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A O'Brien - Master of the Dark Arts
A O'Brien - Master of the Dark Arts
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Replies: 116
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Duffy - not a personal fav of mine but I'd reluctantly have to concede that he had a nigh-on perfect career.
I think I've a habit of throwing him in just to shut the Godolphin fanboys up  I would've been well behind Montjeu if that famous duel ever threatened to happen...a la Dawn Run/Buck House. |
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Well said EJ - thank fcúk fro Encke!
 I backed him too ante-post...got a couple of grand out of him  As you say...he's now just regarded as an average G1 winner which is exactly what he was but imagine the bullshit if he would've prevailed? We would never have seen just how exposed he was to be as a 4yo so the LIE would've become immortal! |
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PS - to the pedants...I do realise that there are only the words 'vacuum & continuum' (I can think of) which have a pair of ewes
It doesn't tale too much to outwit those moderators |
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I done Enke too
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https://x.com/i/status/2068833171345445270
Interesting stat if true that the Coolmore horses spend less time in the stalls |
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I’d made that point after the Prix Du Jockey Club, asked how Moore is always in last even in big fields.
Tiger you said jocks are free to compete more, that goes for the loading too. |
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he is the greatest trainer that has ever lived, over the jumps and the flat.
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I'd disagree. Without the incessant ammunition available I think he'd be far less successful. His mob-handed strategy at big races and the type of horses Coolmore breeds are a clear testament to that.
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You could argue the mob handed still have to be trained to win these big races.
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At the top of the game , NH and flat..the man is the best ever....churlish to say otherwise.
of course the top trainers get given the best tools....its the way of the world....The man delivers at all levels. |
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Group sprint and handicap races? The bloke is ungentlemanly on the track eg mob-handed and team tactics.
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He wins across the board....When he targets a big handicap, never far away.....and its not as though he is hiding the ability of his horse.
i get that folk are jealous, but the "lads" picked him for a reason.....I loved the man when he was a NH trainer....some great memories, especially a horse called Urabande winning at Aintree....Rough Quest's year. |
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It's just tedious if the same people keep winning in any sport. Sure, the quality can be acknowledged, but it becomes monotonous. I still recall when I was quite into tennis and Sampras winning Wimbledon every single year. The only sportsman where the domination was never boring in my time watching, was Tiger. And maybe Bolt, But athletics is infrequent viewing for most people.
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No match with Sir Cecil. When Sir Cecil targeted a prestigious handicap eg The Ebor with Kneller he won. There would be only 1 runner - no team tactic necessary. His star charges would only have one target each.
AOB is a good trainer. I'd like to see him as a freelance trainer. I'd also like to see him train some handicappers. |
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But some posts miss the point. To arrive in his current position, Aiden had to demonstate his ability from the lower levels up to the top. Now he is the figurehead for a billion pound multinational company who can breed or buy the 10 best middle distance colts and fillies each year so that Aiden can turn as many of them as possible into Group 1 winners that end up in the Coolmore Stud ranks. They clearly don't care if some of those Classic winning colts turn out to pretty useless as 4yos. Witness the treatment of Lambourn, now used as a pacemaker!
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And Illinois, so much so that Moore remarked that AOB ran him in the wrong race at Epsom.
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Herbie's post should be on the front page of the Racing Post. Great stuff, H
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why was Ed and all going along with fantastic training from obrien to get Illinois to win the last at Rascot, yes he was pulled up in coronation, which imo was disgraceful by coolmore , running a leger 2ndlike a hare in that atrocious conditions at epsom, , he wasnt pulled up for tiredness , he just did his job for lambourn and jan and then stopped, and he was suppose to win that r ascot race he had stones in hand of the others .
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If he had remained a NH trainer, would Mullins, be Mullins of today......really doubt it.
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I liken the horseracing supremacy of AOB / Mullins to the military supremacy of the USA and China. The availability of fire power ie horses and armaments respectively to these four entities are inextricably linked to their military supremacy.
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I’m not sure how anyone can think that he’s truly a nice guy.
He puts people away time and again. He’s a snake that hides behind his  The last two derbies show you how he’s not running horses on their true merits over trips that suit. The guys despicable. |
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LL - thanks bud
 Delashay - I think that's a bit harsh on the guy but I DO agree that he regualarly 'puts people away' as he NEVER tells you anything but búllshít! That is unequivocal..and he has a particular lexicon of relentless sémén he's been churning out for three decades: Obviously  he's well, shows incredible speed, got a great mind/temperament etc. and it's just so fcúkín' bóring!One other thing I must mention to those who think some of us are too tough on Aidan...WHY has he not had more horses CAPABLE of hitting an official 130 mark? As the cliché goes...it's not rocket science. I see Ombudsman has been elevated to a superb personal best of 132 and in my opinion he fully deserves it as I like to see a great performance replicated so nobody can call it a fluke as this exceptional show last week was even better than last year and I'd suspect only Frankel & Baaeed over 10f have earned a higher figure since those superb but much underrated performers just before 2000 (Daylami, Royal Anthem, Pilsudski, Singspiel etc.) used to do it regularly. So WHY doesn't it happen with Coolmore horses? There's certainly enough darts thrown but they ALWAYS fall short - tell me I'm wrong  I was astonished about 3/4 yrs ago to hear that the almost reticent & uncommunicative Ryan Moore had leapt on the búllshít train having clearly been prompted by 'the lads' when he was particularly enthusiastic and endorsing the stallion prospects of either Luxembourg, Auguste Rodin or Paddington - can't remember which one and as admirable as all three were...they're hardly 'greats' are they? Nowhere near as good as Ombudsman for example...who looks like over C&D in mid June on faster ground could really serve it up to ANYTHING bar the elite like Frankel. Coolmore is just a búllshít factory! |
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Someone please politely disagree with me and pick up that gauntlet...though I
should warn you that you're gonna lose - then do so with grace I've had a few tonight and I'm in the mood for a ruckous This place just isn't like it used to be  |
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I’m sorry that you didn’t get to have the ruck that you were after last night! You wrote too much for many on here for a start bit I’m surprised that none of his fans have picked at what you’ve said.
If it seems harsh it’s not just an honest view, many others are the same so he’s not alone. We have the will they won’t they run here or they when Chelts comes around. Not sure why they aren’t hitting the marks that you mention, I never felt that the marks were that accurate. This year yes Ombudsman looked great but it in the cold light of reality he was repeating what had happened at York. It was a 10f horse beating 12f types in a race run exactly to suit him. The French colt was leg less because of something more than the trip and Minnie Hauk hadn’t shown his ability to act over a shorter trip. |
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Delashay - you seem knowledhgeable enough to at least have a theory...and I'd suspect you'd agree that it's a bit of an eyebrow-raiser to say the least!
Interesting about Daryz...he's ran as I predicted he would but I was surprised that Minnie Hauk's found 2 lengths on him with the Arc form over a trip probably inadequate for her (so all considered, she's acquitted herself very well) and as he's more versatile trip-wise, the obvious conclusion is that Daryz was more inconvenienced than most by the ground, though I reckon the rest of the principals were too...including Almaqam. Ombudsman's fully immersed in his comfort zone on faster ground over 10f (a match even for the quality 10f stars we've seen over the decades) and he's had everything go in his favour last week, and although it was a stellar perfomance, he was entitled to do in in style so I'd be wary of him backing it up at Sandown. I'm also inclinded to forgive his Eclipse defeat last year by Delacroix as he looked to blow up in the last 75yds and Gosden did think that was due to last year's Ascot exertions - I'd be cautious if pondering him following up at Sandown - maybe he's fooling Gosden into thinking he takes his racing well, as he doesn't seem to have strung together back to back highs and could possibly need more time? I was also a bit puzzled that FHG did not even refer to the ground for Daryz as an excuse...as he thought that maybe he was feeling the effects of an arduous journey and just wasn't himself when stabled at the course the night before - for me, Daryz is yet to show he is NOT inconvenienced by faster ground which I said on here HAD to be a concern. I also said earlier in the thread beforehand, that it's a regular feature of the French horses coming to Ascot in mid-June to run 7 - 10 lbs below their marks and there's a long rap-sheet of expensive failures...who've also ran with credit to reach the frame, but just NOT a a peak. I don't doubt Ombudsman's brilliance as that's now three superb performances on which we can assess him but that beating by Calandagan last October is still nags me, even though I'm a huge fan of the French gelding. I'm not sure how bombproof last week's performance will prove to be though I strongly suspect it will be as the placed horses for me have not had their optimal conditions (whereas Ombudsman did) and the trio who followed him home WILL surely been seen to better effect in the Autumn when we get a bit of cut - in a nutsác...he's NOT 5.75 lengths better than Daryz! |
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I’m not surprised that Mini put a couple of lengths on him they’d only met the once and of the two AOB’s were far more certain to run its race of the two.
I’m not so sure the ground is always to blame for the French, it’s the timing and quality of the runners. They are always pegged as needing soft ground and it’s just not always true. Duper used to travel his horses to Dubai, Hong Kong etc and they thrived on it. Vazaibad should have won the Gold Cup on quick but for the strange decision that Soumi made to go between horses on a horse that liked to be wide when challenging. If they are classy enough they’ll translate their form. ”conclusion is that Daryz was more inconvenienced than most by the ground, though I reckon the rest of the principals were too...including Almaqam.” This here is forgetting that the one yardstick that you know well and like didn’t run her race. She was beaten 4+ L by Ombudsman twice last year, at York and Ascot. Here she was beaten 15L and shouldn’t have been inconvenienced by the going, so what really happened? Ombudsman has shown that for whatever reason he doesn’t like Sandown like he does Ascot. I don’t buy that the race comes too close, I never heard Gosden blame that fir the defeat last year and think if he doesn’t go he’s ducking an AOB 3 year old in a small field with a likely different pace set up. It wasn’t reported on the RP but Graffard did question was the ground to blame but only in part. It needs to be remembered that they work on quick ground at Chantilly if it’s what they’ll face. So they aren’t going into the unknown in a race. He was said to be watching the horses the day before coming and going. Got nervous. The travelling head lad was asked on the Opening Show by Harvey how he’d travelled, he said he travelled over better the 1st time. At first I wondered if that was a translation mistake but it seems he was being honest that not all had gone great. |
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I’d also posted something looked over and that was about how the race was run, (the thing that still nags you about his defeat by Calandagan.)
It has to be remembered that he is the quicker horse, more a 10f type that can stretch to 12f. That’s why they didn’t want soft at Epsom as it’d test his stamina to the limit. For Daryz to stand a chance he had to be held further (as Calandagan was in the champion) or even behind Ombudsman. He was too forwards to finish off his race so was out of puff, that was the initial reading by Graffard and the way that he finished echoes that. |
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Here watch back the link:
Delashay • June 17, 2026 7:38 PM BST I don’t see how the pacemakers in the POW today helped the race or pace in any way, except the winner who like last year was held up in last off of a strong gallop as he was last year. The first reaction to his win last year was that there was a pace collapse. 12f horses were treading water at the end of this compared to Rewilding who was held up and ran on strong. Buick had sitting ducks in front of him to aim at. • June 17, 2026 7:44 PM BST Watch back last years Champion, see where the 1st and 2nd sat. Calandagan and Ombudsman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptw3pqBjthw Today he ran by already beaten horses. |
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https://x.com/i/status/2069723204940132568
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Very interesting, it’s what some of us have noticed, even in this years Prix Du Jockey Club.
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4:17 loading last.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypg2_KGL0vY
I’ve written about this and there it is! Just listen  |
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Do you ever stop,Delbert?
You are an Autistic,obsessive loon |
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Gasstd in LAST of 20 odd runners!
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I’d say that the guy should stretch his examples for the case beyond races held in Ireland
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Dela - I'll respond to your posts when I'm home later but I've just read on Twaater that as isn't a great surprise to me (cos I suggested it could be a doubt) that Ombudsman will side-step The Eclipse. I've said a few times...Gosden's the flat's version of Henderson for uber-caution
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https://x.com/i/status/2069862913934786577
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