IN the strangest of flat campaigns which witnessed a two-and-a-half-month gap between the first and second fixtures of the season, Aidan O’Brien again held sway on a variety of fronts and ended the year with a tally of 15 Group 1 victories.

Once again the master of Ballydoyle was able to call upon a variety of talents and two in particular stood out, with Magical and Love amassing six top-level wins between them. A change of plan that saw Magical returned to training rather than being covered, yielded an impressive return with the five-year-old adding the Pretty Polly and the Tattersalls Gold Cup to her haul before emerging victorious in one of the races of the season.