Item Gets Up Late to Win International Stakes

Item (GB) overcame an 11th-hour scare with his feet and all kinds of trouble in running to snatch victory on the line from Almaqam (GB) in an International Stakes (G1) Aug 19 at York Racecourse that departed dramatically from the script. The duel between Constitution River (FR) and Ombudsman (IRE) failed to materialize, and it was Juddmonte's homebred son of 2012 International winner Frankel (GB) who claimed the prize at 10-1, edging out runner-up Almaqam, who looked all over the winner inside the final furlong. Constitution River was third with 5-6 favorite Ombudsman only fourth. Both Coolmore and Godolphin fielded pacemakers, but for Coolmore, Action (IRE) missed the break, leaving Hawk Mountain (IRE) to tow along a keen Constitution River. Meanwhile, William Buick found himself in a pocket at the back of the field on Ombudsman and, turning into York's long home straight, got very tight with the winner. Kieran Shoemark struck for home on Almaqam and still looked the most likely winner 10 strides from the line but, with the 3-year-old weight allowance finally telling, the Andrew Balding-trained Item made relentless progress to get up and score by a head. "At no point was I ever really comfortable to be honest," said winning rider Colin Keane. "I was surprised how far forward Ryan's horse (Constitution River) was, but he jumped and traveled well whereas I was never really comfortable in the run until William Buick came to me and got in between two horses. That got him going and then the gap closed in front of him, and he was very gutsy to get back up. "The last 50 yards (I was confident), I knew he wouldn't stop anyway. The rain was a little bit of a worry, but saying that, it's fresh ground." 'It was a 5 O'Clock Decision' Balding revealed that there had been a scare around Item late in the day, and that he was only given the green light to travel up from Kingsclere early Wednesday morning. "He's improved physically and that's the most important thing. He's really a very different horse from the one who ran here in the Dante, physically," Balding said. "Just 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 declaration time when we just had a little hiccup there with his feet. Thankfully everyone, Paul and Ben the farrier and Simon our vet, Faz who looks after him; they've all worked overtime to get it right. It was a 5 o'clock decision to get on the box and come up here." When it came to analyzing Ombudsman's performance, John Gosden was inclined to blame the rain, which got into the ground periodically through the afternoon, rather than poor track position or scrimmaging. "He's fine, he's had a normal blow but he just didn't like the ground," Gosden said. "It's gone very much on the soft side and that's not his scene. He likes the faster, quicker ground like at Ascot and as he's shown throughout his career. "I'm afraid it was just too soft for him and it played to others, not to him. The other horse, Constitution River, I don't think he handled it either." As part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, the winner of the International earned an automatic, fees-paid berth to the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Keeneland.