How many times has Aidan O’Brien won the Futurity Trophy Stakes?

Run over a mile at Doncaster in late October and open to two-year-old colts and fillies, but not geldings, the Futurity Trophy Stakes has the distinction of being the final Group 1 race of the British Flat season. The race was inaugurated, as the Timeform Gold Cup, in 1961, and has been run, under various titles, including the Observer Gold Cup, the William Hill Futurity Stakes and the Racing Post Trophy, ever since. The Observer Gold Cup, as it was at the time, was granted Group 1 status following the birth of the European Pattern in 1971 and, sponsored once again by William Hill from 2024 onwards, remains a bona fide Classic trial.

Indeed, six winners of what his now the highlight of Futurity Trophy Weekend have go on to win the Derby at Epsom the following season. They were, in chronological order, Reference Point (1986), High Chaparral (2001), Motivator (2004), Authorized (2006), Camelot (2011) and Auguste Rodin (2022).

Two of that sextet, High Chaparral and Auguste Rodin were trained by Aidan O’Brien at Ballydoyle, near Cashel, Co. Tipperary, but the perennial Irish Champion Flat Trainer has another nine winners to his name, for a record 11 in all. Again, in chronological, they are Saratoga Springs (1997), Aristotle (1999), Brian Boru (2002), St Nicholas Abbey (2009), Camelot (2011), Kingsbarns (2012), Saxon Warrior (2017), Magna Grecia (2018) and Luxembourg (2021). Indeed, at the time of wrting, another Ballydoyle inmate, The Lion In Winter, is currently top-priced 7/2 favourite for the Futurity Trophy Stakes, so a record-extending twelfth winner is a distinct possibility.