York’s G1 Juddmonte International Stakes was supposed to be a head-to-head between Ombudsman and Constitution River, but Andrew Balding’s juggernaut of a summer rolled into the old Knavesmire course and rumbled right on over the top of the headline duo.
Item’s surging late lunge to deny Almaqam, with Britain’s and Ireland’s hitherto posterboys only third and fourth, meant the Kingsclere-based trainer carried off a second British major in a matter of weeks, adding heft to Kalpana’s victory for the stable in last month’s G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Not forgetting Blue Bolt’s cross-Channel Group 1 double, too.
Balding’s historic Kingsclere stables has always enjoyed prominence, but it is nonetheless an operation on the rise of late, even after 23 years at the helm. Always a solid player, year on year totals since the Covid pandemic struck show a strengthening and an upward trajectory, reaching a career peak 192 wins last year and prize money of £7.2 million.
Big race wins and big numerical tallies are nowadays going hand in hand: from Balding taking on the licence in 2003 until 2019, he had 10 Group 1 wins; since 2020 his accrual of Group 1 wins has accelerated with a further 16 wins, four of those this year. And now Kingsclere has its first Juddmonte International winner.
Plans for where Item goes next are yet to be made, but the Japan Racing Association (JRA) people were conspicuous around the York paddock post-race and with up to a US$5 million bonus on offer for going to Tokyo and adding the Japan Cup to a Juddmonte International win, that could be an option.
Balding was not being drawn. Item’s roadmap through the rest of the year is for the Juddmonte team to decide. The trainer was at least confident, though, that there’s “no problem” with the colt staying a mile and a half – the distance of both the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Japan Cup – after this, his third mile and a quarter win at York.
There's a new name on the #BreedersCup scene and he’s a hot item!🔥
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) August 19, 2026
Watch as Item wins the #WinAndYoureIn Juddmonte International! pic.twitter.com/PYzsOJ0BG4
Item almost didn’t make it to York at all though.
“It wasn’t straightforward, actually getting here, everything had gone great up until about declaration time, and we just had a little hiccup there with his feet,” Balding said after the Frankel colt had returned to unsaddle following his head verdict under Juddmonte’s retained rider Colin Keane.
The trainer might be the man at the wheel of a famous old stable pushing itself forward as a modern day powerhouse, but Item’s victory, he said, was a tribute to his team.
Balding named “Ben the farrier,” “Simon, my vet,” “Baz,” and others who worked “overtime to get it right,” revealing that even though Item was declared to run, at declaration time on Monday his participation seemed more unlikely than probable.
“They found a little sort of blood blister in his foot,” Balding said. “As soon as it popped he was pain-free and it wasn’t a problem but the boys had worked super-hard on him. Everything bar the last 48 hours had gone to plan, and the way he jogged up this morning, we were 100 per cent happy that it wasn’t an issue.
“But it was an unorthodox preparation because usually our runners come up the night before: he had to leave at the crack of dawn this morning, having got everyone out of bed to go and see him jog up and just be sure we were happy with him. I’m very relieved.”
That decision was made at 5am and not long after, Barry ‘Baz’ Lewis, Item’s groom, was at the wheel of the horse float, driving the colt the 180 or so miles to York.
“Baz was up late doing stuff in the stable last night and then to drive the lorry up here, he’s put in a real shift and he deserves this,” Balding told Idol Horse. “He rides Item every day and has so much input.”
More than 10 hours after he set off from Kingsclere, Lewis was meeting Queen Camilla, receiving a post-race memento, then hurrying away through a busy parade ring, weaving between people to get back to his horse.
Cries of “Barry”, “Barry boy,” “Well done, Baz,” were directed his way as he went.
“Five-thirty we left, yeah, I drove the lorry,” Lewis confirmed to Idol Horse as he ducked under the rail and continued towards the post-race boxes.
Item was a leading Derby candidate when he won the G2 Dante Stakes here in May. A soft-ground Derby didn’t suit when ninth at Epsom behind Christmas Day – soundly beaten in the race immediately before Item’s, the G2 Great Voltigeur Stakes – but an impressive win at the course and distance in the G2 York Stakes here on the Knavesmire last month suggested he could be a three-year-old still destined for the top. Today proved it.
“He’s like the yard favourite,” Lewis said. “He’s a legend. He’s quite exuberant at home but he’s just very genuine. He’s straightforward, but like I say, he can be quite strong, so that’s kind of the main difficulty is just trying to maybe keep him from doing too much at home.
“But he just loves his work and I think that’s a real testament to how good he is out there. I couldn’t be more delighted with him there. Unreal. Yeah, unbelievable.”
And with that he was back with his horse, soon to be back on the road and the long drive home to Kingsclere where Balding’s late father Ian Balding left his own legacy, wrapped around the great Derby, King George and Arc winner Mill Reef. Before the Baldings, the yard produced classic winners and the great John Porter trained one of the turf’s immortals there, Ormonde, the 19th century’s horse of the century.
The fact that Kingsclere’s first Juddmonte International win was achieved with a Juddmonte homebred speaks to the success Balding has had in not only attracting greater numbers of horses and powerful new owners to the stable, but also delivering major results.
“We’ve been extremely lucky to be sent these horses in the first place, and I think there’s probably any number of trainers who could have done well with the horses we’ve been sent,” Balding said. “So, you know, I’m not saying it’s all down to us, but it’s been a fantastic ride, and Juddmonte is one of the best teams to deal with. They really offer great support and wise counsel, and it’s a pleasure to deal with them.”
Deflated in defeat, though, was the Almaqam team, including jockey Kieran Shoemark and trainer Ed Walker.
“We’re beaten in a photo in a Juddmonte,” Walker said. “It’s a hard one to take. But you dream about being involved in these races let alone winning them and we’ve come seriously close. We’ve got to find another one now.
“The guys have done a great job at home with the stalls. We’ve done a bit of stall practice with him and just put a blind on to get him to jump quicker and engage quicker. Kieran’s given him an absolute peach, pressed go at the right time: tough.”
Shoemark, like many in the York grandstands, thought Almaqam had the race in his grip when he struck the lead: ”I thought I beat the horse I needed to beat and got pipped on the line,” he said.
The horse he needed to beat was the French Derby and Eclipse Stakes winner Constitution River, unimpressive in the parade ring, geed up when Ryan Moore climbed aboard and over-keen early in the race. His headline rival, last year’s winner Ombudsman, edgy in the paddock when swishing his tail repeatedly, dropped to last place under William Buick, had a lot of ground to make up and never could get there.
Those two ‘big guns’ are trained by the heavyweights of Britain and Ireland, John Gosden and Aidan O’Brien, owned by the mighty owner-breeders Godolphin and Coolmore. But with another renowned owner-breeder Juddmonte in Kingsclere’s corner, a yard that nowadays employs “a hundred and ten” people and is home to “about 250 horses”, Balding is pushing further into the realm of those world famous elites. ∎
