Aidan O’Brien set to continue a great season with more winners

Following the emphatic victory of Love in the Group 1 Darley Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday at York Racecourse Aidan O'Brien continues to mop up the top races both at home and abroad and is set for another strong finish to this curtailed Flat season.

Love maintained her perfect record this season with her third impressive performance in a row at the highest level. The Investec Oaks winner will now head to Paris for the European season decider, the prestigious Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, for which her odds at Sportsbookreviews has the filly at 5/2 to win. She will certainly face her stiffest task yet at ParisLongchamp where she will be pitched in against Enable, Ghaiyyath and Stradivarious to name just three of her high class opponents.

Prior to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in early October there is plenty of decent domestic action for O'Brien to target with his strong string of Ballydoyle horses.

Key Irish races over the coming weeks:

Next Saturday 22nd August top racing in Ireland comes from the Curragh as there are a couple of Group 2 races including the Debutante Stakes, a two year old fillies race over seven furlongs. Aidan O’Brien, Joseph O’Brien and Jim Bolder will select top horses from their stables to participate this race which could well deliver a horse for the future to watch out for.

The other top race on the day is the Galileo Irish EBF Futurity Stakes which is a group 2 race over seven furlongs. Admiral Nelson, Baton Rouge and Battleground could be the representatives from the Ballydoyle stable that we could be seen in this race.

The following week at the Curragh will see the Snow Fairy Fillies Stakes take place, a group 3 race for three year olds plus over 1 mile and 1 furlong.

Irish Champion Stakes

The next group 1 action in Ireland is on Irish Champions Weekend when the highlight will be the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday 12th September. This race is over 1 mile and 2 furlongs and open to horses three years old and older.

Unsurprisingly the trainer with the most wins is Aidan O’Brien however he has only had one winner in the race in the last 8 years. That winner was Magical in last year’s race who won well ridden by top jockey Ryan Moore and led home a 1-2-3 for the stable. Top English trainer John Gosden has trained three of the last seven winners of the race and the most noticeable was in 2018 when Roaring Lion won a superb race ridden by Oisin Murphy. Other winners included super horse Golden Horn in 2015, ridden by Frankie Detrori.

Potential runners for this year’s race from Ballydoyle include Magical fresh from her runner-up finish behind Ghaiyyath at York, Circus Maximus and last year's third place finisher Anthony Van Dyck. All told Aidan O'Brien is responsible for 14 of the 46 entries and will no doubt be mob-handed once again.

Aidan's two sons Joseph and Donnacha may also get in on the action for the coveted Group 1 event and have some top contenders who could like up in the race. Buckhurst, a previous course winner, and the similarly owned Degreaves could represent Joseph, while younger brother Donnacha has the hat-trick seeking Fancy Blue among the entries.