O'BRIEN AND WALLER IN AN ARM WRESTLE FOR A SPECIAL HONOUR. THERE IS A BIG FINISH COMING UP

By Graham Potter | Sunday, November 8, 2026

On the Saturday of this year’s Breeders Cup meeting (October 31), trainer Aidan O’Brien equalled his world record number of Group 1 winners achieved in a calendar year when Benvenuto Cellini put win number twenty-eight on O’Brien’s 2026 Group 1 winning honour roll when taking out the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

A week later, on the last day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival (November 7), trainer Chris Waller took his number of Group 1 winners this calendar year to twenty-seven when the stable star Autumn Glow and Birdman saluted in the Champions Mile and the Champions Stakes respectively.

Both are already monumental achievements by these two trainers … but the race is not over yet.

O’Brien holds Group 1 entries for Japan and Hong Kong in the coming weeks. Those nominations include, amongst others, the Breeders’ Cup Turf and Irish Derby winner Benvenuto Cellini as well as the Epsom Oaks winner Minnie Hauk, and the1000 Guineas winner True Love.

O’Brien is in the envious position of having several races to choose from for his formidable strike-force in terms of placing his individual runners to their best advantage, but, weighed against that is the fact that, wherever he elects to go, his horses are certain to face strong international opposition.

Waller, on the other hand, has indicated his on-going quest for the next Group 1 win will stay firmly focussed at home in Australia, where his stable is obviously a dominant Group 1 force … firstly targeting the Group 1 CF Orr Stakes at Sandown on November 14 where he could have multiple runners.

Perth could beckon Waller after that where he has a host of runners, led by the 2025 Cox Plate runner-up Buckaroo, nominated for a trio of Group 1’s … the Railway, the Winterbottom and the Northerly … which will compete the Group 1 calendar year.

If Waller wins the Cf Orr Stakes this Saturday, he and O’Brien will be locked together on twenty-eight Group 1 winners for the year.

Either way, there is a big finish coming up.
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Aidan O’Briens 28 Group 1 wins in 2026 to date have been achieved by sixteen individual runners, eight of whom are multiple winners. He has had winners in England, Ireland, France and the United States.

O’Brien’s individual Group 1 winners are:

Sun Goddess (4), Diamond Necklace (3), Scandinavia (3), Benvenuto Cellini (2), Constitutional River (2), Darkness Falls (2), Precise (2), True Love (2) … and Christmas Day, Drumbeat, Giant Sequoia, Gstand, Haffner, Minnie Hauk, Mission Control and Queenstown (1 each).

Chris Waller’s 27 Group 1 wins in 2026 to date have been achieved by seventeen different horses, six of whom are multiple winners. All of Waller’s winners saluted in Australia.

Waller’s individual Group 1 winners are:

Autumn Glow (5), Birdman (3), Aeliena (2), Beiwacht (2), Joliestar (2), Lady Shenandoah (2) … and Angel Capital, Autumn Boy, Campione D’Italia, God’s Window, Lazzura, Ohope Wins, Fireball, Panova, Providence, Tron Bolt, Stormy Marco (1 each).

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