Aidan O'Brien broke the 14-year-old world record for Group One wins in a season at St Cloud today when Ballingarry won the Criterium de Saint Cloud.
The 32-year-old, who trained the first three home, recorded his 23rd win to break American D. Wayne Lukas's mark of 22.
O'Brien, who this season became the first Irish trainer since Vincent O'Brien in 1977 to be crowned Irish and British champion trainer, greeted the new record with the same unassuming personality he has shown all year.
"It's great to do it and in such style but it really is a team effort and we have been fortunate to have such a great bunch of horses," the trainer said.
"If there is one highlight it is probably Galileo winning the English Derby but they have virtually down to a horse been all superstars," he added.
Others around O'Brien declared him to be a phenomenon but said comparisons with Vincent O'Brien, who trained Grand National and Cheltenham Gold Cup winners in the 1950s before dominating European flat racing from the 1960s to the early 1990s, were unfair.
"Vincent is rightly a legend but this fellow is a genius in his own right," one of his camp said. "He is so calm, nothing ever flusters him and while he obviously has all the support he needs he still has to go out and do the job and the results speak for themselves.
"He is a great fellow and his relationship with his horses is extraordinary," he said.
AFP