Compare and contrast the fields for the Juddmonte International and Yorkshire Oaks at York’s Ebor Festival this week and you will see what a curious position British racing is at the highest level.
Let’s deal with the positives first.
The Juddmonte International promises to be, once again, the race of the season.
And not just in Britain.
The Eclipse winner, the Prince of Wales’ winner, a top Japanese horse and a leading French three-year-old.
A talented Group Two winning filly is also firmly in the reckoning.
It has everything you want in a top-class Group One contest.
Delacroix (right) and Ombudsman will renew their rivalry in York’s Juddmonte International

Jockey William Buick (right) when Ombudsman won the Prince of Wales’ Stakes at Royal Ascot

Aidan O’Brien’s Delacroix is vying for favouritism with Ombudsman but the latter is preferred
This was the race that, in my opinion, saw the last truly breathtaking Flat performance.
When the brilliant Baaeed thumped Mishriff by six-and-a-half lengths in 2022 it was a jaw-dropping performance.
City Of Troy downing Calandagan by a length in 2024 was another excellent renewal. We have one more on Wednesday.
Aidan O’Brien won this last year with his Derby and Eclipse winner. Delacroix may have misfired in the former but he delivered at Sandown. He’s a worthy favourite as the turn of foot he showed when hampered in the closing stages was impressive.
He ran down OMBUDSMAN (2-1, bet365) that day but if things went wrong for the winner in the closing stages then the first half of the race was a nightmare for the Prince Of Wales’ Stakes victor at Royal Ascot.
He was trapped three wide and too keen off a slow pace. Jockey William Buick was forced into playing his hand early and, although he got a clearer run than most, his over exertions in the early stages told in the end.
Owners Godolphin have supplemented a pacemaker in a bid to ensure that scenario doesn’t unfold again, with a solid gallop on the front end hopefully delivering the type of race that saw Ombudsman come from the back with a withering run at Royal Ascot.
York’s long straight should suit John and Thady Gosden’s colt who was also undoubtedly fully primed for Royal Ascot. They’ve targeted the meeting on the Knavesmire equally as effectively in recent season. Mostahdaf (2023), Mishriff (2021) and Roaring Lion (2018) were all magnificent International winners for the Clarehaven team.

Gosden is eyeing a fourth International victory in the last seven years
Ombudsman may well follow suit and he only has to give Delacroix 7lbs instead of 10lbs this time around after a neck defeat in the Eclipse. He can turn that form around.
Trust the Gosdens to strike again.
Japan’s Danon Dacile has been well supported from 16-1 into 9-2 and has been kept fresh for this since winning the Sheema Classic in Dubai in April. The Japanese Derby winner beat the classy Calandagan that day and it’s a piece of form that puts him in the mix.
That race turned into a bit of a sprint for the line but it was over a mile and a half, showing that Danon Dacile, rated 125, could have the speed to take a hand. However, his price has gone and it’s hard to weigh up his form with the top two in the market.
Daryz is an unexposed three-year-old from France and unbeaten in four starts. Rated just 113, he has more than a stone to find with the principals but is open to any amount of improvement.
He’s another that’s come in from support from 14-1 into 7s in recent weeks. Again, that’s a sharp cut that makes him offputting as an each-way angle in the race. He was workmanlike enough in a Grade Two in Saint-Cloud.
It would be no surprise to see him burst onto the Group One scene soon but it’ll be a shock if it happens at York on Wednesday. This could be too much too soon for him and the fast ground and tempo may take him out of his comfort zone very early.
The danger to have a saver on is without doubt SEE THE FIRE (9-1, William Hill) who seems inexplicably unconsidered after her third in the Nassau Stakes. But that race was a farce in a monsoon when she missed the break off an absurd flag start.
Oisin Murphy sensibly realised there was no point in leaving her season behind by asking her to make up ground on the unrelenting Whirl, so forget that run and pretty much every line of form at ‘Glorious Goodwood’ for that matter.
The Andrew Balding-trained filly is much better judged on her good third to Ombudsman in the Prince Of Wales’ Stakes where she went off half the price of the winner that day.
Her Royal Ascot starting price was probably off the back of her startling effort at York when she blitzed the field in the Group Two Middleton Stakes. She won by 12 lengths from Beautiful Love and Royal Dress.

Oaks winner Minnie Hauk (right) is expected to take out a weak-looking Yorkshire Oaks
Admittedly, the two horses she beat are now rated in the high 100s but it was still a spectacular performance and she as a neck second in the Nassau Stakes last year behind Opera Singer when that was a semblance of a conventional horse race.
Course and distance winners at York can never be underestimated and she can easily bounce back here to be the chief danger to Ombudsman.
For all the brilliance and intrigue in the International, there is none of that in a bland Yorkshire Oaks.
Six confirmations and four are trained by O’Brien. Only two of those are intended runners; short-priced favourtie Minnie Hauk and Garden Of Eden.
Minnie Hauk has won the Oaks and Irish Oaks and looks for a treble. Estrange is second favourite but won’t run if firm is in the going description. Fast ground is likely in this heatwave with no rain around. Ed Walker’s Qilin Queen is the other entry.
This Group One prize could easily be a three-runner heat, with Ribblesdale winner Garden Of Eden probably giving a lead to stablemate Minnie Hauk.
The latter grinded down Whirl in a sustained duel in the Oaks but was more workmanlike in the Irish equivalent. This is another race that won’t take much winner. General odds of 2-5 sum that up. It’s as uninspiring as it gets for Thursday’s feature.
Thank goodness, the International will be completely different.

More Thunder charges to victory in the Hungerford Stakes at Newbury to bag a Group Two
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: MORE THUNDER was an impressive winner of the Hungerford Stakes at Newmarket. He had a little to find with others but his huge potential saw William Haggas’ four-year-old sent off 6-4 favourite and he came with a typical late burst to win fairly easily in the end.
Group One assignments should be next in the offing. The Prix Foret on Arc day looks the suitable seven-furlong assignment but a strongly-run six is another option and the Champion Sprint on Champions Day at Ascot is another end-of-season possibility.
The Park Stakes at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting looks to be the next race on his radar, according to connections. That should be a Group Two of a similar standard.
SELECTION OF THE DAY: JAPAN took out the Group Two Prix Guillaume d’Ornano at Deauville yesterday and they can claim today’s Group One prize on offer in France with ASCOLI PICENO (3-1, William Hill) in the Prix Jacques Le Marois (Deauville, 2.50).
The ground is drying out all the time and this four-year-old was impressive in taking out the Victoria Mile in May. Stall two looks a good draw and his form puts him in the picture in a sketchy mile division in Europe.
INTERNATIONAL 1-2-3: 1. OMBUDSMAN. 2. SEE THE FIRE. 3. DELACROIX.
YORKSHIRE OAKS 1-2-3: 1. MINNIE HAUK. 2. GARDEN OF EDEN. 3. QILIN QUEEN.