Ombudsman v Calandagan: the Champion Stakes Rematch at Ascot

The 2025 Champion Stakes was run on Good ground. Ombudsman went off the 13/8 favourite for John and Thady Gosden, with Calandagan, trained in France by Francis-Henri Graffard, at 15/8. Calandagan won by two and a quarter lengths. Almaqam was third at 28/1, a further length and three-quarters away, and Devil's Advocate finished seventh, so four of this year's six ran in that race.

It is the only time Ombudsman and Calandagan have raced against each other, so the head-to-head record is a single race, on Good ground. Both horses come into Saturday on their fifth start of the season, exactly as they did last year.

Champion Stakes: Recent Winners

Group 1 · 1m 1f 212y · 3yo+ · Ascot · October

Year	Winner	Age	SP	Jockey	Trainer
2025	Calandagan	4	15/8	Mickael Barzalona	Francis-Henri Graffard
2024	Anmaat	6	40/1	Jim Crowley	Owen Burrows
2023	King of Steel	3	3/1	Frankie Dettori	Roger Varian
2022	Bay Bridge	4	—	Richard Kingscote	Sir Michael Stoute
2021	Sealiway	3	—	Mickael Barzalona	Cedric Rossi
2020	Addeybb	6	—	Tom Marquand	William Haggas
2019	Magical	4	—	Donnacha O'Brien	Aidan O'Brien
2018	Cracksman	4	—	Frankie Dettori	John Gosden
2017	Cracksman	3	—	Frankie Dettori	John Gosden
2016	Almanzor	3	—	Christophe Soumillon	Jean-Claude Rouget

Trends

• A top-class horses' race won by both the Classic generation and proven older horses (Cracksman x2, Magical, Addeybb, Anmaat, Calandagan).
• Calandagan won the 2025 Champion Stakes AND the 2025 King George - the dominant older middle-distance horse going into 2026.
• Autumn ground matters: often run on soft/heavy at Ascot in October, which can blunt speedier types.

Source-verified from official records. Last checked 2026-07-01.

Ombudsman's form figures on the card read 2-1114: his second in this race last October, then four runs this year.

He began in Dubai, winning the Dubai Turf on 28 March, and then won the Brigadier Gerard Stakes. At Royal Ascot on 17 June he won the Prince of Wales's Stakes for the second year running, at 11/10, by four lengths, on Good to Firm ground. Almaqam, who runs again on Saturday, was fourth that day, seven and a half lengths behind him.

Then came York. In the Juddmonte International on 19 August he started the 5/6 favourite and finished fourth of eight, beaten about four and three-quarter lengths by the 10/1 winner Item. Almaqam was a head second and Constitution River third, so three of Saturday's runners filled places in the first four, with Ombudsman the last of them. The going was Good, Good to Soft in places, and John Gosden blamed the ground.

He has not run since, a gap of 59 days. William Buick rides, as he did at York and at Royal Ascot. After the Dubai Turf, Gosden said he was sure Ombudsman would go to stud at the end of the year, and Sporting Life has called Saturday a possible swansong, though nobody connected with the horse has said formally that this is his last race.

Calandagan's figures read 1-1412. The 1 before the dash is this race last year. This season he has won twice, been fourth and been second. His two wins this year came in France, and the two runs that matter most for Saturday both came in Britain.

The fourth was the Coronation Cup at Epsom on 6 June. He started the 5/4 favourite on Good to Soft ground and finished fourth of six, beaten more than 40 lengths. The winner, by ten lengths, was Bay City Roller, who also runs on Saturday. Graffard was reported afterwards as saying he had made a mistake by running him.

The second was the King George at Ascot on 25 July, on Good to Firm. He started the 6/5 favourite and was beaten a length and a half by Kalpana, who runs in the Fillies & Mares Stakes earlier on the card. That is the run his supporters point to: beaten only by a mare who went on to win the Yorkshire Oaks, at the course where he won this race a year ago.

Saturday comes 84 days after the King George, the longest absence of anyone in the field. Christophe Soumillon rides in place of the suspended Barzalona. Sporting Life's view is that Calandagan has not matched last year's level in 2026, and the ratings printed on the card also have him below Ombudsman.

After about 3.5mm of rain on Friday morning the going was changed to Good by 11:10am, and the Champions Day 2026 going report has the full history of the description and any later changes.

Good is what both horses raced on in this race last year. On faster ground this season, Ombudsman won the Prince of Wales's by four lengths and Calandagan ran Kalpana to a length and a half in the King George. Their two poor runs both came on slower ground: Calandagan's Epsom defeat on Good to Soft, and Ombudsman's York fourth on Good, Good to Soft in places, which his trainer put down to the going.

None of that proves either horse needs a quick surface, because one run can go wrong for many reasons, but on a dry Saturday neither will have the ground as an excuse.

Bay City Roller (6/1)

George Scott's four-year-old was second in the Arc on 4 October, beaten a length and a quarter by Daryz. He had also been second to Daryz in the Prix Foy, and in June he won the Coronation Cup by ten lengths with Calandagan well beaten. Oisin Murphy rides. Saturday is his first try at this trip, 13 days after the Arc.

Constitution River (7/1)

Aidan O'Brien's three-year-old is the only one of his age in the field and gets 4lb from the older horses. He won the French Derby and then the Coral-Eclipse at 8/11, and was third in the Juddmonte International, a length in front of Ombudsman. He was then third again in the Irish Champion Stakes as the 11/8 favourite, a run O'Brien blamed on illness in the yard. He was supplemented for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Monday, but O'Brien declared him here and sent Gstaad to the QEII instead. Ryan Moore rides.

Almaqam (8/1)

Ed Walker's five-year-old was third in this race last year at 28/1. He won the Tattersalls Gold Cup, was beaten only a head by Item at York, and was fourth in the Irish Champion Stakes, about two lengths behind the winner. Kieran Shoemark rides. He and Ombudsman have met four times and each has finished in front twice: Almaqam in the 2025 Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown and at York this August, Ombudsman in last year's Champion Stakes and at Royal Ascot in June.

Devil's Advocate (150/1)

The Gosdens' second runner was seventh in this race last year and seventh of eight in the International. Sporting Life expects him to make the running, and in a field of six the pace he sets could shape the whole race.

With six runners, standard each-way terms are a quarter of the odds for the first two places, so the place half of a bet on anything outside the big two pays only if that horse finishes in front of Ombudsman or Calandagan. The Champions Day race times page sets out the terms for every race on the card.

At 11:50am on Friday the Champion Stakes had a book of 105.2%, the lowest of the six priced races on the card. The going report has the full table for every race.

Where the argument lands

As a reading of form, the case for Ombudsman is slightly the tidier of the two. He is the higher-rated horse on the card, his only defeat this year came on ground his trainer blamed, he has won over course and distance this season, and he keeps his usual jockey. The case for Calandagan rests on beating Ombudsman in this race last year and on the King George, where only Kalpana finished in front of him. Against him are the 84 days off and the new rider. Bay City Roller has beaten Calandagan this year and finished closer to the Arc winner than anyone, but he has never run over this trip. None of that makes either favourite a certainty, and the market's view that the two are inseparable is a fair one.

StableBet Ratings for all six runners publish on race morning on the Ascot racecard, and the day's promotions are listed on the British Champions Day offers page.