Gosden Training Team Rolls Into York on a Roll

American fans taking a peek at English racing this week for hints about the upcoming Breeders' Cup World Championships might have caught an odd detail in the field set for the Aug. 20 International Stakes (G1) at York.

Among the favorites in the 1 1/4-mile event, a Breeders' Cup Challenge series "Win and You're In" race for the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), is Ombudsman , a Night of Thunder  colt who carries the royal blue colors of Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin. The oddity is in the "trainer" column.

Where normally a Godolphin entry would be running for Charlie Appleby or Saeed bin Suroor, Ombudsman comes from a different yard. And the trainer actually is two trainers, the father-and-son team of John and Thady Gosden.

It's a different model than followed in North American racing, where one person is listed as the trainer, even when there is joint responsibility and involvement of conditioners. One thinks of Norm Casse, before he went out on his own, assisting his Racing Hall of Fame father, Mark Casse. Christophe Clement's name was alone on his organization's entries until his untimely death earlier this year. Even through the intimate involvement of son Miguel Clement enabled the latter to seamlessly and successfully take up the reins, Christophe was the sole trainer of record until his passing.

The Gosden-style arrangement, while perhaps not as common as in jurisdictions such as Australia, seems to work just fine in European circles for such as Simon and Ed Crisford. And the proof is in the pudding for the Gosdens.

The "pere et fils" arrangement was made official in March 2021 after the younger Gosden, then 25, successfully completed training at the British Racing School.

"It was always the plan to launch the dual-license for the start of the flat season and only delays on BHA modules due to Covid-19 prevented it being in place Jan. 1," John Gosden said, per Racing Post.

The duo was listed together for the first time March 27, 2021, at the start of the British flat racing season and immediately grabbed the brass ring. On the Kempton Park all-weather course, Global Giant  ran out a six-length winner in a listed affair. At Doncaster, Haqeeqy  won a heritage handicap by 1 1/2 lengths.

The younger Gosden couldn't take direct credit for those results as he, reflecting his value to the team, was already in Dubai handling preparations for Dubai World Cup (G1) night at Meydan Racecourse.

And how did that go? Mishriff  squeaked out a narrow victory over Japan's Chrono Genesis  and Loves Only You  in the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1T). Lord North  won the Dubai Turf (G1T) for the first of three times. And New Treasure  finished third in the UAE Derby (G2), dominated by Rebel's Romance .

Although the paperwork hadn't reached Dubai in time to reflect it, the team hardly could have been off to a better start.

After innumerable intervening successes, including the 2023 flat trainer's championship for the first time, fast-forward to Royal Ascot 2025 to see John and Thady Gosden accepting the trophy as the meeting's leading trainer(s), unseating Aidan O'Brien. The title was decided on seconds as the Gosdens and O'Brien each saddled five winners.

Oddly, the outcome could have been reversed had O'Brien's son, Joseph Patrick O'Brien, been training in partnership with his father rather than on his own. The younger O'Brien landed a runner-up showing on the final day of the meeting as Al Riffa  finished second in the Hardwicke Stakes (G2) behind a familiar name—Rebel's Romance.

Rebel's Romance has enjoyed success racing on dirt and turf throughout his career. Should Ombudsman win the International Stakes Wednesday at York, the conditioners could consider such an option for their runner as the International carries a fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic on the dirt Nov. 1 at Del Mar. Two starts back, Ombudsman earned a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series victory when capturing the Prince of Wales's Stakes (G1) during the Royal Ascot meeting, which earned him a starting slot into the $5 million Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T). In his most recent outing, the 4-year-old dropped a neck decision to the reopposing Delacroix , a regally bred son of Dubawi  out of the star race mare Tepin, in the July 5 Coral-Eclipse Stakes (G1).

With more than $10.8 million in purse earnings for his Breeders' Cup runners, John Gosden ranks 15th in the event's history in that category. Among his six winners is Kentucky-bred Raven's Pass , who successfully transitioned from turf to an all-weather surface to win the 2008 Breeders' Cup Classic at the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park.