Record breaker! Aidan O'Brien's Royal Ascot stable tour

Aidan O’Brien, the master of Ballydoyle, is the all-time leading trainer at Royal Ascot and will have another abundance of talent on display over the five days of prestigious event.

Royal Ascot has always been a focus point for O’Brien, and it is a meeting where he has enjoyed a great amount of success. He overtook Sir Michael Stoute as the most successful trainer in the long history of the meeting last year with his record now standing at 91 winners.

As well as that, O’Brien has been crowned the leading trainer at Royal Ascot on no fewer than 13 occasions. He sat down with Kevin Blake to discuss his star-studded string for 2025…

Diego Velazquez

“He is heading to the Queen Anne Stakes and is in great form. We are expecting him to be an improved horse this year. It took us time to find out that a mile is his best trip and we’re training him as a miler this year. Obviously we would have preferred to have got a run into him before Royal Ascot, but he misbehaved in the stalls before the Amethyst Stakes at Leopardstown last month and was withdrawn. We’ve prepared him as well as can since then, but it isn’t ideal to not have had a run.”

Illinois

“The Gold Cup is his target. We’re very happy with him and he’s been doing everything right at home. We always thought he could be a Cup horse. He has a good mind, he’s relaxed, he stays, he’s big and he’s hardy. He was just ready to start at Chester, so we were delighted with what he did there. Physically he has done well since last year and that run has tightened him up. Regarding his stamina, none of us will know for sure until he passes the two-furlong pole, but we give him a great chance of staying.”

Los Angeles

“He’s bang on target for the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes. It’s a tough mile-and-a-quarter at Ascot and he’ll love that. He’s steadily progressing from run-to-run and he should be better again next week. He’s a real hardy man of a horse. He’s well able for hardship and able for work, so it isn’t easy get the weight off him. We think this will be a big year for him and we can’t wait to see him go to war next week.”

Storm Boy

“We had a few bits and pieces to iron out of him leading up to the Greenlands Stakes and while we got those things sorted out, we then didn’t have the time to get enough work into him to have him where we wanted for that race in conditioning terms. We’ve been able to get much more serious with him since that run in terms of work and it’s very possible that you’ll see a completely different level of performance at Royal Ascot. He’s go for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes on the Saturday.”

Galveston

“He’ll have a variety of entries, but I’d say one of the handicaps is more likely, with the King George V looking the most likely at this stage. He stays well and won in good style at Naas last time. There should be more to come from him.”

Henri Matisse

“The plan was always to go to the St James’s Palace Stakes after France and he is very much on track for that. We’re very happy with him, he seems to be coming forward every week. He only ever does enough in his races, he’s never going to win a race by a wide margin, so we don’t know where the ceiling is with him yet. He has a real ability to quicken in his races, so the round mile at Ascot should play to his strengths. It’s a very strong race, but we are ready to have a big crack at it with him.”

Ides Of March

“The Commonwealth Cup is his target. We decided to split up him and Whistlejacket last time so that Ryan could ride both of them separately and as it turned out, it probably didn’t work out well for either of them as they both ended up being involved in messy races. He got isolated in the wrong part of the track at Newbury and probably did well to run as well as he did. He’ll be much better suited by an end-to-end six furlongs in the Commonwealth Cup and I think you’ll see a much better version of him there.”

Light As Air

“He in on target for the King George V Handicap. He has run huge races in his last two starts and has gone up enough in the weights that he should sneak into the King George V Handicap. He think that longer trip and likely stronger pace will all be a big help to him. He works better than a handicapper.”

Officer

“He’ll go for the St James’s Palace Stakes. I don’t think it would be fair to judge him on his run in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, as they went steady and he got quite badly interfered with. He’ll be much better suited to a truly-run race and should get that at Royal Ascot.”

Serious Contender

“We have been aiming him at the King George V Handicap since his last run. We were impressed with him that day and his revised mark put him bang on where he needed to be to get into the King George V, so we haven’t run him since then. The form of the race has worked out really well, so hopefully he proves to be well handicapped.”

Whistlejacket

“He’ll run in the Commonwealth Cup. I think he’s better than his last run suggests as they went very slow early and Babouche quickened well down the outside away from Ryan and that was that. She beat him in the Phoenix Stakes last year too, but we felt he got caught up in a pace duel that day that he paid the price for. So, while she has beaten him twice, we don’t think we saw the best of him either day and would be happy to take her and the rest on in an end-to-end six furlongs at Ascot which is what he wants.”

Exactly

“She’s an intended runner in the Coronation Stakes. We thought she ran great in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. It was obviously a controversial race and she probably suffered more interference than any of them in it. She never really got a clear shot at them. We were expecting her to improve from that run and we feel we’ve seen that improvement in her at home since then.”

January

“She’ll run in the Coronation Stakes. She was only just ready to start off in the Irish 1,000 Guineas. It was a messy race and I was happy with how she ran. She seems to have come forward as hoped since that run and I’d be expecting an improved run from her at Royal Ascot.”

Sweet Chariot

“She looks to be one for the Sandringham. We can’t be sure if she’ll stay a mile, but we think she’s well handicapped and will be a danger to all if she gets the trip.”

Charles Darwin

“The plan is for him to run in the Norfolk Stakes. He’s a big, hardy, strong, fast horse. We’ve been very happy with him since Naas and are comfortable with him at five furlongs.”

Gstaad

“The plan is to go for the Coventry Stakes with him. It was probably a little surprise that he was able to beat Stay True on his debut when she had the benefit of a very good run, but the pace wasn’t that quick and that gave him a chance on the day. He has come forward plenty from that and looks an exciting colt.”

Minerva

“She was working very well prior to her debut at Leopardstown and we thought she’d be very tough to beat, but she was surprisingly green and just didn’t perform on the day. We feel she is a lot better than that and if she pleases us in the coming days we might let her take her chance in the Chesham Stakes.”

Moments Of Joy

“She made a lovely winning debut in a maiden at Leopardstown. She was the second string on the day and the other filly was working better, but this lady produced a fine performance on the day. We’ll see how she is in the coming days, but she’s a possible for the Chesham Stakes.”

Signora

“At this stage if she runs it will most likely to be in the Albany Stakes. We think she’s a very good filly and we loved her first run. She lacks a bit of experience going to a meeting like Royal Ascot, but we think she has more than enough talent to justify having a go.”

Stay True

“The plan is for her to go to the Queen Mary Stakes. We were a little surprised that she was beaten on her latest start, but she’s a filly that wants a strong pace and that race just wasn’t run in a way that played to her strengths. The five-furlong trip and speed of the Queen Mary will really suit her and we’re looking forward to see what she can do with that setup.”

Warsaw

“He was impressive at Navan and we’ll most likely let him take his chance in the Coventry Stakes. He’s been in good order since Navan and we’ve always liked him.”