Coolmore received the leading owner award at Royal Ascot for a seventh time, with Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore taking the leading trainer and leading jockey awards following a banner week for connections.
Horses representing Coolmore partnerships that included Sue Magnier, Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor, Westerberg, Peter Brant and Cayton Park Stud won eight times at the meeting, a record total since the leading owner award was introduced in 2017.
Aidan O’Brien was responsible for seven of those winners as he matched his previous best Royal Ascot tally set in 2016 to gain a 14th leading trainer title at the meeting, finishing the week two ahead of his son Joseph.
A landmark week for O’Brien snr saw him record a 100th Royal Ascot success in Thursday’s Gold Cup as Scandinavia denied Trawlerman in an epic renewal of the staying showpiece.
Mission Central’s victory in Tuesday’s King Charles III Stakes means O’Brien has now won all of the G1 races run at Royal Ascot. The Duke Of Cambridge Stakes is the only Group race currently run at the meeting to elude the trainer.
Other winners throughout the week for O’Brien and Coolmore included Great Barrier Reef (Coventry Stakes), Victorious (Queen Mary Stakes), Precise (Coronation Stakes), Causeway (King Edward VII Stakes) and Illinois (Queen Alexandra Stakes). Coolmore was also in the winner’s enclosure as the part-owner/part-breeder of Thesecretadversary, who won the Jersey Stakes for Fozzy Stack.
Aidan O’Brien said: “It has been a brilliant week. A lot of people have put in a lot of hard work. I’m always mentioning everybody but some people I don’t mention, I’m sorry to them, but I’m so grateful to the whole team for a lot of hard work. Without John and Sue [Magnier], Michael and Doreen [Tabor], Gay and Derrick [Smith], Georg and Emily [von Opel], and Peter [Brant] and Stephanie [Seymour], this wouldn’t be happening.
“A big team at Ballydoyle, Coolmore, America, Australia – everyone gets their shoulder behind the wheel. Obviously, Ryan [Moore] does an incredible job riding them, and Wayne [Lordan] and everybody else that rides for us, on the racecourse and at home, exercise riders, work riders – it’s a massive team, plus all the people on the farms and offices, vets and farriers. That’s what makes it happen and we’re so grateful to all of them.
“I suppose it’s hard to get away from Scandinavia. He was incredible. Everyone knows the Gold Cup is the longest race, it’s the race everyone wants to see and captures everyone’s imagination, and when the two horses lined up in the straight, it was incredible. We were hoping Scandinavia would step up to the plate. He was taking on the champion, who is double his age, and he’s only a baby stayer, so I think everyone got a great thrill out of that.”
Ryan Moore claimed his 13th leading jockey title at the meeting, having partnered all of O’Brien’s winners except Great Barrier Reef, who was ridden by Wayne Lordan, in addition to scoring on the Joseph O’Brien-trained Enceladus in the King George V Stakes.
Victory in Saturday’s final race of the meeting – the Queen Alexandra Stakes on Illinois – ensures Moore heads into next year’s meeting with 99 Royal Ascot wins to his name.
Moore said: “It does mean plenty, when you win it’s great and when you lose it hurts. I have been on the wrong end of a few photos today but that’s how it goes. I just keep coming back and take it race by race and day by day.”
Asked if he loved winning the Gold Cup, he replied: “Yeah, I’d have liked to have won the St James’s Palace as well!”