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It’s such a shame that Aidan O’Brien‘s achievements have to be ( but never are )qualified by the fact that he runs so many horses in the races he is dominating.
History may gloss over the facts but it’s impossible to compare what is happening now with the all time records because the successful trainers of the past did not have as many attempts at the target that AOB has.
Apart from the regular blight of apparent team tactics more worryingly I’m afraid I’m often left with the impression that Balldoyle don’t really know what they’ve got ( hence they run 5 or 6 horses just in case)
All in all it’s not a good look and it’s not healthy for the sport,but instead of the possibility of entry limits or qualifying to run in top races being discussed all we hear about is winning records being artificially ( in my view) shredded without acknowledging that this is being helped in large part by crude looking scattergun entry tactics.
I get why folk are peeved at coolmore for running so many but the fact is that plenty so called second or third strings win group ones. It’s not aiden fault he has so many derby types each year. Sir Henry regularly ran two in big races as did dick hern and I’m sure if they had three horses to run in the derby they would have. Let’s be brutally honest without aidens runners what would the race have looked like. Yes coolmore have so much power but where are Godolphin to challenge them. They have infinitely more dosh but can’t even get a runner to the derby. Gosden has a total outsider. I’d look at others operations before moaning at coolmore although I do admit it will annoy the hell out of punters. Maybe John magnier is just better at this than everybody else.
Unless you backed Serpentine, yesterday’s race was unsatisfactory. It ought to be a great cause for celebration that O’Brien has won 8 Derbies but in truth it is becoming boring. It even looked dull yesterday with no crowd.
For all his usual bland talk afterwards, O’Brien could not have been expecting that to happen. Serpentine only won his maiden last week. If they knew he was that good, why wasn’t Moore riding him instead of someone who is employed by Coolmore as a work rider and occasional jockey?
I looked back at some old Derbies on Friday. It was a bit of a shock to be reminded of Generous, a flashy chestnut with a flaxen tail. He looked so different to this parade of bays sired by Galileo, Montjeu and Camelot.
I used to love going to the Derby. I saw every one between Galileo in 2001 and Golden Horn in 2015. I doubt I would go now to see a Coolmore fourth or fifth string win, where Gosden only has no hopers and the likes of Stoute, Haggas and Godolphin cannot even manage a runner between them. It needs more competition.
If you possess such a high proportion of the premier middle distancce bloodlines, only natural that you’d get so many of the runners. Don’t think it’s becoming boring, the problems with yesterday’s race can be blamed on the jockeys rather than Coolmore. Also, as Mickey says, you can’t blame Coolmore for Godolphin’s comparative ineptitude.
I kind of get what you mean, but on the other hand, if you own half a dozen very good middle distance 3yo colts that you think will handle the track, what else are you going to do with them? If Coolmore were packing every big handicap with all their horses that didn’t reach group 1 standard (I’m looking at you Gigginstown), that would be unsporting. But the Epsom derby is still the pinnacle in their eyes. Likewise if Gigginstown had half a dozen very good staying chasers each year that were likely to act well round Cheltenham and had the class to feasibly place in the gold cup I wouldn’t have a problem with them all running in it.
Mythical was the worst of the Coolmore horses this year and even he beat a few horses home. He is nicely bred for the job and wasn’t ridiculously out of place. If they had run Arizona and Southern Hills in it and kicked them into a massive lead to act as pacemakers, that would have been unsporting.
Like others have said, it’s up to other outfits to take Coolmore on by trying to breed and race better 12f horses. It’s interesting that Coolmore still haven’t found Galileo Mk II yet and time is running out. Frankel isn’t Coolmore owned; Stradivarius might throw up something interesting if he covers some fast mares as well as NH mares; what will the gorgeous Logician do at stud?. OK the potential opposition is not deep but I like the fact that Coolmore still want to win the English and Irish derbies and the St Leger. If it wasn’t for Coolmore stallions, the St Leger might have dwindled to a group 3 with a tiny handful of entries each year and perhaps even the Epsom Derby would lose its relevance and be just an amusing throwback while everyone else tried to win the latest arms race purse for the Super Desert Everest Platinum Diamond International Flat Track Squillions.
Perhaps if the trainer, who some people consider one of the best, concentrated on fewer runners by the stallion that people also say is the best, we would get more memorable moments from them. O’Brien makes a lot of money for his masters these days, but my memories from the yard are old: Giant’s Causeway, Hawk Wing, Yeats, George Washington, Galileo himself, Peeping Fawn etc. I’ve already seen Serpentine discussed variously as Santiago and Serendipity since the Derby, which says it all really. Everyone can name the jockey though, because that was a story. It’s good stories and horses with that star quality that make the memories. Even the likes of Giant’s Causeway had pacemakers, and sometimes it wasn’t pretty, but you knew who the star was.
Poem of the year
“its too cold, I can’t wait for the summer”
“its too hot, I can’t wait for the winter”“O’Brien runs too many against each other
Mullins needs to run more against each other”Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
AOB has trained 84 horses beaten in the Derby!
But 26 of them were beaten by the 8 winners he had so could not possibly of won anyway.
Take out his 84 beaten horses and you have some
Very boring derbys.Funny that nathan eh, direct opposite to what they want from mullins!
I’ve posted here recently saying the same thing more than once ……O’Brien & connections are in the business of making stallions either to use at stud or sell on,maybe keeping a minority share,as that’s where the long term money is made.You hit a GOLDMINE when you get a stallion that gets other stallions!
The scattergun approach is employed merely to this end.
good luck to all
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