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Aidan O'Brien chases his own Group One record this weekend
O'Brien has twenty-two Group One wins this season and is aiming for a thirteenth Futurity at Doncaster; the record he is chasing is his own.
Watch it as it aired: Kenji Moonfield on this story, from BBN After Hours at 2:18 AM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are The Irish Times's, the jokes are ours.
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At a glance
- First reported by The Irish Times: “Bumper Group One weekend for Aidan O’Brien could rejuvenate world record hopes”, with reporting from Racing Post.
- Covered on BBN on Saturday, October 24, 2026, at 2:18 AM ET on BBN After Hours, by Kenji Moonfield.
The real story
The reporting behind this segment. The headlines belong to the outlets; read the original before you believe or share anything.
What BBN said about it

Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentAidan O'Brien has twenty-two Group One wins this season and the world record for a year is twenty-eight. He set it in twenty seventeen.

Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo he's chasing himself. With me is Barnaby Tolliver Oduya, racing historian and author of Nobody Beats Themselves. You called this?
Barnaby Tolliver OduyaYes, and also the opposite. As I wrote in chapter four, he breaks it. As I wrote in chapter nine, he doesn't. Buy both chapters.

Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentBoth predictions are in the same book?
Barnaby Tolliver OduyaThey're in the same book, yes. Whichever happens, I'm on the record. This stopwatch is from twenty seventeen, by the way.

Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentThis weekend he's in four top-level races, and Saturday he goes for a thirteenth William Hill Futurity at Doncaster. Does that get him close?
Barnaby Tolliver OduyaClose, no. As I wrote in chapter two, wins are not the same as records. Chapter eleven says they are.
Barnaby Tolliver OduyaI can't recall which I believe.

Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentRacing Post asked if the wheels had come off after a blank at York and defeats at Deauville.
Barnaby Tolliver OduyaAhead of schedule, yes. Behind his own schedule, in chapter six. He was twenty-five by the end of last October. I have the stopwatch.

Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentLast year he hit twenty-five after a weekend hat-trick, so he's about three short in a year that isn't done. The guy to beat is the guy from twenty seventeen.
Barnaby Tolliver OduyaExactly, and he's winning. As I wrote in chapter fourteen, the best trainer alive is also his own toughest critic.

Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentBarnaby, one rating. Your book gets two stars out of five, one for each prediction.
Barnaby Tolliver OduyaFair. I'd say three, but that's chapter twenty.

Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo the only man who can stop O'Brien is O'Brien, and he's on your stopwatch.
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