O'Brien saddles century of winners and shows no sign of stopping

For all the talk of fierce rivalries here this week, the fact of it is that no current trainer has even come close to Aidan O’Brien’s achievements at this meeting since Harbour Master, at 16-1, gave him his first Royal Ascot winner in 1997.

- Greg Wood

Almost three decades later, O’Brien became the first trainer to saddle a century of Royal Ascot winners as Scandinavia clawed his way past Trawlerman in the closing stages of a compelling Gold Cup, and there’s little sign that he is even pondering when it might be time to call it a day.

One hundred Royal Ascot winners, and one in 10 of those has now come in the showpiece event of the week, after the moment of generational shift when the eight-year-old Trawlerman, the defending champion, finally yielded to his four-year-old rival within sight of the line.

Trawlerman had seemed to have Scandinavia’s measure just a few seconds earlier, but perhaps the lack of a prep run before this race also told in the final strides as Ryan Moore’s mount ground him down.

John Gosden, Trawlerman’s trainer, is the closest active trainer to O’Brien in the all-time list with 72 winners, while Sir Michael Stoute, the record holder until O’Brien replaced him in 2023, trained 82. O’Brien has also won the trainers’ title over the course of the meeting no fewer than 13 times - Gosden has four - and he is seemingly a decent mentor of humans, too, as his main rival for a 14th title at this year’s meeting seems likely to be his oldest son, Joseph.