Ombudsman successfully defended his Prince of Wales’s Stakes crown with a brilliant display in Royal Ascot’s day two feature.
A quality field of eight runners went to post for the 10-furlong Group One, with John and Thady Gosden’s Ombudsman the 11-10 favourite to become the first horse to go back-to-back in this event since the Gosden-trained Muhtarram in 1995.
In a race run at a furious gallop as the pacesetting pair of Devil’s Advocate and Mississippi River went at it hammer in tongs in front, William Buick was happy to take his time aboard the market leader before producing him to challenge halfway up the straight.
Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero Daryz and multiple Group One-winning filly Minnie Hauk were both in there pitching as the pacemakers faltered, but neither could resist the electric turn of Ombudsman, who powered clear late on to win in hugely impressive fashion by four lengths from Minnie Hauk.