Ben Linfoot dishes out his awards of the week after Royal Ascot 2026 including best horse, best handicap blot and best goggles.
🎩 Horse of the Week – Ombudsman 🏆
Ombudsman was brilliant when winning the Prince of Wales’s Stakes last year, a coming-of-age victory, but this year, defending his title, he was even better. They threw the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe one-two at him, Daryz and Minnie Hauk, as well as recent Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Almaqam, but off a strong pace the rest simply couldn’t live with him. He is the king over 10 furlongs and while it would be great to see him take on a three-year-old or two in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, he might well wait for York and the Juddmonte International in August. The way he cruised from the rear to running away with it in the blink of an eye was brilliant, a joy to watch, and he’ll be tough to beat on the Knavesmire if he turns up in this form.
🎩 Jockey of the Week – Ryan Moore 🏆
Seven winners for Ryan Moore this week, ensuring a 13th top jockey at the Royal meeting title, his total tally now standing at 99. Five of those wins came on favourites, but he also got 14/1 chance Mission Central home in the King Charles III Stakes with an excellently judged ride highlighted by how many horses he overtook in the final furlong to get home by a head. He had to be strong as an ox to get Scandinavia and Precise over the line in their Group 1s, while he made up Causeway’s mind for him in a protracted battle with Ancient Egypt and David Egan in the King Edward VII Stakes. Arguably the difference maker in a few of those tight tussles, he might be a weighing room veteran and riding against his son now, but he remains at the very top of his game.
🎩 Trainer of the Week – Aidan O’Brien 🏆
A brilliant week for George Boughey, who had three winners, William Haggas, who had four winners, and Joseph O’Brien, who had five winners, while you have to tip your top hat to Fozzy Stack, as well, who came to the Royal meeting with two horses and went home with two trophies. But Aidan O’Brien won his 14th leading trainer award at Royal Ascot thanks to seven victories, all while surpassing the 100 winners landmark at the meeting, with three Group 1 successes amongst that number, as well. It was the ninth time in the last 12 years he has been leading trainer at the week, with the Gosden yard landing it the other three years in that timeframe (they were only 1 from 30 this year). And the Ballydoyle two-year-olds looked a different gear...
🎩 Juvenile of the Week - Victorious 🏆
Victorious put in a brilliant performance to win the Queen Mary Stakes over five furlongs on Wednesday. By Wootton Bassett out of a Galileo mare, she’s bred for middle-distances and she’s blind in her left eye to boot, but she showed bundles of class to hit the line hard after breaking from stall 5 on the unfavoured far side. Incredibly True Love was Aidan O’Brien’s first ever winner of the Queen Mary 12 months ago, but he’s found the blueprint now and Victorious looks set to follow a similar path to last year’s heroine, which means a gradual step back up in trip. True Love’s plan culminated in 1000 Guineas glory at Newmarket and it’s no surprise to see Victorious chalked up as the 12/1 favourite for the Classic over 10 months in advance.
🎩 Race of the Week – The Gold Cup 🏆
The Gold Cup. So often the highlight of Royal Ascot and so it was again this year. Not only because Scandinavia edged Trawlerman in a vintage duel for the crown, while miles clear of their rivals, but because it also brought up a century of Royal Ascot winners for Aidan O’Brien. It was fitting, really, for a Ballydoyle blue-blood to edge a Godolphin-owned champion to bring up the landmark, and Scandinavia looks a typical O’Brien stayer who can make hay in the Cup division for seasons to come. By great new hope Justify, out of a Galileo mare, Scandinavia is going to be a poster boy in the sphere after a passing of the baton from Trawlerman, who ran a cracker on the first start of his season at eight-years-old, all after needing to sport ski goggles in the preliminaries for his rare eye condition. All he needed in the race was his old ability and while he showed that in spades, the new kid in town was just too good, by a head. A great race.
🎩 Ski goggles of the Week – Trawlerman 🏆
And there they are.
🎩 Handicap blot of the Week – Bacio 🏆
You have to think the American sprinters are tough for the British handicappers to assess, especially three-year-olds that have only run a handful of times. You have to think that after the Palace of Holyroodhouse, anyway! Rated 100 and number six in the list for the five-furlong handicap, Wesley Ward’s Bacio was 10/1 on Friday morning but was pummelled in the market all day and went off 3/1 under Juan Hernandez, whose biggest worry came afterwards when looking for a lost piece of tack. Drama was eventually averted after an objection, a relief for backers who saw the good thing break well and make all up the golden rail for a no-sweat three-and-three-quarter length cruise.
🎩 Shocker of the Week – Christophe Soumillon 🏆
Even the very best can have an off week at Royal Ascot and Christophe Soumillon will be licking his wounds after a meeting to forget (0 from 14). It all started with that long, lingering, look over his shoulder in the St James’s Palace Stakes aboard Puerto Rico, leaving the Ascot stewards with little choice but to punish him with an eight-day ban as he created a path for stablemate Gstaad up the inside. The fiery Belgian denies accusations of team tactics, but if he was hoping to at least end the week on a high on Goliath that all went pear-shaped when he slipped out of his irons at the business end of the Hardwicke Stakes, just when his mount came off the bridle. Ouch.
🎩 Sire of the Week – Night Of Thunder 🏆
Honourable mentions for No Nay Never (three winners) and Starman (two winners) but the top stallion award goes to Night Of Thunder for his top-level treble after he landed the Group 1 Queen Anne with Ten Bob Tony at 50/1, the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes with Bow Echo and the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes with Ombudsman. And after Wathnan's 2/1 favourite Lost Boys won the Golden Gates Handicap, the penultimate race of the meeting, Night Of Thunder sealed the leading stallion title with his fourth winner of the week.
🎩 Hint for the rest of the season of the Week – Venetian Sun 🏆
We shall see how the three-year-olds stack up against the older horses in the sprint division, but Venetian Sun could be a thorn in the side of her elders in the second half of 2026. On Friday she looked to win the Commonwealth Cup despite the Good To Firm ground and while she’s classy and versatile enough to act on anything on this evidence, she could be a different filly with cut in the ground. She hinted that much when brilliant in the Sandy Lane at Haydock and with the sprinting programme stacked in the autumn, she’s going to have some serious opportunities in races like the Sprint Cup (at Haydock) and QIPCO British Champions Sprint (back here on Champions Day).
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