AIDAN O’Brien’s record-breaking achievements are covered in full elsewhere, but no review of the British season is complete with genuflecting before the Ballydoyle maestro, and it is remarkable how complete his domination of the juvenile pattern is. That fact, allied to his ability to gain top-level success with horses, particularly fillies, who seem thoroughly exposed is something which sets him apart from any other trainer of the modern era.

The Middle Park Stakes illustrates the first point, with U S Navy Flag beating stable companion Fleet Review to gain a belated Group 1 win, despite the fact that his first seven races had yielded nothing more than a maiden success. The consensus was that the winner had taken advantage of the failure of several rivals to show their best form, and the race was filed under ‘substandard’, which was understandable given they finished in something of a heap behind the first two.

CENTURY

That U S Navy Flag could step up to win the Dewhurst may not surprise fans of O’Brien, but it really should, as only Diesis had completed that double in the previous century, and his victory was a hollow one, coming as it did in a virtual match against the supposed wonder horse Gorytus, who was virtually pulled-up amid claims of doping.

The last ‘proper’ winner of both races was subsequent Derby, Eclipse and Champion Stakes winner Lemberg in 1909. It’s stunning that a horse who was beaten six times between May and August could take that mantle, and that is a mark of the genius of O’Brien.

So is the blossoming of longtime bridesmaid Roly Poly, who won the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes on her 13th career outing before adding another brace of wins at the highest level to silence those who called her Newmarket win a fluke. O’Brien is constantly able to get his horses to the big races at the peak of their powers, although those aren’t always the horses that the general public are expecting, as evidenced by yet another win in the Derby, where Wings Of Eagles was springing a 40/1 shock in getting the better of Coolmore number one Cliffs Of Moher.

Winning the Derby may not be the overarching achievement it once was, but it remains the blue riband of the turf, and there is no race any flat trainer would rather bag; so producing the first and second at Epsom was a wonderful achievement, made all the more impressive by the fact that the also-rans included subsequent Irish Derby and St Leger winner Capri.