Only a week after claiming the British Champion Trainers’ title for an eighth time – to go with his 28 Irish Champion Trainers’ crowns – Aidan O’Brien added another landmark achievement to his remarkable CV. Del Mar provided the stage for the latest milestone. Under the California sun, O’Brien became the most successful trainer in Breeders’ Cup history.
Heading into the 2025 edition of the multi-million-dollar meeting, O’Brien’s tally of 20 wins placed him in a tie for the all-time lead with U.S. training legend D. Wayne Lukas. As ever, a talented Ballydoyle team made the transatlantic trip, with one of the youngest members of the squad handing O’Brien win number 21 on Friday evening. However, by the end of the two-day fixture, O’Brien had been joined atop the leaderboard once more, this time by one of D. Wayne Lukas’s long-time friends and rivals.
Precise Misses Out but Gstaad in a Different League
O’Brien’s first big chance of claiming the record arrived in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Brussels and Mission Central needed career-best efforts to prevail, but the filly True Love was the choice of the market following her win in the Cheveley Park Stakes. Once underway, True Love blew her chance at the start, and Mission Central could never get involved. Brussels finished well but couldn’t get to Cy Fair, who held on by three-quarters of a length.
O’Brien was denied a huge chance of reaching number 21 when hot favourite Precise was ruled out of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf. However, her absence couldn’t keep the prize from the clutches of the O’Brien clan. Balantina started among the outsiders but came home in front to hand Donnacha O’Brien a first Breeders’ Cup success.
With Donnacha on the board, Aidan finally achieved his record-breaking success in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Gstaad arrived on the back of three successive defeats since his win in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes. He had come agonisingly close to a first Group 1 success, finishing a narrow second in the Prix Morny, the National Stakes, and the Dewhurst Stakes.
With few elite European rivals in opposition, the son of Starspangledbanner stamped his class all over this field. Despite missing the break, Gstaad soon settled in midfield before sweeping around the outside to score by a cosy three-quarters of a length under Christophe Soumillon.
This represented a first Breeders’ Cup win for the Belgian rider since Shirocco in 2005 and an eighth top-level win for O’Brien since stepping in to deputise for the injured Ryan Moore.
A Record 25 Years in the Making
O’Brien’s journey to the top of the Breeders’ Cup mountain began with the victory of Johannesburg in the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. That win and Man Of Iron’s 2009 Marathon success are the only two of O’Brien’s victories to arrive in dirt events. Fifteen of his 21 wins have come in either the Breeders’ Cup Turf or Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf – races in which he stands as the all-time leading trainer.
| Year | Race | Horse |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf | Gstaad |
| 2024 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf | Lake Victoria |
| 2024 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf | Henri Matisse |
| 2023 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf | Unquestionable |
| 2023 | Breeders’ Cup Turf | Auguste Rodin |
| 2022 | Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf | Tuesday |
| 2022 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf | Meditate |
| 2022 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf | Victoria Road |
| 2020 | Breeders’ Cup Mile | Order of Australia |
| 2017 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf | Mendelssohn |
| 2016 | Breeders’ Cup Turf | Highland Reel |
| 2015 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf | Hit It A Bomb |
| 2015 | Breeders’ Cup Turf | Found |
| 2013 | Breeders’ Cup Turf | Magician |
| 2012 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf | George Vancouver |
| 2011 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf | Wrote |
| 2011 | Breeders’ Cup Turf | St Nicholas Abbey |
| 2009 | Breeders’ Cup Marathon | Man of Iron |
| 2003 | Breeders’ Cup Turf | High Chaparral (DH) |
| 2002 | Breeders’ Cup Turf | High Chaparral |
| 2001 | Breeders’ Cup Juvenile | Johannesburg |
Among O’Brien’s Breeders’ Cup heroes and heroines, the brilliant High Chaparral is the only runner to win more than once at this meeting. The English and Irish Derby champ won the Breeders’ Cup Turf outright in 2002 and finished in a dead heat when defending his crown in 2003.
Baffert Draws Level with Saturday Double
Having taken the lead, O’Brien had a chance to move further clear on championship Saturday, with Bedtime Story, The Lion In Winter, and particularly Minnie Hauk having solid claims. However, with all three coming up short, his outright lead lasted barely a day.
Now 72 years old, California-based trainer Bob Baffert won his first Breeders’ Cup event in 1992 – four years before Aidan O’Brien first took up residence at Ballydoyle. Heading into the 2025 meeting, Baffert’s 19 wins placed him one behind O’Brien and D. Wayne Lukas – a man Baffert labelled a “mentor and one of my best friends”.
Following two third-place finishes and a second on opening night, Baffert remained one behind Lukas but two behind O’Brien following Gstaad’s success. He equalled Lukas’s tally when Splendora routed the opposition in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
With the O’Brien runners falling short, Baffert came close to drawing level with Imagination, who finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. However, he would not be denied in the final race of the 2025 Festival. Sent off as the 7/10F, Nysos came out on top following a prolonged duel with stablemate Citizen Bull in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
An Impressive Feat for an Overseas Trainer but World Record May Have to Wait
O’Brien’s solitary Breeders’ Cup win was enough to maintain his position as the joint leading trainer in the history of the meeting. However, one is unlikely to be enough as he strives to break his world record for the number of Group/Grade 1 wins in a calendar year.
Arriving at Del Mar on 25 top-level victories for 2025, surpassing his 2017 benchmark of 28 looked a distinct possibility. However, with only one win added to his haul and few legitimate Group 1 targets remaining, O’Brien is running out of races. Looking ahead to the final months of the year, O’Brien said:
“We haven’t much left to run. Los Angeles might go to Japan, and then we’ll see what we have for Hong Kong. The Lion In Winter might go there. We’ll see how Minnie is when she gets home.”
However things end, 2025 will be remembered as yet another incredible year in O’Brien’s catalogue of excellence.