Dubai: Ulysses denied Godolphin’s Barney Roy for the second time this season when romping to victory in the Group Juddmonte International Stakes at York to earn a vote for the Breeders Cup at the end of the year.
Ridden with supreme confidence by British champion jockey Jim Crowley, the Sir Michael Statoute-trained son of Galileo took over the running inside the final furlong and was ridden out to win by two lengths from dual 2,000 Guineas (G1) scorer Churchill, who edged Barney Roy by a neck for second.
Ulysses also got the better of Barney Roy in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown early in July prior to being upstaged by wonder filly Enable in the Group 1 King George three weeks later.
Stoute, who was winning a sixth Juddmonte, a mile contest open to horses aged three years or older, said: “It all just went so smoothly and there was never a blip. I think it was his best performance to date.
“York is a different track to Sandown, it’s so level, and I never had any worries the way he was travelling.
“I think it’s time to give him a break and work backwards from the Breeders’ Cup Turf. The owners are keen to go for that. We’ll go home and work it out.”
Crowley added: “He seems to like being ridden with confidence. He is improving and today is the best feel I have got off him.
“I always had plenty of horse. Today he relaxed so nicely and when I got there he got there quite soon, I just had to nurse him along.
“This horse is improving all the time. I think he is one of those that only does as much as he needs to. He is a great ride to pick up and these are the races you want to be winning when you are champion [jockey].”
Ulysses is 5/2 favourite with Sky Bet for the Breeders’ Cup Turf on November 4 at Santa Anita Park in the US.
Earlier, Cracksman ran away with the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes under an emphatic ride by Frankie Dettori.
