By Tom Frary
At the end of Wednesday's G1 Juddmonte International Stakes, there was a star three-year-old in charge but not the one expected as the sponsors' Item (Frankel) landed in front where it mattered.
Left out of the main pre-race topic despite showing a love for York and this 10-furlong trip when taking the Dante and York Stakes, the 10-1 shot who hails from the all-conquering Andrew Balding stable followed the too-strong pace set by Hawk Mountain (Wootton Bassett) at a sensible distance.
With Constitution River (Wootton Bassett) over-racing from the start, this was always going to fall to a closer and while for much of the finale it looked as if Almaqam (Lope De Vega) would clinch it for the older brigade, Item found a decisive surge for Colin Keane to overhaul him in the dying strides and win by a head. Constitution River paid for his early exertions, finishing 3 1/2 lengths away in third as the 5-6 favourite Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) could manage only fourth.
While Kalpana reached her zenith as a fully mature five-year-old, stablemate Item was collecting this prestige event while still a green, unfinished product to further enhance the training prowess of his Kingsclere handler. Bar the Derby, where the horror conditions killed the class of some proper heavyweights both in the Blue Riband and Coronation Cup, this colt has an unblemished record tackling bigger and bigger tests each time. “We've pitched him in some good races with the belief that he will do well in them, but he's kept improving and improved physically and that's the most important thing,” Balding said.
“Physically he's really a very different horse than the one that ran in the Dante and I think anything is possible–he would certainly have no problem staying a mile and a half if we wanted him to,” he added, before revealing that the stable had to endure a late scare. “I just want to say a big thank you to the team at home, because it wasn't straightforward getting him here. Everything had gone great up until about declaration time and we had a little hiccup there with his feet. Thankfully everyone who looks after him have worked overtime to get it right and happily it was a 5am decision that he got on the box to come up here. I'm very relieved.”
This renewal was shaped largely by what occurred in the initial run to the bend, with Constitution River demonstrating his freshness by lighting up from his wide draw and stumbling across the first path across the track. Hawk Mountain was forced to go too hard to provide him with the lead that the supposed pacemakers Action (Frankel) and Devil's Advocate (Too Darn Hot) were either unable or unwilling to, but after the first two furlongs the damage was done to Ballydoyle's Prix du Jockey Club and Eclipse hero.
Item was on the rail in behind racing more conventionally, with Ombudsman at the back but as the pace collapsed in midstraight there was a temporary traffic jam with the eventual winner one of those unable to get a clean trip. That he was still able to pull around Almaqam and give that high-class Group 1 winner in full flight a length headstart and wear him down by the line speaks volumes about the level of his ability, but then those who had seen him here twice already were perhaps less surprised by the end result.
Such was the intense pace of the race throughout the first half, even Item had gone too quick despite being reserved but the ultimate difference was his finale of 12.78 compared to the runner-up's 13.14, Constitution River's tired 13.58 and the favourite's strangely flat 13.69. At the business end, Item was the only one really piling it on with his rivals falling by the wayside for differing reasons.
What is worrying for Item's peers is the fact that Keane thinks he can do better with conditions more in his favour. This is a Win-and-You're In for the $7 million Longines Breeeders' Cup Classic and while the winner is unlikely to shift to the dirt, the Turf looks a prime target now. “At no point was I comfortable to be honest–not until William [Buick] came to me and he got between horses and that really got him going,” his rider said. “He struggled on this slow ground and I was never really happy, but when he got levelled up you'd love what he did in his last furlong–I was really motoring.”
“He feels like a horse who will go back up in trip and that's when you'll see the best of him,” he added. “I thought he'd travel smoother and it took every inch of the straight for him to get there. It is soft ground and loose and he'd be better on a sounder surface. He's a specialist around here, he seems to love it.”
Almaqam may have gone too soon, providing the target that the winner needed as a raw immature prospect, but Ed Walker was proud of the runner-up's effort. “It's a tough one, but you dream about being involved in races like this and training horses like this and this is one of the best races of the season,” he said. “I'm just pleased he's shown how good he is and when he gets his conditions, he's exceptional. We've given him time with two dry summers and it's been hard to keep him on the go, so we're very proud. I really hope he retires to Dalham Hall, he deserves his place and is a very special horse with a great temperament. He's got a couple of races left, the Irish Champion and the Champion, as I don't think we'll run in the Arc. This is his trip.”
Aidan O'Brien was left to ponder the way it all unravelled for Constitution River. “It didn't work as we thought,” he explained. “John's pacemaker didn't go and our pacemaker missed it and Wayne [Lordan] felt he ended up going too quick on a lazy horse and found it hard to judge the pace on that ground. Ryan got there a little bit earlier than he wanted to and as he had been in a gear too high early and because it had been a while since he last ran he got a little bit tired.”
“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and we feel they will come forward for their next runs,” he added. “Ryan ended up more forward then he expected and Constitution River was too fresh and keen today and got tired. The Irish Champion will be next I would imagine, if the lads want to go and hopefully we'll have a better horse to take them into that.”
John Gosden offered one standout reason for Ombudsman's uncharacteristically tame finishing effort. “It was the ground,” he stated. “The jockeys are saying it's soft out there and that didn't suit him at all. William was in trouble some way out, between the four and the three he was in trouble before he got to the two. He came with a run, but he knew it would peter out.”
“You'd look for better ground in future,” he added. “You don't know about the ground for the Irish Champion and we'll definitely be looking for faster ground, even if we have to wait for a Breeders' Cup. We know this isn't his scene, we've kept away from it all the time since the early days. I did say in the build-up when everyone was saying it was a two-horse race, that usually something else happens.”
A PERFECT season at York
, in the colours of the sponsors, gets up late to land a thrilling edition of the £1.5 million @JuddmonteFarms International and make it three wins on the Knavesmire this season!@yorkracecourse | @ctkjockey pic.twitter.com/Wo6lmrmtlg
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 19, 2026
Pedigree Notes
Item is the third foal out of the Natalma Stakes and My Charmer Stakes winner Capla Temptress (Lope De Vega), who started her career with Marco Botti and won her Grade I in the Team Valor silks before transferring to Juddmonte. Her second was the Listed Prix Matchem winner Temptable (Kingman), while she also has the unraced two-year-old filly Tympana (St Mark's Basilica) and a yearling filly by Dark Angel.
The second dam Mrs Beeton (Dansili), who raced in Peter Harris's colours, is a half-sister to that owner-breeder's multiple Group winner Stotsfold (Barathea) who was also third in the Arlington Million, while this is the family of Pendley Farm's other stars Leporello, Poppy Carew and Calypso Grant all by Danehill. There is ample stamina in this pedigree, with the third dam Eliza Acton (Shirley Heights) a full-sister to the popular dual-purpose handicapper Top Cees.
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