Aidan O’Brien

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Sunday's Insights features a full-brother to G1SW Serpentine (Ire). 12.30 Naas, Mdn, €15,500, 2yo, 6fT Coolmore's debutant APOLLO THIRTEEN (IRE) (No Nay Never), one of three nominees representing the Aidan O'Brien stable, is out of the dual Grade I placegetter Nasty Storm (Gulch) and thus a half-brother to MGSW...

Magic Wand (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}-Prudenzia {Ire}, by Dansili {GB}), a winner of the 2019 G1 Mackinnon S., has been retired from racing and will join Coolmore Stud's broodmare band in Ireland next year, Coolmore Australia tweeted on Thursday morning. The 5-year-old was due to defend her title in the Mackinnon S., but was withdrawn with a foot abscess prior to the race. "Following a foot abscess as she was preparing for a second tilt at the Mackinnon S., Magic Wand has been retired and will join our broodmare band in...

Eclipse Award winner Maximum Security (New Year's Day), GI Kentucky Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief), GI Belmont S. victor Tiz the Law (Constitution), Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), who beat the boys in the GI Preakness S. and European star mare Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) are among the over 200 horses entered for the Breeders' Cup World Championships to be held at Keeneland Race Course Friday and Saturday, Nov. 6 and 7. Maximum Security makes his first appearance at the Breeders' Cup and is one of an imposing trio in the $6-million...

Sovereign (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), the 2019 G1 Irish Derby hero for Aidan O'Brien and the Coolmore partners, is a late supplement to the 2000-metre £500,000 Bahrain International Trophy on Nov. 20, the Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club announced on Wednesday. Also second in this term's G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO S., Sovereign will be O'Brien's first Bahraini runner. "Sovereign is a strong mile and a quarter horse," O'Brien told the Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club notes team. (Click here to view the interview.) "He is a very...

Aidan O'Brien has 12 Breeders' Cup trophies on his mantle, and he sends a typically strong team to Keeneland next week with numerous chances to bolster that number. Among the heavyweights are 2020 Group 1 winners Mogul (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who will attempt to give their trainer a sixth win in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. The 3-year-old Mogul earned his first top-level victory in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris on Sept. 13 with the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe second In Swoop...

Wichita (Ire) (No Nay Never), runner-up in this year's G1 2000 Guineas and the winner of the G2 Park S. on Sept. 12, has been euthanized in Australia after suffering complications during recovery from a gallops injury. The Aidan O'Brien-trained colt was preparing for the G2 Crystal Mile and G1 Cantala S. A statement from Racing Victoria read, "The connections of the Aidan O'Brien-trained Wichita have advised Racing Victoria that the horse sustained a further injury to its right hind leg while rehabilitating at Macedon Lodge from recent surgery. Acting...

The British Horseracing Authority has officially amended the result of the G1 Fillies' Mile, where Aidan O'Brien's fillies Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) had been saddled incorrectly, wearing each other's saddle cloths and riders. It appeared that Snowfall had finished third and Mother Earth eighth, but it was actually the reverse. An investigation remains ongoing in relation to the incorrect saddling of the horses. Grounds for disqualification in the BHA's rules of racing do not include horses starting from the wrong stalls or carrying...

Coolmore's Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who hit the board going one mile in his Oct. 3 debut at Newmarket last time, was sharply into stride and led from the outset of Friday's Irish Stallion Farms EBF (C&G) Maiden at Leopardstown. Holding sway throughout the one-mile test, the even-money favourite was shaken up when threatened in early straight and powered clear under continued urging inside the final furlong to prevail by an impressive four lengths from O'Reilly (Fr) (Frankel {GB}), adding 'TDN Rising Star' status into the bargain. "I fancied...

Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) might be retired to the Juddmonte paddocks, but there will still be plenty of equine stars spread across five group races on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday, as fields were drawn on Thursday morning. 2019 G1 QIPCO Champion S. winner Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is aiming for her second consecutive Champion S. score, and the Coolmore runner has been in prime form of late, with three Group 1 wins this season, her only loss a second to formidable frontrunner Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire})...

This season's dual Classic-winning filly Love (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is likely to bypass the Breeders' Cup and is probably done for the year, trainer Aidan O'Brien said on Tuesday. Love was scratched from her last intended target, the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, when the ground came up soft. "I don't think Love will go to the Breeders' Cup," O'Brien said. "At the moment we're thinking that she's had a busy enough time and we trained her hard for the Arc. Obviously that was her big target in the...

Saturday's G1 Darley Dewhurst S. proved the latest in a line of O'Brien family benefits, with Aidan stamping his authority with a one-two courtesy of St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Wembley (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Joseph's Thunder Moon (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) rounding out the placings. Behind that pair when third in The Curragh's G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. over this seven-furlong trip Sept. 13, St Mark's Basilica was under cover early with Frankie Dettori playing a waiting game with the pace strong up ahead. Threaded through a...

After a weekend of intensive testing of GAIN's equine feed ranges, batches and individual ingredients, progress has been made in the investigation into the presence of Zilpaterol in the contaminated feeds, the company announced late on Monday evening. The synthetic beta-agonist Zilpaterol, approved for use as a performance-enhancer in some beef production systems outside the EU, was found in some positive tests on horses that had consumed GAIN products in France last week. GAIN stressed that Zilpaterol has never formed part of any formulation in any GAIN animal nutrition ranges....