The horse trainer who is dominating flat racing
There are moments in every sport when one person so dominates their field that no one else stands a chance, said Cornelius Lysaght on BBC Sport online. Think of Michael Schumacher at the start of this century, or Tiger Woods in his “golden period”. That’s the kind of year Aidan O’brien is enjoying. Last week, the Irish flat racing trainer made history: his horse Hydrangea won the Fillies and Mares Stakes at Ascot – thereby equalling the record of 25 toptier victories in a year, set by Bobby Frankel in 2003. And O’brien could break that record as soon as this Saturday, said Mark Souster in The Times. Indeed, don’t be surprised if he surpasses 30 wins by the end of the season. The trainer keeps pulling off “remarkable feats” – two weeks ago, his horses claimed the top four positions in the Dewhurst Stakes – but this is surely his most extraordinary achievement yet. O’brien has a gift for “keeping horses fresh”, said Mark Hughes in The Sunday Times. He ensures that they race at “full mental and physical fitness”, making the most of his facilities at Ballydoyle, an 800-acre stud farm in County Tipperary: its horse spa has a sauna, solarium and underwater treadmill.
But it’s not just O’brien’s modern methods, said Conor Pope in The Irish Times. He has an unusually deep affinity with the animals themselves. One jockey who used to ride for him describes his remarkable knack for calming down an agitated horse, just by placing his hand on the animal. When the trainer discusses horses with his wife, Anne-marie, they sound like “an indulgent couple talking about their kids”. The problem is that O’brien’s dominance has made flat racing deadly dull, said Lysaght. Like golf in Wood’s heyday, it’s suffering from a lack of competition. For racing, O’brien’s success is “a nightmare to which there is no obvious solution”.