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The three-year-old beat the five-year-old in Wednesday’s Juddmonte International but with a twist that Item that got the better of Almaqam, while the two headliners floundered behind them. Billed as the clash of the season between Ombudsman and Constitution River, York’s feature once again wound up underlining how circumstances so often conspire to make a mockery of racing’s hype machine. Morning rain after months of drought turned the ground to the softer side of good, which didn’t help either of the big two. Ombudsman still started a 5/6 favourite to win it again, only for nothing to go right for Godolphin’s superstar in just over two minutes of action that defied all predictions. It was Constitution River’s main pacemaker, Action that missed the start by a beat, leaving Aidan O’Brien’s number one racing keenly on the outer before sliding in behind his other stable companion, Hawk Mountain. READ MORE Action and Ronan Whelan found themselves racing alongside Ombudsman at the rear. With team tactics such a hot topic, perhaps it was no surprise that initial commentary spoke of “man marking” by Coolmore’s outsider, although Ombudsman’s jockey William Buick ultimately opted to go for an ambitious inside route up the long straight alone. At that point, Ryan Moore started to commit on Constitution River, although the colt’s early exuberance caught up with him. Almarqan was poised to pounce, and after doing Ombudsman no favours, Colin Keane found himself forced to the outside to launch Item’s challenge. The widely anticipated head-to-head between racing’s two superpower operations instead unfolded into a very different proposition. Beaten just once previously in the Derby, it was the three-year-old with the nondescript name, owned by the big-race sponsors, who eventually lunged dramatically in the final 50 metres to pip Almaqam. The 10/1 winner was a first in the race for trainer Andrew Balding. They’d barely pulled up before recrimination and brickbats were flying, much of it directed at Buick. However, Ombudsman’s trainer John Gosden quickly blamed the ground for the favourite’s defeat. “It didn’t work as we thought,” said O’Brien. “John’s pacemaker didn’t go and our pacemaker missed the break. Ryan ended up getting there a bit earlier than he wanted and he was a bit lit up. He got a little bit tired and because of all that he got beat.” He also nominated September’s Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown as Constitution River’s next target. Having swerved that race a year ago, Gosden suggested that Ombudsman’s career will now take a more international road before retirement to stud. Given the pre-race build up, it all felt unsatisfactory and inconclusive, although underestimating the winner could prove an error. It was hardly like Item had a dream run through either. He also overcame a late foot scare that threatened his participation. But in a race sponsored by his employers, Keane getting up in the last stride surely sealed his position in a role he secured just over a year ago. “For a long way I was never really happy,” the six-time Irish champion said, “but maybe that was just the slow ground, it wasn’t as slow as Epsom, but he never really felt comfortable on it for most of the way round, I struggled. It wasn’t really until William joined down his inner between the four and the three and that actually set him alight. “But I loved what he did in the last furlong, strong to the line, he feels like a horse who will go back up in trip and that’s when you will see the best of him. It’s a long way up here and it took every inch of the straight.” Separately, Minnie Hauk will try to deliver Aidan O’Brien a record 10th victory in Thursday’s Legends Global Yorkshire Oaks but must overcome the Item team, who have Kalpana, the rival that has replaced the Irish star as the world’s top-ranked filly or mare. O’Brien equalled Michael Stoute’s Yorkshire Oaks tally a year ago when Minnie Hauk beat Estrange. Subsequently runner up in the Arc, Minnie Hauk ended 2025 as the world’s highest-rated female racehorse. What has followed this year has been a performance rollercoaster, most recently flopping in last month’s King George, where Kalpana delivered a career-defining victory. O’Brien’s star was the stable’s second-string and was ridden notably forward before weakening in the straight. It means she goes into this with plenty to prove, and some will be prepared to back the opinion that she isn’t even the main Irish hope. Joseph O’Brien’s Irish Oaks winner Johanna Walsh is the top-rated among six three-year-olds taking on a trio of older rivals. The classic generation has been dominant in this race, with Minnie Hauk one of five winners in the last six years. Johanna Walsh beat Inis Mor by four lengths at the Curragh, with Jim Bolger’s Sparan Nua back in third. Both of those rivals line up again alongside Earth Shot, who started favourite for that Irish Oaks and such willingness to take Johanna Walsh on again is eye-catching. But even with more rain forecast, it is Keane and Balding who will fancy their chances most of pulling off a notable double.