OMBUDSMAN, CONSTITUTION RIVER ARE ON A COLLISION PATH IN THE JUDDMONTE INTERNATIONAL

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, August 18, 2026

The 2026 York Ebor Festival, which takes place from Wednesday, August 19 to Saturday, August 22, at York Racecourse, kicks off with an opening day feature race spectacular … the Group 1 1.5 million pound Juddmonte International, which will be the richest race staged at York.

The contest pits the Godolphin owned five-year-old superstar Ombudsman, who is trained by John and Thady Gosden, against the Aidan O’Brien trained ‘young gun’ three-year-old Constitution River.

Ombudsman will be defending his Juddmonte International title after easily taking care of another O’Brien trained three-year-old Delacroix in the 2025 edition of the race.

More recently Ombudsman won the Prince Of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot … a race he also won in 2025 … by a massive four length margin.

In that race he beat no less a duo than the Aidan O’Brien trained Minnie Hauk, who won the Yorkshire Oaks, the Epsom Oaks and the Irish Oaks in 2025 (all Group 1 races), and the Francis-Henri Graffard trained Daryz, who won the 2025 Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, into second and third place respectively.

That was Ombudsman’s third successive win … he had previously won the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown and the Group 1 Dubai Turf at Meydan. His only defeat in the four races he targeted in the last twelve months following that 2025 Juddmonte International win came at the hands of another champion, Calandagan, in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot. Calandagan has won Group 1 races in France, Britain Dubai and Japan.

When you talk Ombudsman and the races he contests, you are describing racing at the highest level, so it’s a mighty form-line that sees Ombudsman with a race record of nine wins and three placings from twelve starts.

Ombudsman’s market rival in this year’s Juddmonte International, Constitution River, also boasts a proud record.

The three-year-old has only tasted defeat once in his six career starts … and that was on debut … so, like Ombudsman he will be looking to extend an already impressive winning sequence.

His last two wins came in the Group 1 company when Constitution River won the Prix du Jockey Club in a hard fought finish at Chantilly and then followed up with a resounding win in the Coral Eclipse in which he defeated older horses.

Some of the British press are calling this Constitution River’s ‘Ombudsman test.’

Whatever you want to call it, this clash represents a major showdown, a classic crunch match and another renewal of the rich rivalry between Godolphin (Clarehaven / John and Thady Gosden) and Coolmore (Ballydoyle / Aidan O'Brien).

Ombudsman is currently the joint top rated racehorse in the world (with Ka Ying Rising) in the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, while Constitution River has broken through into the Top Ten on that list for the first time following his emphatic Coral-Eclipse victory.

Seven other runners are due to face the starter in the Juddmonte International, including Devil’s Advocate, who is likely to be used as a pacemaker for Ombudsman … and Hawk Mountain, who could be used in a similar role for Constitution River.

It should be a fascinating watch.