David Ord on a remarkable 2026 for Aidan O'Brien

Flat season review: David Ord on Aidan O'Brien's remarkable campaign

Horse Racing

Thu November 05, 2026 · 7h ago

Our columnist on Aidan O'Brien's potentially record-breaking 2026 campaign which has been anything but plain sailing.

Aidan O’Brien’s 2026 has been remarkable, even by his standards.

He’s won seven European Classics, eight if we’re counting the Irish St. Leger. He trained the Betfred Derby winner for the fourth successive year, had three winners at the Breeders’ Cup.

He found a Group One sprinter from nowhere at Royal Ascot, again had the champion stayer in the ranks and currently trains the ante-post favourite for both the 1000 and 2000 Guineas, plus the 2027 Derby. He has the top three in the betting for Epsom.

The master of Ballydoyle has saddled 28 Group One winners so far in the calendar year, matching is own record from 2017. He might still break it with the international riches of Bahrain and Hong Kong looming into view.

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But it’s not been straightforward.

Winning the big races is one of two key components to his job, the other is producing the next wave of stallions for Coolmore.

This time around Gstaad is the headline act retiring down the road and his season has been a story of near-misses. He won the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh but three times came up short when thrown in against Bow Echo, agonisingly so at both Royal Ascot and Goodwood.

When George Boughey’s charge suffered a mid-summer setback which prematurely ended his racing career, that seemed to leave the door wide open for the Ballydoyle colt to reign supreme in the remaining top mile events, but he was beaten in the Moulin and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Christmas Day, this year’s Betfred Derby hero, never won again after Epsom. Lambourn, the victor in 2025, only added the Huxley Stakes to his CV.

Constitution River was long regarded as being the best three-year-old in the yard and looked like he might be in the French Derby and Coral-Eclipse but defeats at York, Leopardstown and Ascot halted his momentum and the hype that was building.

For much of the campaign Benvenuto Cellini threatened to be best remembered as the non-runner who finished tenth in the Derby. Then last weekend Ryan Moore found daylight down the stretch at Keeneland and the flashy chestnut burst through to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf. He’ll be back for more in 2027 with presumably an international campaign in the offing.

Benvenuto Cellini wins the Breeders' Cup Turf

Diamond Necklace looked the best of the fillies as she stretched her unbeaten record to six with victories in the French Guineas, Prix de Diane and the Nassau at Goodwood. But she was beaten at 2/5 in the Prix Jean Romanet before hitting the frame in both the Arc and the Turf in Keeneland, albeit the fates could have been kinder on both days.

True Love raced seven times after her 1000 Guineas win at Newmarket but had to wait until October and the Prix de la Foret for her only subsequent victory. Precise improved past her to take revenge in the Irish equivalent and the Coronation Stakes but try as she might, she couldn’t win again in six subsequent Group One appearances.

Mission Central, a rare gelding in the Ballydoyle barns, never got his head in front after his King Charles III success down Ascot's straight five furlongs.

Aidan O'Brien's top horses of 2026 on Timeform ratings

All of this played out under the shadows of a low-grade infection that had hit the team through the summer months. After a disappointing opening day of the Irish Champions Festival, the trainer drew back the curtains on the issue in an interview on Racing TV.

“That’s one of those things you’re never prepared for,” he said. “Obviously for the last couple of months we’ve been fighting a very low-grade infection in the whole place through all the horses, two-year-olds and three-year-olds. It pops up every now and then and then disappears. It pops up in their blood, pops up in their scopes and you can’t be sure where it is.

“Obviously before we run any horse they’re always blooded and scoped to make sure they’re perfect, but you don’t know. Sometimes when you travel them it brings it out.”

The flood of big-race winners had become a trickle but the worst was nearly over. October was a good month, a very good month, despite even the most reliable horse in the yard, Scandinavia, meeting with a shock defeat in the Cadran.

Viruses can hit any stable at any time. The bigger ones cope better than the rest through their sheer weight of numbers. O’Brien was still there at all the big dances this season, but three top-flight wins in July and one in August spoke volumes.

There was also the rise and rise of his son Joseph to contend with, a developing international powerhouse fuelled by owners from outside the Coolmore bubble.

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Like Willie Mullins in the jumps game, Aidan is the one with the target on his back, the one they all aspire to reach, and to conquer. But it’s an even more difficult task than the one facing the likes of Dan Skelton and Gordon Elliott. Willie has to buy in his new raft of potential stars each year, Aidan has the nearby era-defining breeding operation to propel him forward.

But the others are still trying. Godolphin stuck their hand up like never before at Tattersalls Books One and Two, Billy Loughnane has been added to their staff as a second retained rider.

They have Musical Times, the Betfred Oaks favourite, who dazzled in the May Hill and Fillies’ Mile. But Aidan has Sun Goddess, a four-time Group One winner and rated six pounds her superior on Timeform numbers. He has Darkness Falls, the Dewhurst winner, who dropped back two furlongs from his previous Group One win in the Golden Fleece to beat Godolphin’s big gun Desert Castle at Newmarket last month - and spark talk of the Triple Crown.

He has Futurity winner Giant Sequoia, Royal Lodge and Breeders’ Cup Turf hero Haffner, Drumbeat, who bagged both the Zetland and the Criterium de Saint-Cloud in the space of two short October weeks.

There’s a whole raft of others who could make the leap into the big league by the time the leaves are returning to the trees in the spring as well.

He’s trained 28 Group One winners this term despite a two-month dip when infection and blow-outs went hand-in-hand. He’s trained 28 Group One winners this term despite not having a dominant three-year-old of either sex, no obvious sprinter to help significantly with the heavy lifting.

And it's worth remembering eight of those top-flight wins came in two-year-old races.

Because for all the trials and tribulations of the summer, for all Andrew Balding will rage against the dying of the light and try and take the British trainers’ title fight to the final rounds, Aidan O’Brien emerges from 2026 in a position of real strength and with a world record still in his sights.

For a season that looked to be ebbing out only a month or two ago, that’s some going.