There was no room for doubt after the Prince of Wales’s Stakes here on Wednesday, and no need either for any debate about team tactics or riding instructions. Ombudsman’s sweeping charge down the outside to beat Minnie Hauk and Daryz, the winners of the Oaks and Arc respectively last season, was as decisive a winning move as favourite backers could ever hope to see, and William Buick was using only hands-and-heels through the final furlong as the 11-10 chance opened up a four-length lead at the line.

For a brief moment at the top of the straight, it seemed that the pacemakers might be a source of post-race discussion for the second day running. Mississippi River and Devil’s Advocate, one front-runner apiece for Aidan O’Brien’s Minnie Hauk and the John & Thady Gosden-trained Ombudsman, tore into a long lead by halfway, and while Mississippi River was a spent force turning in, Devil’s Advocate still had a healthy lead at the two-furlong pole.

A furlong later, the race was effectively over, with Ombudsman in front and going clear on the way to a repeat of his win in this race 12 months ago, as Minnie Hauk and Daryz tried and failed to match his finishing speed.

“Devil’s Advocate, a furlong and a half to go I thought they have to get to him,” Gosden said, “but this horse has got a phenomenal turn of foot, great acceleration for a mile-and-a-quarter horse and he just showed that class.

“It’s quite something to come away from the field like that. The filly [Minnie Hauk] ran great, the Arc winner [Daryz] ran great. Probably [Almaqam] might not have run his race but overall, it was one of the great performances of his career.”

The Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in early July is the next 10-furlong Group One in the calendar, but Ombudsman may wait instead for the International Stakes at York in mid-August.

“We’ll watch him for the next week or 10 days and the horse will tell you,” Gosden said. “You just watch, you know their habits, when they’re 100% and when they’re a little quiet. The Juddmonte International would be the major target of course. He likes York.”

O’Brien was pleased to see Minnie Hauk bounce back from a lacklustre showing at the Curragh in May, and she seems sure to return to a mile-and-a-half for her next outing.

“We thought what happened the last day was that she’s really a mile-and-a-half filly,” O’Brien said, “and over a mile-and-a-quarter [on Wednesday] she wanted an end-to-end gallop. Obviously, that was going to suit the winner as well.

“Ryan [Moore] said she kept travelling from the three to the two, while the winner had a little bit more speed than her over a mile and a quarter. The lads [in the Coolmore Stud syndicate] will decide what they want to do, but I’d say something like the King George [at Ascot in late July, one more run and then the Arc [at Longchamp in early October].”

Daryz, meanwhile, has now been beaten on both of his starts outside France.

“They had these two pacemakers that went forward quite clear and my horse was not covered,” Francis-Henri Graffard, Daryz’s trainer, said. “He never really relaxed and had a chance to take a breath. I don’t think he relaxed through the race; he was out of his rhythm all the time, and that’s why he shortened up his action at the end. We didn’t see the Daryz of Longchamp, when he was nice and relaxed and quickened really strongly.”

Gosden’s afternoon had started with a trundle down the course in the royal procession. O’Brien, meanwhile, opened the card with his 99th winner at the Royal meeting, as Victorious powered to an easy success in the five-furlong Queen Mary Stakes.

It was the trainer’s second successive Queen Mary winner, 12 months after True Love – this season’s 1,000 Guineas winner – finally broke O’Brien’s duck, and Victorious was initially cut to 16-1 (from 33-1) for next year’s Newmarket Classic by Paddy Power, and then cut again to 12-1 a few minutes later.

Victorious’s success was also a significant tip towards the chance of the trainer’s Sun Goddess in the Albany Stakes here on Friday, as the winner’s first two starts had been at six furlong before her drop back to five on Wednesday.

“Victorious is very classy,” O’Brien said. “She only has sight in one eye, so we were a little worried about where she was drawn [on the far side], but Ryan [Moore] was brilliant on her. He reassured her and let her find her way through. He got a little group to follow and then took her to the outside.

“We had her and the filly that’s in the Albany and we tried to split them. Everyone thought this filly might be okay over five furlongs, but she is ideally suited by six and even further.”

Point Of Law, the second runner of the week in the King & Queen’s colours, fared better than Reaching High, who was last across the line in the Ascot Stakes on Tuesday, but could finish no better than fourth behind Limestone in the Queen’s Vase.

The next outing for the scarlet and purple silks will be aboard Golden Orbit, one of the outsiders for the Group Two Ribblesdale Stakes on Thursday.

Carmers can strike gold at big odds

Trawlerman, last year’s Gold Cup winner, will defend his crown against a strong squad of progressive four-year-old stayers at Royal Ascot on Thursday, and Carmers (4.15), a winner at the meeting last year, is an interesting each-way contender to spring an upset at odds of around 20-1.

There is no doubting Trawlerman’s talent or commitment, at Ascot above all as he is a dual Group One winner at the track, but the mighty Yeats is the only eight-year-old winner in the last 125 years and he also missed his intended prep at Sandown last month.

The market sees Scandinavia, last year’s St Leger winner, as his sternest opponent, but Rahiebb, who was a neck away in second, and Carmers, three lengths behind in fifth, are also in Thursday’s field.

Carmers beat both Rahiebb and Scandinavia in the Queen’s Vase last June, was a comfortable winner on his first start at two miles last month and has as much, if not more, scope for improvement than either of those rivals at the Gold Cup’s marathon trip.

Royal Ascot 2.30 Sea Venture was a decisive winner on debut at Haydock last month despite meeting all manner of traffic problems and has a pedigree that all but guarantees improvement for this step up in trip.

Royal Ascot 3.05 Owen Burrows’s Heyzoom may have been seriously underestimated by the handicapper on an opening mark of 85, as his strongly-run maiden at Newbury has already produced four next-time winners.

Royal Ascot 3.40 Thirteen days is a very short turnaround for Legacy Link after her second-place finish in the Oaks and Earth Shot, runner-up to the subsequent third in the French Oaks at Goodwood last time, is an attractive alternative at around 5-1.

Royal Ascot 4.50 A typical Britannia Handicap in that scarcely a runner can be ruled out with confidence, but David Marnane’s Jamestown, from stall 25, is perhaps the pick of the prices to follow up a dominant success last time out.

Royal Ascot 5.35 Generic was making only his third start when seven lengths adrift of the subsequent French Derby winner, Constitution River, in the Dee Stakes at Chester and the form is backed up by a strong timefigure.

Royal Ascot 6.10 Another impossibly tight handicap on the straight course, but Blue Brother is an intriguing contender at around 10-1. Hamad al Jehani’s gelding was fancied for last year’s Hunt Cup but had no luck at all in running, and while he has not seen a track since, his trainer is more than capable of getting one ready first time up.