in the next six months through the winter and he’s going to be a lovely horse next year.

“It was probably not my finest idea to go to the front two out on a horse having his second run at York on a busy day like today, but he was doing everything so comfortable for me, and I just felt at ease on him all the time.

“He’s had a good look around when he’s got there, he might just have been getting a little bit tired, he’s a big horse but he’s an exciting horse moving forward.”

Rest of the card

The 19-runner, five-furlong IRE-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Fillies’ Heritage Handicap predictably had a bunch finish and it was the Richard Hughes-trained, Jaber Abdullah-owned Star Of Mehmas (11/1) who came through to get the nod from Eternal Sunshine and Luna A Inbhir Nis with two short heads separating them. The winner still had plenty to do over a furlong out and made rapid headway inside the final furlong, ridden and ran on well in the final 110 yards under Ryan Moore.

The finale Sky Bet Nursery Handicap produced another terrific finish, with Saffie Osbourne managing to manoeuvre 33/1 shot Ruby’s Angel over from the widest draw in 22 to get up in the final strides and win by a head for Hugo Palmer. A neck and a head separated Mo Of Cairo and Chairmanfourtimes in second and third.

Racing opened with Kieran Shoemark and winning trainer Charles Hills, combining to win the Hong Kong Jockey Club World Pool Heritage Handicap over five and a half furlongs with Trefor (7/1), who shaded The Man by another head. Kendall Roy ran a good race in fourth of the 20 runners for Katie McGivern.