Aidan O'Brien sets Breeders' Cup record while Donnacha gets off the mark
Joy for father and son in Del Mar as Gstaad and Balantina claim victories
Gstaad's victory was Aidan O'Brien's record 21st at the Breeders' Cup
Aidan O’Brien became the most successful trainer in Breeders’ Cup history while his son Donnacha got on the board for the first time on the opening night in Del Mar.
O’Brien Snr arrived at the meeting tied at the top of the all-time leaderboard on 20 victories, alongside the late D. Wayne Lukas, but Gstaad’s powerful performance in the Group 1 Juvenile Turf took the Ballydoyle handler out on his own.
The victory, with Christophe Soumillon on board, was also the trainer’s 26th top level win of 2025 as he closes in on his own calendar year record of 28.
“It's special," said O'Brien. "Wayne was such a special man and I can't tell you how helpful he was to us throughout my whole career. He used to ring all the time and he was an unbelievably special man.
“ I'm just so delighted. Obviously everyone knows that we're in just this unbelievably privileged position.
“To be working for the lads that put so much in since we have come to Ballydoyle, all the way, breeding, buying, employing everybody, putting the pedigrees together and letting the horses and asking them and wanting them to come here for everyone to see them race.
“We feel so privileged. Incredible. Christophe gave him a beautiful ride.”
The success was Gstaad’s first since the Coventry Stakes at Ascot, breaking a run of three consecutive runners-up finishes, and O’Brien saw it as a victory for persistence.
“He's a very special horse,” he said. “He's big and powerful. We felt, obviously we thought he would have won a couple of Group 1s at this stage. But things just didn't work for him. Little things went against him.
“Testimony to him that he kept himself well and thriving. Christophe said he was very together today. He's obviously a very good horse. He's a horse to look forward to for next year.”
O’Brien had come close to breaking the record earlier in the evening, Brussels finishing second in a Juvenile Turf Sprint which saw True Love, who went off as favourite, come home ninth.
He withdrew the highly-fancied Precise from the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf due to an infection but there was still an O’Brien in the winners’ enclosure after the race as Balantina came home in front under Oisin Murphy for Donnacha O’Brien.
The 20/1 shot stormed up the rail in the closing stages to take the honours from the Andrew Balding-trained Pacific Mission.
“It feels incredible - we have been coming here a long time, since we were babies really,” the winning trainer said.
“To watch dad do it year in, year out, to see Joseph get winners, it’s nice to be on the board.
“Oisin was majestic on her. She was slow away but when he got her on the rail he had the luck and had enough filly beneath to go and win the race so it’s brilliant.”
Murphy added: "I'm so happy. The O'Brien family gave me a job when I was 14 years old, and along with Donnacha, Joseph, and their two sisters, Ana and Sarah, we were all riding out together.
"Aidan let us ride good horses, even if we weren't able to because we were quite young, but it's great to win on this filly. She had a wide draw, but she was beautifully prepared."