Constitution River to meet Ombudsman in International Stakes at York on Wednesday
Constitution River will take on Ombudsman in the International Stakes at York on the opening afternoon of the Ebor festival on Wednesday, providing an immediate replacement for the withdrawn Bow Echo.
Bow Echo was retired to stud after suffering a training setback, leaving a vacancy at the top end of the middle-distance division; he exited the season as the world’s top-rated three-year-old on a mark of 127, just 4lb behind the joint top-rated older horses, Ka Ying Rising and Ombudsman. Constitution River, rated 124 and the second-best three-year-old so far this year, has been handed the chance to step into that void by meeting Ombudsman at York.
Constitution River arrives unbeaten in three starts this year, having carried his winning sequence into his first all-aged Group One when he won the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown by three lengths in July. He had earlier recorded a narrow victory from a "horrible draw" in the Prix du Jockey Club in June, and his global ranking was 124, 7lb behind Ombudsman before the York contest.
Wednesday’s International is a nine-strong affair rather than a straight match, with Andrew Balding’s Item among the runners; Item was a decisive winner of the Dante Stakes in May over the same track and trip and his only blip this season was a ninth-place finish when second-favourite for the Derby on soft ground. The presence of multiple credible contenders underlines the depth of the field for the opening feature on the Knavesmire.
Ombudsman is a shade of odds-on with most bookmakers to follow up his win in last year’s International Stakes, a race run in an unusual fashion when his pacemaker Birr Castle raced into a huge lead by the turn and was only reeled in inside the final furlong. The earlier shock of Qirat winning the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood at 150-1 a few weeks before added to the oddity of that period, and Ombudsman goes into this renewal as the world’s highest-rated middle-distance horse.
The International has produced a number of strong renewals down the years, including two in the last six seasons that were later awarded global "Race of the Year", and Wednesday’s renewal offers a realistic chance to improve that record to three out of seven. It is the first of four Group Ones scheduled across the Ebor festival, alongside the Yorkshire Oaks, the Nunthorpe Stakes and the City of York Stakes on Saturday, the latter having been promoted to the top run from last year.
The four-day meeting remains anchored by the Ebor Handicap on the final afternoon, a race with a near 200-year history that continues to be a major attraction for punters and racegoers; recent winners of high quality include the recently retired Trawlerman, who went on to take the Ascot Gold Cup three years later, and Willie Mullins’s Ethical Diamond, who later won the Breeders’ Cup Turf in California. Off the track, the sport faces administrative and commercial challenges, with the Racecourse Association apparently disintegrating as the big tracks seek greater influence and betting shops being listed alongside "vape shops … and other rogue businesses" when the government announced plans to revive "hollowed out" high streets last week, while the summer’s highlights have ranged from Royal Ascot in June to Goodwood three weeks ago when Bow Echo ran his final race in the Sussex Stakes.
The immediate next test is clear: Constitution River, Ombudsman and seven others will contest the International Stakes at York on Wednesday, the opening feature of the Ebor festival.