We haven't seen a horse go back-to-back in the Juddmonte International Stakes in 30 years.

The honour roll is one of the strongest in the world – won by the likes of Frankel, Sea The Stars, Roaring Lion, Baaeed and City Of Troy, while Ombudsman won the race last year.

The John & Thady Gosden trained superstar was a dominant winner of the race last year, relishing the searching gallop set by the 150/1 pacemaker and putting 3-1/2 lengths on his nearest rival.

Since then he's only enhanced his reputation as the best 2000m horse in the world, putting up a new career peak in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot last time out, smashing a world class field that included Arc de Triomphe quinella Minnie Hauk and Daryz by four lengths.

A repeat of that performance would make him nearly unbeatable in a quest for a second Juddmonte International, but the challenge is strong and Aidan O'Briens star three-year-old Constitution River has taken all before him of late.

Since a narrow defeat on debut, he's been unbeaten, winning the Prix Du Jockey Club (French Derby) at Chantilly in strong time, then clearly handling the rise to open age company with a dominant victory in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.

He'll be looking to follow in the footsteps of City Of Troy who won the Eclipse/Juddmonte double in 2024 and arguably put up a stronger performance than City Of Troy to win at Sandown, albeit the challenge from the older horses there certainly up to Ombudsman's class.

The three-year-old crop have been doing very well as a whole this season, their weight allowance often proving too much for their older rivals but this is another test altogether for Constitution River.

A strong pace will be assured and that will definitively determine who is strongest – it seems unlikely anything else in the field quite has the brutal stamina and class to go with the two favourites.

Constitution River is a star but the odds are almost 'take your pick' between he and Ombudsman, and Ombudsman has a handful of ratings that edge the O'Brien colt, and an elite last-start rating that no horse in the world can match right now.

Ombudsman to go back-to-back at York in what should be one of the races of the season.

Picture: Getty Images