IT has taken three decades to find a back-to-back winner of the Royal Ascot centrepiece on day two of the meeting, the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes. John Gosden was the last to achieve it, and he has done it again with his son Thady on the licence.

This time it was with Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder), and it has been well signalled that the five-year-old will join the Darley stallion roster in 2027. This nine-time winner will attempt to double up in the Group 1 Juddmonte International, and add to the tasty total of €5.5 million that he has garnered in prizemoney already. His nine wins have come from 12 runs, and he was second on each occasion he was beaten.