Buick expected to maintain Ombudsman partnership in the Eclipse

Rhyl Journal

13 hours ago

Speaking on a media Zoom call, joint-trainer Thady Gosden confirmed Buick is set to take the ride on the four-year-old, who was a brilliant winner of the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot.
And confidence is high in the camp that he can follow up in the traditional first clash of the generations, albeit respectful of the fact the gap between the Royal meeting and the Eclipse is a relatively short one.
One week on…
Ombudsman scaled new heights with a jaw-dropping display in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal @Ascot!
How much higher can the son of Night Of Thunder go? pic.twitter.com/WKWfHPAPKT
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 25, 2025
'We've had some nice horses from the yard run in it over the years. It's a fantastic race and it's a big thanks to Coral for 50 years of sponsorship, it's pretty amazing,' said Gosden, who trains alongside his father, John, a four-time Eclipse winner.
'Obviously it is a very tight turnaround, we'd rather have given him longer, especially when they are running in solid Group One races. But he's in very good order, he'd only had the one run before Ascot at Sandown in the Brigadier Gerard when he was second to Almaqam.
'He hasn't had a hard season, he hasn't had a hard career so far really, so we thought why not get him ready for this.
'The Prince of Wales's was a very tough race against plenty of hard-knocking Group One horses and he was still relatively inexperienced, it was his first run in a Group One.'
The turn of foot on display at Ascot means Ombudsman has been all the rage for this, so much so that any thoughts to run his stablemate Field Of Gold in the race were immediately shelved after he was also successful at Ascot, in his case over a mile in the St James's Palace Stakes.
'They both ran huge races at Ascot,' said Gosden.
'Field Of Gold was particularly impressive, just the natural speed he has, and the raw speed he showed there, why rush into a mile and a quarter when you know he's got the class over a mile that he's shown.
'It's the first meeting of the generations. The three-year-olds look very good, you've got a French Derby winner in there (Camille Pissarro), some serious three-year-olds.
'We've got Field Of Gold among that generation, but obviously they've been running over different trips, his form does tie in with Ruling Court. They look a very solid bunch.
'Of course you've got Sosie who is probably the best 10/12-furlong horse in France coming over as well. We finished second to him in the Prix d'Ispahan with Sardinian Warrior and he won the Ganay the time before that.
'All these horses have a very good turn of foot, but he's got plenty of speed, he's always had it, he's improved every start and he stays a mile and a quarter well.
'He's meeting a few of the same rivals again, but now there's the three-year-olds with a weight advantage and Sosie looks a serious horse, so he might have to improve again.'