Timeform's Simon Baker reflects on Wednesday's key action from Royal Ascot as Ombudsman was the undoubted star and raised his game again in claiming a second Prince of Wales's Stakes.
Wednesday at Royal Ascot may lack Tuesday’s frenzy of Group 1s, but the Prince of Wales’s Stakes is often the highlight of the meeting in terms of star power and it’ll take something really special later in the week to surpass what Ombudsman did this afternoon.
You have to go back to Muhtarram in the mid-90s to find the last dual winner of this race – no horse has won it twice since it was elevated to Group 1 status in 2000 – yet Ombudsman was even more impressive this time around than in 2025, and in an even deeper renewal as well.
The leading contenders all had their chance in a race in which the pacemakers ensured there was no hiding place and, in powering away to a four-length win, with Group 1 winners in second, third, and fourth, Ombudsman surely put up a top-class effort that will quite possibly raise him to a position as the top Flat horse in Europe.
The early indications are that the timefigure will support that sort of view as well, and there really don’t look to be any holes to pick in a performance that will most likely put him in and among the likes of Crystal Ocean, Rewilding, Duke of Marmalade, Manduro and maybe even Dubai Millennium, some of the best Prince of Wales’s winners this century.
It wasn’t until True Love last year that Aidan O’Brien first won the Queen Mary, but Victorious made it two wins in the race in as many years for her remarkable trainer, who, with 99 wins and counting, is out on his own as the most successful Royal Ascot trainer of all time.
He’s unlikely to have to wait until Friday’s Albany for number 100, though Victorious’ presence in this race rather than the Albany, which may have looked the more natural fit, could be a strong pointer towards her stable companion Sun Goddess in that race.
In terms of achievement on the day, Victorious is likely to go down as an average rather than exceptional Queen Mary winner, as the rest were in a bit too much of a heap to rate the form really highly, but as a daughter of Wootton Bassett from a family featuring no shortage of middle-distance performers, it’s most impressive that she was able to win with such authority over 5f at all.
That powerful final furlong leaves no doubt that Victorious will be even better back at 6f and probably even beyond, and she’ll have excellent prospects of emulating True Love, who went on to add further notable success to her record, later on in her two-year-old campaign and indeed with a Guineas win this season.
