The unbeaten three-year-old’s showdown with Ombudsman promises a race for the ages but the Ebor Handicap remains the festival’s most compelling spectacleFor the moment at least, there is a Bow Echo-shaped hole in the remainder of the 2026 Flat season, after the news last week that George Boughey’s unbeaten colt has been retired to stud after suffering a training setback. The 2,000 Guineas winner exited the racing stage as the world’s top-rated three-year-old on a mark of 127, just 4lb behind the joint top-rated older horses, Ka Ying Rising and Ombudsman, and with the scope and untapped potential to match or exceed them before the end of the campaign.A void, though, can also be a vacancy and Constitution River, the second-best three-year-old so far this year, will have an immediate opportunity to step into the breach when he lines up against Ombudsman, no less, in what promises to be a memorable renewal of the International Stakes on the opening afternoon of York’s Ebor festival on Wednesday. Continue reading...