ASCOT, June 18 (Reuters) - Aidan O'Brien has now trained 100 Royal Ascot winners after Scandinavia took victory in the Gold Cup, cementing his role as the meeting's most successful trainer.
A tour de force in British and Irish horse racing, O'Brien has broken almost every record in the sport. He has trained more Epsom Derby winners than anyone else and had over 400 Group 1 winners.
Royal Ascot, the world's most prestigious flat racing festival, takes place over five days in June with horses this year battling it out for a share of the record £10.65 million prize money.
O'Brien sent out his first Royal Ascot winner in 1997 when Harbour Master won the Coventry Stakes and Scandinavia rounds off the impressive century. This week he hit another milestone when Mission Central took the King Charles III Stakes on Tuesday, meaning O'Brien has won every Royal Ascot Group 1.
O'Brien first took out his license in 1993 and was initially focused on National Hunt racing before switching to the flat in 1996 when he moved to Ballydoyle, backed by leading owner John Magnier.
Twinned with the world's most successful thoroughbred breeding operation Coolmore, O'Brien's formidable training set-up has dominated flat racing in Ireland for over 20 years.
He has been Irish Champion Flat Trainer every year since 1999 as well as winning the British title eight times. He currently leads the British trainers' championship having amassed £3.5 million in prize money this season.
(Reporting by Virginia Furness; Editing by Toby Chopra)
