Ombudsman proved he was absolutely the real deal when running out a commanding winner of the highly anticipated Juddmonte International Stakes at York.

A ready winner of the Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, John and Thady Gosden's four-year-old arrived at York looking to exact revenge on Delacroix, who narrowly got the better of him when they met in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown last month.

However, with a pacemaker deployed in the shape of Andre Fabre's Birr Castle, who gave viewers and connections a sizable fright when he still held a massive advantage under Rab Havlin half-way down the straight, Ombudsman showed a sparkling turn of foot late on to sweep past and score by three and a half lengths under William Buick at odds of 7/4. Old adversary Delacroix finished back in second, while the pace setting Birr Castle clung on to finish back in third at odds of 150/1.

See The Fire finished back in fourth, with the Japanese raider Danon Decile a spot further back in fifth.

"He's a lovely horse, a grand horse and he's picked up well and won it well," said John Gosden, who has won four of the last eight Juddmonte Internationals.

"The Eclipse was a muddling affair. This was a great win, but I thought with two furlongs to run at André (Fabre) had won the race.

"He's getting better and better. He's trained well and was undefeated last year. His only defeat this year was in a muddling old Eclipse. He is a proper horse.

"He's got two obvious races. The Irish Champion Stakes and Ascot for the QEII on Champions Day."

Connections of Daryz, who failed to beat a rival home as he relinquished his unbeaten record, were forced to wait before heading off back to France after the stewards' launched an objection to Mickael Barzalona appearing not to have weighed in. However, following a review of the CCTV footage by the race day stewards', the stewards' were satisfied that Barzalona presented himself to be weighed in.