Royal Ascot’s historic reputation for excellence can rarely have been underlined better than by Ombudsman’s stunning success in Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes. The Godolphin star became the first horse to win the prestigious contest twice since it was made a Group One in 2000. Sheikh Mohammed’s landmark horse Dubai Millennium won it that year. Other top horses such as Azamour, Manduro and So You Think scored afterwards. None were more impressive than Ombudsman. William Buick’s mount cut down some of the top-rated horses in the world to win by four lengths and looked far from all-out to do so. Runner-up was Aidan O’Brien’s dual-Oaks heroine Minnie Hauk, who reversed Arc placings with Daryz only to be still comprehensively out-quickened at the end of a fast run 10-furlongs. “Mind-blowing,” was Buick’s verdict after riding his 40th Royal Ascot winner. “He has the turn of foot of a miler, but he stays 10 furlongs.”It proved a decisive combination. With Ombudsman and Minnie Hauk having their own pacemakers – and both appearing to agree on the early tempo – Buick was content to sit at the rear until well into the straight before unleashing his partner’s lethal pace. Daryz briefly got in front of Minnie Hauk but soon started to struggle against the Irish filly only for the 11/10 favourite to sweep past them all. “He was a champion horse last year, but he has shown his class again today. I’m thrilled with him. You had an Arc winner in there, a champion race-mare and another Group One winner (Almaqam) behind him. It was a superb performance. I was taken by his explosive acceleration,” said trainer John Gosden. O’Brien said of Minnie Hauk: “She’s a mile-and-a-half filly really, and over a mile-and-a-quarter she wants an end-to-end gallop, but that was going to suit the winner as well. If the lads want, they can bring her back here to the King George.”William Buick riding Ombudsman win The Prince Of Wales's Stakes ahead of Ryan Moore on Minnie Hauk. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images for Ascot Racecourse Ombudsman went to Sandown for the Eclipse after Royal Ascot last year and got pounced on by Delacroix’s late thrust. Gosden wasn’t ruling out another go next month, but all roads seem to York in August for the Juddmonte International.More immediately, how this performance gets officially summed up in handicap terms could see a reshuffle at the top of the world thoroughbred rankings. Before Wednesday, only the French gelding Calandagan on a mark of 130 was officially rated superior to Ombudsman. Calandagan beat Ombudsman in October’s Champion Stakes at Ascot, but a rout of Minnie Hauk and Daryz is surely set to have handicap calculators whirring.Having emerged from Tuesday’s action with a double that got quickly overshadowed by accusations of team tactics after a ban for Christophe Soumillon in the St James’s Palace Stakes, Aidan O’Brien reached 99 Royal Ascot victories in the opening Queen Mary Stakes with Victorious.The unbeaten filly, blind in her left eye, justified 10/3 favouritism in style and earned classic quotes of 14/1 for next year’s 1,000 Guineas. The impact of the previous day’s feature race, where Soumillon got an eight-day suspension for allowing Ryan Moore up his inside on the runner-up Gstaad, was still reverberating though, with O’Brien rejecting talk of team tactics. “There’s no doubt about that. I always say when we put horses in a race, they’re in there for one thing – it’s to make sure there’s an even pace for everybody. That’s the only reason,” he said. “Our instructions are always very clear after that, it’s simple stuff. I don’t know what happened and I saw it like everyone else. The lads (jockeys) got days (bans) and I’m after forgetting about that already,” O’Brien added. It was Joseph O’Brien’s turn to strike on the double on Wednesday. Limestone just edged out Del Maro by a nose to land the Group Two Queens Vase while King Of Cloughan sprang a 33/1 surprise in the Windsor Castle under jockey Billy Loughnane. “He has come out top in a couple of photo-finishes which is a good trait to have in a horse,” O’Brien said of Limestone, who earned quotes for the Doncaster St Leger after his narrow success.