Aidan O’Brien has been a beacon of sustained excellence on the international stage over the past three decades and, as 2025 draws to a close, we are again reminded of the Irishman’s extraordinary equine genius.
With GSTAAD’s victory under Christophe Soumillon in the G1 Juvenile Turf (1600m) at Del Mar, AIDAN has 26 Group 1 wins this season as he continues a relentless pursuit of his own world record of 28 for the most Group 1s wins in a year.
Having saddled an astonishing 425 Group 1 wins around the world, Aidan is also now the most successful trainer in Breeders Cup history with 21 victories after previously sharing the record with the late D. Wayne Lukas.
Apart from being a truly remarkable horseman, Aidan has also played an integral role in the development of an incredible dynasty with the feats of Group 1-winning sons, Joseph and Donnacha, and Aidan’s elation was clear as he watched Donnacha combine with Oisin Murphy to win the G1 Juvenile Fillies Turf (1600m) with BALANTINA at Del Mar.
Flemington also hosted a fabulous Victoria Derby Day meeting on Saturday with Mark Zahra dominating with four victories, including the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) on TENTYRIS and OBSERVER in the G1 Victoria Derby (2500m) – both of whom are owned by Godolphin – while PRIDE OF JENNI posted another spectacular all-the-way win under Declan Bates in the G1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) to claim a fourth Group 1.
Aidan has five entries for LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (LONGINES HKIR) at Sha Tin in December and three of them – MINNIE HAUK, THE LION IN WINTER and BEDTIME STORY – are in action at Del Mar early on Sunday morning (2/11/2025).
Including Aidan’s trio, there are 30 horses competing in California who hold entries for Sha Tin on 14 December, including REBEL’S ROMANCE, GOLIATH and NOTABLE SPEECH, so it will be fascinating to monitor their form.
The G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf (2400m) is carded as S2-1 and will be run at 5.41am. MINNIE HAUK (Christophe Soumillon) was only narrowly beaten in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2400m) in very soft conditions and will relish the firm ground as a win and place chance.
REBEL’S ROMANCE (William Buick) continues to race in outstanding form with Group 1 wins over 2400m at his last two starts and is the hardest to beat as a place chance.
GOLIATH (Mickael Barzalona), ETHICAL DIAMOND (Dylan Browne McMonagle) and WIMBLEDON HAWKEYE (Frankie Dettori) all have place chances.
The G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic (2000m, dirt) is carded as S2-2 at 6.25am and, even with the absence of SOVEREIGNTY, features three of the best dirt horses in the world – FIERCENESS (John Velazquez), SIERRA LEONE (Flavien Prat) and FOREVER YOUNG (Ryusei Sakai).
FOREVER YOUNG narrowly defeated ROMANTIC WARRIOR in the G1 Saudi Cup (1800m, dirt) and has pleased his trainer Yoshito Yahagi in his preparation for this race and is a win and place chance.
FIERCENESS ran second in this race last year to SIERRA LEONE and easily won the G1 Pacific Classic Stakes over this course and distance last start. He is also a win and place chance.
SIERRA LEONE is the hardest for FOREVER YOUNG and FIERCENESS to beat, while JOURNALISM (Jose Ortiz), MINDFRAME (Irad Ortiz) and BAEZA (Hector Berrios) all have place claims.
Our simulcast action continues on Sunday afternoon (2/11/2025) with the running of the G1 Tenno Sho Autumn over 2000m at Tokyo Racecourse.
Carded as S3-1 at 2.40pm, the Tenno Sho Autum features nine LONGINES HKIR nominees – COSMO KURANDA, URBAN CHIC, SOL ORIENS, TASTIERA, BREDE WEG, MASQUERADE BALL, HO O BISCUITS, MUSEUM MILE and QUEEN’S WALK.
MASQUERADE BALL (Christophe Lemaire) finished second in the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, 2400m) to Croix Du Nord and, despite taking on seasoned older rivals, is a win and place chance with Christophe seeking his sixth win in eight years in this race.
MEISHO TABARU (Yutaka Take) led throughout to win the G1 Takarazuka Kinen (2200m) and will be hard to beat for Yutaka, who holds the record for the most wins by a jockey in this race with seven.
TASTIERA (Damian Lane) ran second in this race last year and is always a threat and is a place chance along with QUEEN’S WALK (Yuga Kawada), MUSEUM MILE (Cristian Demuro) and HO O BISCUITS (Yasunari Iwati).
Happy Valley hosts its only day meeting of the season on Sunday with the launch of our Japanese Festival with J-style, music, culture, food and delicacies, including sake, in the Beer Garden.
The first race is at 12.45pm and the sporting highlight is Class 2 Guangzhou Handicap, which is carded as Race 9 and run over 1200m at 5.15pm.
This race sees the return to Hong Kong racing of G3 Korea Sprint (1200m, dirt) winner SELF IMPROVEMENT, who will be ridden by his successful rider Jerry Chau but he has to carry the top weight of 135lb after his handicap rating has been increased by 14 pounds for his win.
This should make it difficult for him, especially being a dirt specialist and never having performed to such a high rating on turf.
The race has an abundance of speed and should be run at a good to fast pace with YOUTHFUL SPIRITS (Luke Ferraris) leading, being a 1000m specialist. STELLAR EXPRESS (Keith Yeung) from gate 11 and RED ELEGANCE (Hugh Bowman) from gate eight are at risk to be kept wide.
A fast pace would help STORM RIDER from the in-form stable of David Hayes and ridden by Karis Teetan and, from his good draw of gate one, he should be well positioned just behind midfield. I rate him at least as a place chance on his most recent form when beaten only a head over this course and distance with a weight of 135lb in Class 3, while he has now to carry only 118lb in Class 2.
My first choice is MASTEROFTHEUNIVERSE, who is trained by John Size whose stable, as a pattern, starts to perform well from November. He is ridden by champion Zac Purton and will come from the back. He needed the first start of the season when beaten just two lengths by the in-form TOMODACHI KOKOROE. His fitness level has improved and he has been twice placed over this course and distance.
COLOURFUL KING, ridden by Andrea Atzeni and from the David Eustace stable, is another interesting contender who is working very well and will come from last with the expected fast speed likely to help compensate for being drawn in gate 12. David has a similar pattern of training his horses like John Size by taking it slow in the first weeks of the season and waits until the temperature drops.
This is a very open and competitive race. AURORA LADY, trained by Pierre Ng and ridden by Alexis Badel, is a four-time course and distance winner and is working very well. He should not be underestimated and is a place chance.
YOUTHFUL SPIRITS is trained by the current leading trainer this season in Mark Newnham, who will try stretch his horse to 1200m after his win in his last start over of 1000m. The Newnham stable is on fire and, while YOUTHFUL SPIRITS got an eight-pound penalty, he is a place chance.
We want to make racing even more interesting and accessible for our potential younger racing fans and beside our new AI supported Racing Simulator which we plan to launch next year after we have already successfully tried it out and implemented in some venues like The Beat and Vantage in Happy Valley, we want to dial up our entertainment offering via our partnership with the global Entertainment Group XIX and the group Now United.
Their new song Giddy Up uses Happy Valley as its stage. Please listen to it and you may choose to join the Dance Challenge, so please Giddy Up!!!!
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