- Aidan O’Brien lifts the lid on his 2026 Royal Ascot plans
- Key info around Ryan Moore’s Coventry Stakes ride
- Plus Aidan names the handicapper he believes is running from a favourable mark
Having saddled a record 96 Royal Ascot winners over the years, it’s no surprise that Aidan O’Brien’s runners are always of interest.
And with the 2026 five-day Royal Ascot meeting looming, the Ballydoyle maestro once again heads to Berkshire with a formidable team and several leading contenders across the week’s biggest races.
Among them are Scandinavia in the Ascot Gold Cup and Confucius in the Coventry Stakes — a race O’Brien has won a record 11 times.
Plus one of the Royal Ascot bankers in 2026, Precise, who lines up in Friday’s Coronation Stakes.
For anyone looking to get ahead of the game, don’t miss our Aidan O’Brien Royal Ascot Runners Guide and stable tour interview with Emmet Kennedy on The Final Furlong Podcast, packed with insight, updates and plenty of valuable nuggets to take into the meeting.
Aidan O’Brien Royal Ascot Runners: Here’s What You Can Find Out
🏆 The most successful trainer in Royal Ascot history joins us for an exclusive preview
🎩 Ryan Moore’s likely Coventry Stakes ride
📝 Running plans for exciting juveniles Confucius, Great Barrier Reef, Carry The Flag, Sergei Diaghilev, Aix La Chapelle, Sun Goddess and Victorious
🥇 Scandinavia’s Gold Cup challenge
⚡ Why Albert Einstein can bounce back
🌟 The latest on True Love, Precise, Gstaad and Minnie Hauk
🎯 Plus, Aidan names the handicapper he believes is running from a favourable mark
🎧 LISTEN NOW on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all major podcast platforms
You can also tune in to The Final Furlong Podcast throughout Royal Ascot week, as Emmet Kennedy and the team.
Including Andy Newton, Peter Michael, George Gorman, Jaime Wrenn and Adam Mills — preview each day’s action with race guides, best bets and NAPs.
Aidan O’Brien – 96 Royal Ascot Winners (and counting)
Few trainers have left a mark on Royal Ascot quite like Aidan O’Brien.
The Ballydoyle supremo is the most successful trainer in the history of the meeting, with 96 winners to his name and a record that continues to grow season after season.
Ever since Harbour Master provided him with his first Royal Ascot winner in 1997, O’Brien has become a familiar sight in the winner’s enclosure, collecting multiple leading trainer titles and rewriting the meeting’s record books along the way.
Many of the finest horses to emerge from Ballydoyle have enjoyed memorable victories at Royal Ascot.
O’Brien Has Saddled Some Big-Name Royal Ascot Winners
Legends such as Giant’s Causeway, Rock Of Gibraltar, Yeats, So You Think, Minding, Highland Reel, Love and Auguste Rodin all struck at the royal meeting, while more recent stars including Paddington and Kyprios have further enhanced O’Brien’s reputation on racing’s grandest stage.
Paddington’s emphatic victory in the 2023 St James’s Palace Stakes proved particularly significant, as it brought up O’Brien’s record-breaking 83rd Royal Ascot winner and moved him clear as the meeting’s most successful trainer.
O’Brien’s success has come across every division of the sport, from precocious two-year-olds in races like the Coventry Stakes to elite middle-distance performers and staying stars in the Gold Cup.
His remarkable record includes multiple victories in some of Royal Ascot’s most prestigious races, including the St James’s Palace Stakes, Gold Cup and Prince of Wales’s Stakes.
With Ballydoyle continuing to produce a conveyor belt of top-class talent, O’Brien arrives at Royal Ascot each year with a team capable of adding yet more chapters to one of the greatest training records the sport has ever seen.
