Aidan O'Brien

Aidan O'Brien has talked up the credentials of ante-post Derby favourite Pierre Bonnard (Camelot) but put forward 20-1 chance Montreal (Sea The Stars) as being a potential sleeper in the market for the Epsom Classic.  O'Brien has won the past three editions of the Derby - with Lambourn, City Of Troy and Auguste Rodin - and will be bidding to land a record-extending 12th success in the race this year.  Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Pierre Bonnard was reported to be on track to run in the key Derby...

Aidan O'Brien heaped praise on Albert Einstein at a Ballydoyle press morning on Monday and described the unbeaten Wootton Bassett colt as his number one hope heading into the new season. Albert Einstein is a general 7-1 favourite for the 2,000 Guineas. He also holds a Derby entry, for which he is a best-priced 20-1 shot.  However, O'Brien acknowledged that Albert Einstein, who has recorded both of his wins over six furlongs, is not certain to stay a mile.  O'Brien said, "The number one at the moment is Albert -...

The Irish Flat season is a matter of weeks away, with the opening day of the season kicking off at the Curragh on March 15, where the €100,000 Irish Lincoln takes centre stage. There will be Classic clues aplenty on April 12, when the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas Trials, along with the Ballysax Stakes, a key Derby trial, takes place at Leopardstown. TDN Europe's Brian Sheerin has had a look at some of the under-the-radar three-year-olds who could have a big role to play that weekend and indeed for the...

Aidan O'Brien has outlined his early-season Classic plans and revealed that he will consider running Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) and Puerto Rico (Wootton Bassett)in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket this spring. The Ballydoyle handler has saddled a record 10 winners of the Rowley Mile Classic and possesses another strong hand ahead of this year's renewal, with Gstaad and Puerto Rico joined towards the head of the ante-post betting by stablemate Albert Einstein, (Wootton Bassett) who missed the second half of his two-year-old campaign through injury. Gstaad and Puerto Rico did get...

The Betfred Derby will be run for prize-money of £2 million in 2026, making it the joint-richest race in Britain alongside the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. This £500,000 boost in purse from last year is just one of a raft of "significant changes" announced by the Jockey Club for Epsom's Betfred Derby Festival next June. The programme of reinvigoration, with investment of £6 million, includes Coolmore being announced as sponsor of the Coronation Cup, which will be run for £1 million - more than double its previous...

The connections of the half-dozen European raiders among a field of 11 for Sunday's HK$26-million Longines Hong Kong Vase (2400m) will have been mostly pleased with the outcome of the barrier draw, which was held in the state-of-the-art parade ring at Sha Tin Racecourse Thursday morning. Resolute Racing and Baron Philip Von Ullman's Goliath (Adlerflug) makes a second trip across to Hong Kong in the space of eight months, having finished a disappointing ninth to Tastiera (Jpn) (Satono Crown {Jpn}) at a fairly short price in the G1 FWD QE...

Multiple Group 1 winner Hawk Wing has died from colic in Korea. The brilliant winner of the G1 Lockinge Stakes was 26. The son of Woodman claimed the G1 National Stakes at two for Aidan O'Brien and Susan Magnier. At three, he found only stablemates Rock Of Gibraltar and High Chaparral too good in the G1 2000 Guineas and the G1 Derby, respectively. Back in the winner's circle in the G1 Eclipse Stakes, he ran second in both the G1 Irish Champion Stakes and G1 Champion Stakes. At four, he...

Right arms and legs were made to be given for the Tattersalls December Foal Sale-topping Frankel colt who, at 1.15 million gns to Coolmore Stud, became the most expensive foal sold anywhere in Europe this year.  Like two old gunslingers facing off at dawn, MV Magnier took his position at the back of the cage while his opposition and eventual underbidder, Juddmonte's Simon Mockridge, sat almost directly opposite the Coolmore posse in the seats close to the exit of the ring.  Flanked by Barry Mahon, Mockridge did not go down...

Group 1 winner Whistlejacket has been acquired by a group of breeders led by Jean-Philippe Dubois and will stand for €14,000 at Haras de Grandcamp next year, France-Sire reported on Friday. The full-brother to fellow juvenile top-level winner Little Big Bear will have his stallion career and syndication managed by Jean Daniel Manceau of Capucines Bloodstock. Dubois said in a statement, "I had the opportunity to follow the two-year-old season of Whistlejacket, a true model of precocity and courage. His victory in the Prix Morny made an impression, It has...

In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the Breeders' Cup meeting. Ethical Diamond Hands Mullins The Turf Training maestro Willie Mullins landed the biggest Flat victory of his career with Ethical Diamond (Awtaad) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf on Saturday (video). A winner of a brace of valuable handicaps across the pond, the five-year-old gelding has also run seven of his lifetime starts over hurdles. Bred by W. Kennedy, Ethical Diamond is owned...

'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) parceled up a championship freshman campaign with a stalk-and-pounce victory in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar, a win that is better than it might appear on paper in the eyes of his trainer Todd Pletcher. "I thought he ran terrific," said Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, striking at the Breeders' Cup for the 16th time. "The race unfolded kind of just as we had anticipated it would with [TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard] Brant (Gun...

DEL MAR, USA -- As Balantina was led back to the winner's circle after her victory in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, one man was smiling more broadly than any other, and it wasn't her trainer or any of her owners. For Aidan O'Brien, watching his son Donnacha win his first Breeders' Cup race would probably have been enough to make his day - and it was a day that had started with the disappointment of having to scratch his own red-hot favourite for that same race, Precise.  But O'Brien Sr...