Lambourn ready for Bahrain Group 1 as O'Brien seeks record
Dual Derby winner Lambourn pleased connections in his final Bahrain work before Friday's upgraded Group 1, where Aidan O'Brien seeks a record 29th top-level win of 2026.
Lambourn has pleased Aidan O'Brien's travelling team in his final preparations for Friday's Bahrain International Trophy, a race which offers the Ballydoyle trainer an opportunity to establish a new record for Group 1 victories in a calendar year.
The dual Derby winner exercised on the grass in Bahrain on Wednesday, watched by Christy Grassick and Mick Flanagan. His work came in wet conditions, but the report from connections was encouraging ahead of the $1.5 million contest, which has been promoted to Group 1 status for the first time.
O'Brien has recorded 28 Group or Grade 1 victories in 2026, equalling the mark he established in 2017. Victory with Lambourn would take him to 29, although the race itself presents a substantial test for a colt seeking to return to his best form.
Lambourn won both the Derby at Epsom and the Irish Derby in 2025. This season he opened with victory in the Huxley Stakes at Chester, but his subsequent performances have been less decisive. He was fourth in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot and finished last of eight in September's Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, where he performed a supporting role for a stablemate.
Flanagan said the horse had benefited from a refreshing break since Leopardstown and that his work in Bahrain had left the team satisfied. Ryan Moore is booked to ride him in Friday's ten-furlong race, which has attracted 13 declared runners.
The opposition includes Royal Champion, who returns to defend the title he won when the race was a Group 2, and Wimbledon Hawkeye, runner-up in the Irish Champion Stakes. The British challenge also features Military Order, Glacius, Seagulls Eleven and Sallaal, while Joseph O'Brien sends Galen. France is represented by Phineas, Baroud and Zaydann among others.
The international field reflects the race's elevation and its growing importance as a late-season target for European-trained horses. It also means that the pursuit of a record cannot obscure the quality of the opposition.
For Lambourn, the immediate objective is to demonstrate that the form which made him a dual Classic winner remains intact. His Derby achievements are secure, but a return to Group 1 success at a mile and a quarter would add a significant final chapter to a season in which he has not consistently reproduced his three-year-old form.
By TP Editorial
Follow Thoroughbred People
Comments
Have your say. Please keep it civil and on the subject.
Loading comments…