Aidan O'Brien is ready to ignite the rivalry between the Delacroix and Ombudsman camps for one final time in a blockbuster Champion Stakes (G1) at Ascot Racecourse Oct. 18.
The score stands at one win apiece after Delacroix landed the Eclipse (G1) before Ombudsman leveled things up in York's dramatic International Stakes (G1).
The rivalry has been stoked by comments from both sets of trainers after O'Brien implored the Gosdens to bring Ombudsman over for the Irish Champion Stakes (G1), only for John Gosden to say his star "would not appreciate running against multiple entries from one stable on a track with a short straight" and elected to miss Leopardstown.
A decisive battle is now set for Saturday, after which Delacroix is set to be retired.
O'Brien said: "John can whinge a little bit after races, whether he wins or loses, but it's always good sport, and I only say it lightheartedly. We treat every single horse with the utmost respect and that'll never change.
"We're 100% delighted about taking on Ombudsman again. We had our eye on this until the lads decided to go or not, but it's been a long time since we had good ground for this meeting. Everybody wants to see the best horses taking on each other all the time. Win, lose, or draw, racing wants to know where the best horses rank."
Delacroix has 3 1/2 lengths to find on Ombudsman from their York clash, in which the latter's pacemaker Birr Castle built up a big lead before being reeled in late.
Ombudsman's pacemaker this time is Devil's Advocate, and while Mount Kilimanjaro could fulfil that role for O'Brien, the champion trainer hopes history will not repeat itself at Ascot.
"York was, I suppose, a bit of a farce," O'Brien told a British Champions Day press call organized by Ascot. "You wouldn't see those types of races in small conditions contests, let alone a group 1. But an incredible race is on now.
"All pacemakers can do is do their job, and it's up to everyone else to follow them. No one ever wants what happened at York to happen again and hopefully it's a normal, properly run race."
O'Brien is seven wins shy of beating his world record of 28 grade/group 1 victories in a year. He is represented in four of British Champions Day's five group 1 contests, but refuses to get drawn into the possibly of eclipsing his record.
He said: "We don't ever think too much about it. I cannot tell you how difficult it is to win group 1s, so when it does happen, we're always delighted. We treat the season like that from start to finish.
"Obviously, we set off to win all of the group 1 targets, but you're also beat in an awful lot of them. We don't dwell on losing too much and the minute the last one is finished, we're already thinking about our next one."
