STAR SPORTS BRIGADIER GERARD STAKES (G3)
Sandown Park - 28th May 2026
If we were to take this form at face value, then it might lead to the conclusion that OMBUDSMAN underperformed on Thursday evening. He was giving 7 lbs to the runner-up, but with an official rating of 113, Gethin was still 8 lbs wrong at the weights and so a winning margin of just a neck might lead to the conclusion that the Gosden trained winner wasn’t at his best. He probably wasn’t and clearly has a much bigger target next month when he will take on Daryz in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, a race he won so impressively in 2025. I felt that William Buick had that race in the back of his mind when trying to deliver Ombudsman into the closing stages of the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown. In a race that took some time to develop, Ombudsman was able to travel perfectly within himself and relaxed around the turn as his average stride frequency dropped to 2.24 per second. Both the winner and runner-up did not reach their peak stride frequency figures until the penultimate furlong and the pair appeared to be travelling within themselves to that point before pulling 3 lengths clear. At an average of 23.04 ft, Ombudsman had the shortest stride in the field, but his turn-of-foot was simply too much for this field and his class ultimately told.
Gethin may well have run above his previous best and it’s worth noting that his final time of 2:06.50 would have been enough to win 7 of the last 10 renewals of the Brigadier Gerard. His peak average stride length of 24.77 ft was considerably longer than the peak of 23.99 ft that Ombudsman reached and when added to the fact that he was able to drop his stride frequency average down to 2.11 per second a halfway, there is a decent case to be made from this data that he may be capable of further improvement if stepped up in trip again. He was only beaten a head by Best Secret in a Listed race at Saint-Cloud last September on his only previous try at 12 furlongs and it’s perhaps easy to forget that he missed most of last Summer and has only had 6 starts as a result. However, whilst I do like Gethin, I think he was slightly flattered by racing ahead of Ombudsman in a race where the first 4 to cross the line recorded finishing speeds above 105%. The sectional times show that Ombudsman was the faster of the pair in each of the final 4 furlong splits and his closing quarter of a mile, run in 24s exactly, was quicker than the 24.72s recorded by Talk of New York 30 minutes earlier.
This race set up perfectly for Ombudsman and given the way he was ridden and the closing data, there is no doubt in my mind that he was value for far more than a winning margin of a neck would suggest. However, he was also a G1 winner running in a G3 race and he had plenty in hand on these terms, even if we allow for the fact that the Gosden’s may have left something to work on with Ascot in mind. Daryz will be an entirely different proposition next month and although I have to admit he has been running on a more speed favouring track at Paris Longchamp, the fact that he has already won a pair of G1 races this season and clocked sub 11s furlong splits in the closing stages on both occasions would still make him favourite in my eyes. Ombudsman is a fast horse, but if battling with Daryz in the home straight at Ascot, he is likely to need to run faster than he has ever run before.