Royal Ascot Timeform review

Six horses who showed improved form at Royal Ascot

By Timeform

Horse Racing

Tue June 24, 2025 · 3w ago

Timeform highlight six horses who improved their rating at Royal Ascot in 2025, including Field of Gold and Ombudsman.

AMERICAN AFFAIR (120 from 112)

American Affair didn’t have things go his way in last month’s Temple Stakes on his first try at pattern level but things panned out much better for him in the King Charles III Stakes where he kept on to for a neck win over the filly Frost At Dawn with last year’s runner-up Regional a length back in third. American Affair has shown remarkable improvement in the last 18 months – he won his first handicap last season from a BHA mark of just 70 – and is an excellent example of the underrated skill of his trainer Jim Goldie with such types. This wasn’t the strongest edition of what used to be the ‘King’s Stand’, but American Affair will be competitive in the top five-furlong contests to come, with the Nunthorpe likely to be his main target and where his proven course form at York will be a big plus.

FIELD OF GOLD (132p from 124p)

Irish 2000 Guineas winner Field of Gold put up the performance of the week in the St James’s Palace Stakes where he trounced two other Guineas winners, having Henri Matisse, winner of the French version, three and a half lengths back in second, with a similar distance to his Newmarket conqueror Ruling Court in third. Winning in his race in breathtaking fashion with a devastating turn of foot to lead and then go clear two furlongs out, in form terms Field of Gold’s effort was on a par with, or better, than the likes of Rock of Gibraltar, Henrythenavigator, Shamardal and his own sire Kingman. He looks set to continue down the path trodden by the latter and take on older rivals in the Sussex Stakes next where he’ll be very hard to beat on this form, with the potential to prove at least as good as his 134-rated sire.

OMBUDSMAN (130 from 122)

Although a year older than stablemate Field of Gold, Ombudsman has had less racing but has quickly made into a top-class performer himself, making a successful debut at Group 1 level in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes to take his record to five wins from six starts. Like Field of Gold, he settled matters with a superb turn of foot, though William Buick was looking for room for about a furlong before finally getting into the clear over a furlong out and winning impressively by two lengths from last year’s Champion Stakes winner Anmaat, one of four previous Group 1 winners in the field. Ombudsman has risen to the top of the mile and a quarter division for now, though his Brigadier Gerard Stakes conqueror Almaqam (rated 126) might have something to say about that, even if he was getting weight from Ombudsman at Sandown.

TRAWLERMAN (124 from 127)

Trawlerman was a third Group 1 winner for the week’s leading stable, John and Thady Gosden, and while he might not have had to show the same improvement to win his first Group 1 in the Gold Cup, he too won with plenty of authority in recording a high-class effort. Following the recent retirement of Kyprios who was the dominant stayer in his two Gold Cup-winning campaigns, proven stayer Trawlerman, who had gone down fighting to Kyprios when runner-up last year, galloped on relentlessly from the front to win by seven lengths and the same, with Illinois faring better in second than the winner’s other main market rival Candelari. Only the same stable’s Stradivarius has won a Gold Cup by further this century (ten lengths in 2020) and even a conservative view of the form suggests Trawlerman has never been better.

Cercene battles to victory over Zarigana

CERCENE (115 from 103)

Cercene had proved herself a likeable filly in Ireland and had run well last time when beaten four lengths into third behind Lake Victoria in the Irish 1000 Guineas at 20/1. But leaving her previous form behind in Lake Victoria’s absence, Cercene caused a 33/1 upset in the Coronation Stakes with her willing attitude key to getting the better of French-trained favourite Zarigana. Leading over a furlong out, Cercene was headed by Zarigana inside the final furlong, but with the favourite not sustaining her effort, Cercene got her head back in front in the final fifty yards to win by half a length. But with none of the fillies who had been first past the post in Europe’s three main 1000 Guineas present, this was a substandard Coronation Stakes, with no dominant filly yet to emerge among the three-year-old fillies at a mile.

NOBLE CHAMPION (115 from 97)

Outside the Group 1 races, one of the most improved performances came from Noble Champion who was a clear-cut winner of Saturday’s Jersey Stakes. With his only previous win coming in a Lingfield novice late last year, Noble Champion had been tried first at a mile and then at six furlongs on his last two starts, but back at seven furlongs on his return to Group 3 company (he’d been seventh in the Greenham on his reappearance), he proved a different proposition to become the joint-longest priced winner of the Jersey Stakes this century. However, the form may not prove entirely reliable as the first four all came from the group who raced down the centre, as opposed to the near-side, and the first two – Noble Champion pulled three and a quarter lengths clear of long-time leader Spy Chief - were prominent throughout.

Kieran Shoemark celebrates as Noble Champion wins

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.

Like what you've read?