Ante Post Analysis: A first look at York's Juddmonte International

In the first of a four-part series, Races Now’s Adam Smith starts a deep dive into the feature races of York’s 2026 Ebor Meeting – starting with the Juddmonte International on opening day.

Ante Post Analysis: High-class Juddmonte always a season highlight

On Tuesday the Juddmonte International entries were whittled down from 30 to 15 with Calandagan the headline defector – unsurprisingly to my eye, at least.

The Juddmonte is without doubt one of the best races in the world and has been for a while. Ombudsman won it last year in roaring fashion and is back for more after a midsummer break which saw him miss the Eclipse in early July.

That was a somewhat justified break for the five year old, who was in career-best form when winning the Prince Of Wales's Stakes for the second time on June 17th by an easy four lengths.

Field set to reduce even further

First things first. There is no way that eight horses run in this race. As I write we have 15 possibles currently, and seven of them live at Ballydoyle.

My likely list; Ombudsman (10/11), Constitution River (7/4), Item (7/1), Zaydann (16/1), Action (AOB pacemaker) and Devil's Advocate (Gosden pacemaker).

Pride Of Arras and Royal Champion (both 50/1) aren't good enough, while the other Ballydoyle runners are left in just in case the star man Constitution River doesn't run. I'd be wary of betting each way three places ante post if I was a bookmaker.

Other than the Derby, the Irish Champion Stakes is probably the most important race to Coolmore every year. Their number one stallion prospect of any given year usually runs in it and Constitution River appears to be that stallion prospect in 2026.

Of the last ten renewals of the Irish Champion, the Aidan O'Brien first choice runner did not run in the Juddmonte on six of those occasions. It's a roundabout way of saying the Juddmonte isn't as important to them and I wouldn't be completely surprised if Constitution River didn't run at York, for all I very much hope he does. Ample back-ups like Diamond Necklace (7/1), Benvenuto Cellini (16/1) and Hawk Mountain (20/1) all hold an entry at this stage.

Constitution River smashed the clock in the Dee Stakes, dominated the French Derby with an O'Brien 1, 2, 3 and then made easy work of the Eclipse at 8/11. But for all that he is unbeaten since debut and has won two Group Ones this year, he still has something to prove in my mind. Primarily on the basis that the Eclipse was distinctly low on quality, particularly from the four year old plus contingent. Ombudsman is in a completely different league to Sandown older horses Gethin and Saddadd.

Admirable Item looks an each-way angle

Item is an interesting contender here and would be the one with most each way appeal with three places on offer, whilst fully appreciating the win part of any such bet has a mountain to climb.

An impressive winner of the Dante over course and distance in May before going off 11/2 for the Derby. He then put that Epsom effort in the slop behind him when bouncing back in the closest thing we have to a trial of this race, in the York Stakes at the end of July.

It was a head-scratching type run, as he looked completely beaten at the two pole and was vmatched at 11 in runing, before being ridden hard and rallying. All told, he actually won with a degree of ease at the line.

Inexperience? Quite likely. He probably needs a better pace to aim at, and he'll certainly get one in the Juddmonte – a race his owners sponsor. Item will need to improve again, that is for sure, but we are yet to see the peak of his ability after only five career runs.

Talking of unexposed horses Francis Henri Graffard has Zaydann entered. Seven runs, five wins including an easy Listed win at 30/100 last time. We've got no idea how good he might be. The breeding isn't bad, Dubawi out of Zaykava.

It looks a really intriguing and high quality race, just as it should be. Ombudsman reigns as the ten furlong king and he'll be defending his crown against an Eclipse winner and an on-the-up Dante winner.

Bring it on!

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