Outstanding five-year-old OMBUDSMAN (Night Of Thunder), a close relative of Klawervlei Stud’s four time G1 winning stallion TWICE OVER (Observatory), showed his class once again when he won the G3 Star Sports Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown on Thursday evening.
Ombudsman did all that was required of him before Royal Ascot with a narrow triumph over GETHIN (GHAIYYATH) in Thursday’s contest.
John and Thady Gosden’s superstar was beaten under a penalty by Almaqam (Lope De Vega) in this race 12 months ago and deep inside the final furlong it looked like history might repeat itself, with this time Gethin the one benefiting from a weight concession.
But the William Buick-ridden Ombudsman (2-5 favourite) managed to keep him at bay by a neck, setting himself up for a blockbuster showdown with Arc hero DARYZ (Sea The Stars) in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes next month.
John Gosden said of his five-year-old, who had debuted this year in the Dubai Turf on World Cup night in March: “He needed the race last year and honestly he hasn’t seen grass since Meydan, he’s trained entirely on all-weather, that’s how much we’ve had a drought and no rain at all.”
Ombudsman, whose fifth dam LOST VIRTUE (Cloudy Dawn) also ranks as the third dam of Twice Over, has won eight of just 11 starts including last year’s G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and G1 Juddmonte International Stakes.
Twice Over, whose progeny have earned more than R6.635 million this season, could be represented by his outstanding son SEE IT AGAIN in next week’s G1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge.
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