Coolmore Dominated Royal Ascot and Celebrated Another Historic Week Hand in Hand with Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore

The Irish silks, the trainer, and the jockey were the winners of the prized standings within the royal meeting

BERKSHIRE, England (Special for Turf Diario).– If Royal Ascot 2026 had an undisputed owner, that was Coolmore. The Irish giant once again set the standard at the great British event and claimed the leading owner award of the meeting for the seventh time, while Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore confirmed their supremacy by securing the leading trainer and jockey titles, respectively.

The partnership headed by Sue Magnier, Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor, Westerberg, Peter Brant, and Cayton Park Stud reached a total of 8 victories during the week, the highest figure since the leading owner recognition began to be awarded in 2017.

Seven of those successes came hand in hand with O’Brien, who equaled his personal record set in 2016 and captured his fourteenth title as leading trainer at Royal Ascot. Furthermore, he finished the meeting with two more victories than his son Joseph, who also starred in an outstanding performance.

The week held a special meaning for the Ballydoyle conditioner. On Thursday, he achieved no less than his 100th victory at Royal Ascot thanks to Scandinavia (Justify), who defeated the defending champion Trawlerman (Golden Horn) in a memorable finish in the Gold Cup (G1), one of the most emblematic races on the European calendar.

As if that were not enough, the success of Mission Central (No Nay Never) in the King Charles III Stakes (G1) completed an extraordinary statistic: O’Brien has now won every single G1 event currently held at Royal Ascot. The only group race still missing from his collection is the Duke of Cambridge Stakes (G2).

The remaining winners of the week for the O’Brien-Coolmore tandem were Great Barrier Reef (No Nay Never) (Coventry Stakes-G2), Victorious (Wootton Bassett) (Queen Mary Stakes-G2), Precise (Starspangledbanner) (Coronation Stakes-G1), Causeway (Wootton Bassett) (King Edward VII Stakes-G2), and Illinois (Galileo) (Queen Alexandra Stakes-L). In addition, Coolmore also celebrated as co-owner and breeder of Thesecretadversary(St Mark's Basilica), winner of the Jersey Stakes (G3) for Fozzy Stack.

"It was a brilliant week. A lot of people work very hard to make this happen. I always try to name everyone, although I know I sometimes forget someone, but I am deeply grateful to every single member of the team," O’Brien expressed.

The trainer especially highlighted the support of the owners and the entire international structure of Coolmore: "Without John and Sue Magnier, Michael and Doreen Tabor, Derrick and Gay Smith, Georg and Emily von Opel, Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour, none of this would be possible. There is a huge team behind us, at Ballydoyle, Coolmore, the United States, and Australia. Everyone is pushing in the same direction."

When asked about the most special moment of the week, O’Brien did not hesitate: "It's hard not to choose Scandinavia. The Gold Cup is the race everyone wants to see, the one that captures people's imagination. When he and Trawlerman met in the stretch, it was something incredible. Trawlerman was the champion and twice his age; ours is just a young stayer. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed that spectacle."

For his part, Ryan Moore added his thirteenth title as leading jockey of the meeting. He won with all of O’Brien's victors, except for Great Barrier Reef, who was ridden by Wayne Lordan, and also added the King George V Stakeswith Enceladus (Sea the Stars), trained by Joseph O’Brien.

Thanks to the triumph of Illinois in the Queen Alexandra Stakes, the final race of the festival, Moore closed the week with 99 lifetime victories at Royal Ascot, leaving him just one shy of the century mark.

"It means a lot. When you win it's fantastic, and when you lose it hurts. Today I happened to lose a few photos, but that's racing. All I do is keep moving forward, race by race and day by day," the rider commented.

And when asked if the Gold Cup had been his favorite victory of the week, he replied with a smile: "Yes... although I would have also liked to win the St James's Palace Stakes."