Irish trainer now on 25 Group One victories for 2026 and closing on 2017 world-record tally of 28

Aidan O’Brien emerged from the weekend in familiar territory, having uncovered two more prime classic prospects for 2027 and collected a final “classic” for 2026 with the six-year-old gelding Queenstown at Saint-Cloud on Sunday.

The Prix Royal Oak is still widely referred to as France’s version of the St Leger, although it was opened to older horses in 1979, preceding the Curragh Leger’s same move by four years.

It means that, strictly speaking, it isn’t a classic contest any more, and O’Brien had won it just once before with Yeats in 2008.

However, Queenstown, a horse whose day job often involves leading younger stable companions at Ballydoyle and was runner-up in the 2025 Royal Oak, finally stepped up to Group One glory of his own with success in the near-two-mile test.

On the back of being placed in last weekend’s Long-Distance Cup, and the Prix Du Cadran a fortnight before that, it was an admirably gritty performance by a son of the legendary sire Galileo who was having his 21^st career start.

There was no fluke about it either, as Queenstown was there to be shot at after making most of the running, and a proven Group One winner in Consent couldn’t haul him in, ultimately going down by three-parts-of-a-length.

Earlier on the card, the much younger Drumbeat graduated to Group One success too with a smooth performance when giving O’Brien a seventh success in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud.

All of it came 24 hours after Giant Sequoia was perhaps most impressive of all, notching a three-length Futurity success at Doncaster that all but assures O’Brien of a ninth British trainers’ title.

On the back of an unusually quiet period during August and some of September when the Ballydoyle team battled a viral infection, it has been a much more productive October for O’Brien that ensures he once again goes into the winter loaded with classic shots for next year.

Darkness Falls, successful in the Dewhurst, tops betting lists for the Guineas and Derby, and Giant Sequoia could have similar targets after landing Britain’s other top juvenile contest.

The apparent third string of a Ballydoyle trio, the Frankel colt was a first Group One winner for Ballydoyle for Dylan Browne McMonagle.

Ryan Moore had to settle for third on Noble Exhibit in the Futurity but was very much on the right one in Paris as Drumbeat proved much too good for his stable companion Shakespeare. Joseph O’Brien’s Jesus Green was third.

Having previously won the Zetland Stakes over a similar 10-furlong trip at Newmarket, O’Brien was keen to dismiss the idea that Drumbeat might automatically be a staying type in 2027. The colt is a 12-1 shot for the Epsom Derby.

“I think he’s come forward since Newmarket. It was a classy performance today. He came up through the middle of them, and you’d have to be happy.

“He’ll be trained for the classics. He’s not a slow horse, and I’d say he’d have no problem starting in a Guineas, whether it’s an Irish, a French, or an English. And then he’ll be very comfortable going up to a mile-and-a-quarter, and maybe even further.

“He’s by Wootton Bassett, and usually they’re pacy enough; they’re not slow. And he had to be pacy today. He’s not just a stayer; he quickened through the middle,” he said.

Earlier, the O’Brien pair, Capability Brown and Aix La Chapelle, filled the frame in the Group One Criterium International behind local winner Master Man.

The Irish man’s Group One tally for the year is now 25 – just three shy of his 2017 world record – and it delivered a confidence boost in advance of this week’s Breeders’ Cup action in Keeneland.

O’Brien holds a record 21 Breeders’ Cup victories, a feat matched only by US trainer Bob Baffert. They include eight wins in the Juvenile Turf for colts, and Great Barrier Reef is favourite to add to that when the meeting opens on Friday.

However, it is the triple-Group One winner Sun Goddess who is a general odds-on favourite to score in the Juvenile Turf Fillies on the same card.

Elsewhere, the jumps campaign continues to crank into a higher gear, and a pair of Grade One winning mares are set to return to action at Wexford on Bank Holiday Monday.

Colm Murphy’s Zanoosh, winner of the top-class novice Mares event at Fairyhouse last Easter, makes her debut over fences in a Beginners Chase where testing ground conditions will help her on a return to the minimum trip.

However, the going is just what The Big Westerner needs when she has just a third start over fences in the Listed chase. Henry de Bromhead’s runner beat Jade De Grugy in Limerick’s Grade One novice chase last Christmas and hasn’t been seen since.