Category: Trainers and Owners

For readers unfamiliar with the name, Sheikh Adbdullah Almalek Alsabah is a former champion owner in his native Kuwait, where he is a member of the ruling family, and has invested increasingly heavily in British bloodstock over the last decade or so. He has, or has had, horses in training with numerous trainers throughout the country, including David O’Meara, Richard Fahey, Kevin Philippart De Foy, Richard Hannon and, until recently, George Boughey. Boughey, on the other hand, is a Classic winning trainer based at Saffron House Stables in Newmarket. He set up on his own, at the age of 27, in 2019, having spent six years as assistant trainer to Hugo Palmer at nearby Kremlin Cottage Stables and, with already over 300 winners to his name, is considered one of the rising stars of the sport.

On June 28, 2023, four days after Royal Ascot, it was reported that Sheikh Adbdullah had removed all his horses from Saffron House Stables, citing a breakdown in communication between himself and Boughey before, and during, the Royal meeting. He told the ‘Racing Post’, ‘I spend millions of pounds on horses every year and if I lose, I’m not angry or upset, but it’s very important there is openness between the owner and trainer.’

His principle cause for complaint was the participation of his promising two-year-old Asadna, who was sent off 7/2 favourite for the Group 2 Coventry Stakes, but could finish only ninth, beaten six lengths by the winner, River Tiber. Asadna suffered a cut to his shoulder on the previous Friday morning but, according to Boughey, ‘…did not miss a day of work and was at no point lame.’ Sheikh Abdullah, though, was insistent that he ‘told him [Boughey] not to run [Asadna].’ His frustration was compounded when his intended runners in the Palace of Holyrood Stakes and the Commonwealth Cup, Dark Alert and Al Dasim, were withdrawn, late in the day, on veterinary advice.

Aidan O’Brien has long been a dominant force at Royal Ascot, winning the top trainer title 13 times during his glittering career—including each of the last three years—and the 2025 renewal looks set to be no different.

While much of the attention from punters and pundits alike will naturally fall on his talented crop of two-and three-year-olds, the Ballydoyle maestro will also have a strong team of older horses playing leading roles in the summer.

In this article, we highlight four of O’Brien’s established stars who will be well-supported in the Royal Ascot tips and could be primed to make headlines in some of the biggest races at the prestigious meeting in mid-June.

Kyprios

Where better to start than with Kyprios? The seven-year-old is the oldest horse still in training at Ballyboyle, but age appears to be just a number for the son of Galileo.

Overcoming a career-threatening injury in 2023, Kyprios went on a sensational run of seven races unbeaten last year.

Among his septuple was a second Ascot Gold Cup victory, when he held off Trawlerman by a length to regain his crown in Berkshire.

O’Brien has indicated a similar prep for Kyprios this season, with a run or two at home in Ireland before heading back to Ascot to try to complete the hat-trick.

Jan Brueghel

Jan Brueghel is a lightly-raced four-year-old heading into this campaign on the back of just four runs, but he has already proven his ability at the top level.

He went from zero to 100 in the space of months, making a belated debut when winning at the Curragh in May before landing the St Leger—the final Classic of the season֫—at Doncaster in September.

The four-year-old still looked somewhat green in some of his four wins, but notably did enough to win major races while learning on the job.

The Gold Cup is an option for Jan Brueghel, but team Ballydoyle has already said there’s no point in sending him there since it’s Kyprios’ main target, making the shorter Hardwicke Stakes an option.

Diego Velazquez

Once highly rated at Ballydoyle, Diego Velazquez’s career has not entirely lived up to expectations thus far as he heads into his four-year-old campaign.

However, he appeared to rediscover some form in the latter half of last season with Group wins at Leopardstown, and it will be interesting to see if he carries that momentum into this year.

The Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes is going to Diego Velazquez’s main target for the campaign, with a prep run or two beforehand.

Storm Boy

Joining Aidan O’Brien from Australian handlers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bolt, Storm Boy arrives at Ballydoyle with a record of five wins in 10 starts under rules.

Several of those victories were at elite levels, with two Group 3 wins, a Listed success and a Group 2 triumph in the Skyline Stakes at Randwick.

One of the sprints at Royal Ascot will be the aim for the four-year-old, who has also placed in multiple Group 1s, with potential outings in Ireland beforehand.

Established on Cantley Common, Doncaster in 1776, at the suggestion of Lieutenant Colonel Anthony St. Leger, whose name it bears, the St. Leger Stakes is the oldest of the five British Classics. Of course, it is worth remembering that until 1966 the Jockey Club refused to issue training licences to women but, even so, in over half a century since womankind was officially recognised by the governing body, just one member of the ‘fair sex’ has saddled the winner of the St. Leger.

The groundbreaking trained was, in fact, Laura Mongan, who is based at Condover Stables in Epsom, Surrey, where she is assisted by her husband, former jockey Ian Mongan. On September 10, 2016, she sent out Harbour Law, ridden by George Baker, to win the Doncaster Classic in highly dramatic circumstances. The son of Prix du Jockey Club winner Lawman had not been beaten far in either the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot or the Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket – both recognised trials for the St. Leger – but, in the face of strong opposition, including three runners trained by Aidan O’Brien, was sent off eighth choice of the nine runners at Doncaster, at 22/1.

However, the complexion of race changed completely when one of the O’Brien-trained runners, the odds-on favourite, Idaho, took a false step, stumbled and unseated his rider, just after the four-furlong marker. Thereafter, Ventura Storm, trained by Richard Hannon, and Housesofparliament, a stable companion of Idaho, duelled for the lead for much of the last quarter of a mile, but Harbour Law bore down on the leading pair close home and stayed on well to win by three-quarters of length and short head in a driving finish. Reflecting on her success, with her first runner in a Group 1 race, of any description, Mongan said, ‘To go down in history as the first woman to win it is amazing, at least I’ve done something right.’

To readers of a certain age, the late Vincent O’Brien requires little or no introduction. He was, quite simply, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, racehorse trainers of all time. Like his namesake, and successor at the now famous Ballydoyle Stables in Co. Tipperary, Aidan O’Brien, Vincent O’Brien began his training career in the sphere of National Hunt racing.

However, after winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup four times, the Champion Hurdle three times and the Grand National three times in the Forties and Fifties, O’Brien turned his hand to Flat racing. He would become Irish Champion Flat Trainer for the first time in 1959, by which time he had already saddled Ballymoss to win the St. Leger in 1957 and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1958. He would win the Irish trainers’ title 13 times in all and the British trainers’ title twice, in 1966 and 1977.

Alongside his son-in-law, John Magnier, and the late Robert Sangster, O’Brien was instrumental in establishing Coolmore, now a global breeding and racing powerhouse, in the Seventies. As far as English Classics are concerned, O’Brien won the Derby six times, including with Nijinsky – the last horse to win the English Triple Crown – in 1970, the 2,000 Guineas four times, the St. Leger three times, the Oaks twice and the 1,000 Guineas once.