Item Steals Juddmonte International In The Final Stride
Juddmonte International Won In A Flash
A short head separated triumph from despair at York on 19 August 2026, and it separated them in the last stride. Andrew Balding's Item, short of room with three furlongs to run in the Gr.1 Juddmonte International Stakes, produced a sustained late surge to catch Almaqam on the line, with an official chart recording that the winner “ran on well final 110yds, led final stride.” Constitution River finished three and a half lengths back in third, with defending champion Ombudsman a further length back in fourth, Zaydann fifth, and Hawk Mountain a well-held sixth after his brisk early duties, with Devil's Advocate and Action completing the eight-strong field. The ninth original declaration, Pride Of Arras, was a mandatory withdrawal before the stalls opened and did not take part.
Balding's colt had precious little room to work with, still shuffled toward the rear as the field straightened for home under Colin Keane, and needed to switch across the track just to find a passage through. “I liked the way we were travelling but I didn't like the way we didn't have a lot of room,” Balding said. “I thought he was in a bit of a pocket, he's a big horse and Colin wisely managed to get him out and find some space. Then he really hit overdrive. I thought we were going to be an unlucky second and in the last 50 yards Colin really made it count.”
The Gr.1 Juddmonte International Stakes was run over 1m 2f 56y at York on good ground, with Item, a 3YO colt by Frankel out of Capla Temptress trained by Andrew Balding and ridden by Colin Keane, denying Almaqam by a short head in a time of 2m 8.44s, 0.14 seconds outside standard time. Owned and bred by Juddmonte, Item collected £850,650 (US$1,131,365) of a race worth £1.5 million (US$2.0 million) in total prize money, from eight of the nine originally declared runners.
The outcome was not assured even before the field went to post. Balding had a scare with the colt's foot in the days before declaration, and his team worked through the night to have Item fit to take his place. “A big thank you to the team at home because we had a late scare with one of his feet and they've been up all night seeing to him and they've done an amazing job,” Balding said. “Forty-eight hours ago we declared but it was an iffy one and it's come good due to their hard work.”
York has long suited Item. The 3YO colt had already won the Dante Stakes and the York Stakes on his two previous visits to the Knavesmire, sandwiching a below-form ninth in the Epsom Derby run in heavy ground during June, and the Juddmonte International Stakes success took his record to five wins from six career starts. Frankel, his sire, won this same race in 2012 on the way to an unbeaten retirement, and Item became the latest of the champion stallion's progeny to add his own name to the York roll of honour. International assessors have twice rated the race the best in the world in the past decade, most recently for the 2024 renewal, underlining the calibre Item was asked to overcome on the Knavesmire.
Almaqam Struck Two Furlongs From Home
Hawk Mountain, stable companion to Constitution River, set the pace from the outset before weakening three furlongs from home and handing over to Constitution River. Ryan Moore's mount had travelled keenly through the early stages, but hung left under pressure and could not repel Almaqam when Ed Walker's colt came through with a furlong and a half to run.
Kieran Shoemark asked Almaqam for his effort at the same point Constitution River began to weaken, and for the best part of a furlong the new leader looked to be doing enough to hold on. The placing is no discredit to Ed Walker's colt, run down only in the shadow of the post by a rival who had travelled with even less comfort throughout the race, and the manner of the effort marks Almaqam as a leading player in the division regardless of the result.
Constitution River arrived at York as the reigning French Derby winner, racing for the Coolmore partnership of M Tabor, D Smith, Mrs J Magnier and Westerberg, and Aidan O'Brien pointed to trouble with the pacemaking plan in the early stages as the reason his colt's race did not unfold as intended. “It didn't work as we thought,” O'Brien said. “John's pacemaker didn't go and our pacemaker missed the break. Ryan got there a little bit earlier than he wanted, and because it had been a while since he last ran, he got a little bit tired.”
Buick Found Room Too Late
Defending champion Ombudsman, who arrived at York joint-top of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings — the sport's global merit table — alongside Hong Kong sprinter Ka Ying Rising, endured the flattest afternoon of his season. The 5YO colt had won last year's Juddmonte International Stakes and had never finished outside the first two in his previous 12 starts for John and Thady Gosden, form built this season on victories in the Prince of Wales's Stakes and the Brigadier Gerard Stakes that carried him to the top of the world rankings.
William Buick held Ombudsman towards the rear behind a wall of horses and did not find a clear passage until three furlongs out, by which point the shape of the race had already been settled by others. Once through, the effort flattened out inside the final furlong, and Ombudsman had to settle for fourth on a day when the run of form that had defined his season finally came to an end.
Colin Keane had his own view of how the race unfolded from the saddle. “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,” Keane said. “It was only the last 50 yards I thought I had a chance.”
York's Juddmonte International Stakes turned on a matter of inches rather than lengths, with Item's late strike overturning Almaqam's advantage after a passage that offered him little room to work with. Constitution River's game third and Ombudsman's flat finish reshape rather than settle the picture at the top of the middle-distance division, and the true measure of the form is unlikely to emerge until Item, Almaqam, Constitution River and Ombudsman meet again.
Juddmonte International: 06:35 GST (3:35 BST) | Group One | 3yo+ | Thoroughbred | Turf | 1m 2f 56y | NA | Rail Position: NA | Track Condition: Good | Safety Limit: NA | Track Record: NA | Prize Breakdown: 1st £850,650.00 (US$1,131,365) | 2nd £322,500.00 (US$428,925) | 3rd £161,400.00 (US$214,662) | 4th £80,400.00 (US$106,932) | 5th £40,350.00 (US$53,666) | 6th £20,250.00 (US$26,933)
Juddmonte International: 1 Item (T: Andrew Balding / J: Colin Keane) | 2 Almaqam (T: Ed Walker / J: Kieran Shoemark) | 3 Constitution River (T: Aidan O'Brien / J: Ryan Moore)