Andy Newton
Aidan O’Brien cemented his place as Royal Ascot’s most successful trainer on Thursday, 18 June 2026, when Scandinavia powered to victory in the Ascot Gold Cup under Ryan Moore, bringing up a remarkable century of winners at the Royal Meeting.
The landmark success added yet another chapter to one of the greatest training records the sport has ever seen.
You can see ALL 100 Aidan O’Brien Royal Ascot winners listed below.
Century Up For Aidan O’Brien As Scandinavia Delivers Historic 100th Royal Ascot Winner
The Ballydoyle maestro arrived at Royal Ascot 2026 on 96 winners and edged closer to the milestone with victories on Tuesday from Great Barrier Reef in the Coventry Stakes and Mission Central in the King Charles III Stakes.
Then with Victorious landing Wednesday’s Queen Mary Stakes, this took Aidan O’Brien’s tally to 99 heading into Ladies’ Day on the Thursday.
With no winners in the early Thursday races on June 18, this left Scandinavia with the chance to make history in the meeting’s showpiece staying race,
And the St Leger winner duly delivered in gutsy fashion to see off the 2025 winner Trawlerman by a head under a power-packed Ryan Moore ride – giving O’Brien his 100th Royal Ascot success.
WATCH: Scandinavia Winning The 2026 Ascot Gold Cup – Giving Aidan O’Brien His 100th Royal Ascot Winner
The Gold Cup win for Scandinavia gave Aidan O’Brien a record-extending tenth Ascot Gold Cup.
While the now retired Sir Michael Stoute is next best in the Royal Ascot winners list – with 82.
Aidan O’Brien’s First Royal Ascot Win Came In 1997
The achievement is all the more remarkable considering O’Brien’s first Royal Ascot winner came almost three decades ago.
That breakthrough arrived in 1997 when Harbour Master landed the Coventry Stakes, giving the then-emerging Irish trainer a first taste of success at the meeting that would become his own personal playground.
The Coventry Stakes has gone onto be O’Brien’s best Royal Ascot race – with 12 wins in total and winning the prize again in 2026 with Great Barrier Reef.
From there, the winners flowed. Giants of the turf such as Giant’s Causeway, Rock Of Gibraltar, Yeats, Duke Of Marmalade, Mastercraftsman, Minding, Churchill, Caravaggio, Paddington and Auguste Rodin all helped build the O’Brien legend at Ascot.
Few trainers have dominated so many different divisions, from precocious two-year-olds to Classic stars and elite stayers.
Among the most memorable of all were the great stayer Yeats, who won four consecutive Ascot Gold Cups between 2006 and 2009, and the brilliant Kyprios, who became another modern-day staying superstar for the yard with multiple Gold Cup victories of his own.
O’Brien’s influence on the meeting’s flagship staying race has been extraordinary, and Scandinavia’s triumph only strengthened that legacy.
Ryan Moore, O’Brien’s long-time ally in the saddle, was again at the heart of the story. The pair have enjoyed one of racing’s most successful trainer-jockey partnerships, combining for countless Group 1 victories around the world and many of those landmark Royal Ascot successes.
Moore’s cool, measured ride aboard Scandinavia ensured the milestone winner arrived on one of the meeting’s biggest stages.
Reaching 100 Royal Ascot Winners Is a Feat That May Never Be Matched
Royal Ascot has always been regarded as the ultimate proving ground for the world’s best horses, trainers and jockeys, yet O’Brien has turned sustained excellence into an annual expectation.
From Harbour Master in 1997 to Scandinavia in the 2026 Gold Cup, the journey to 100 winners has featured some of the finest thoroughbreds of the modern era and further underlined Aidan O’Brien’s status as one of horse racing’s all-time greats.
Aidan O’Brien’s 2026 Royal Ascot Winners Leading Up To His 100th
- Great Barrier Reef (Coventry Stakes, Tuesday)
- Mission Central (King Charles III Stakes, Tuesday)
- Victorious (Queen Mary Stakes, Wednesday)
- Scandinavia (Gold Cup, Thursday)
Every Aidan O’Brien Royal Ascot Winner Listed (1997 to 2026): 100 Winners
1997 Royal Ascot Winners
- HARBOUR MASTER – COVENTRY STAKES – G3
1999 Royal Ascot Winners
- FASLIYEV – COVENTRY STAKES – G3
- BACH – CHESHAM STAKES – LISTED
2000 Royal Ascot Winners
- GIANT’S CAUSEWAY – ST JAMES’S PALACE STAKES – G1
2001 Royal Ascot Winners
- BLACK MINNALOUSHE – ST JAMES’S PALACE STAKES – G1
- LANDSEER – COVENTRY STAKES – G3
- MOZART – JERSEY STAKES – G3
- JOHANNESBURG – NORFOLK STAKES – G3
2002 Royal Ascot Winners
- ROCK OF GIBRALTAR – ST JAMES’S PALACE STAKES – G1
- SOPHISTICAT – CORONATION STAKES – G1
- STATUE OF LIBERTY – COVENTRY STAKES – G3
2004 Royal Ascot Winners
- FIVE DYNASTIES – KING EDWARD VII STAKES – G2
- MOSCOW BALLET – HAMPTON COURT STAKES – LISTED
2005 Royal Ascot Winners
- INDIGO CAT – HAMPTON COURT STAKES – LISTED
2006 Royal Ascot Winners
- AD VALOREM – QUEEN ANNE STAKES – G1
- YEATS – GOLD CUP – G1
2007 Royal Ascot Winners
- EXCELLENT ART – ST JAMES’S PALACE STAKES – G1
- YEATS – GOLD CUP – G1
- HENRYTHENAVIGATOR – COVENTRY STAKES – G2
- MAHLER – QUEEN VASE – G3
2008 Royal Ascot Winners
- HARADASUN – QUEEN ANNE STAKES – G1
- HENRYTHENAVIGATOR – ST JAMES’S PALACE STAKES – G1
- DUKE OF MARMALADE – PRINCE OF WALES STAKES – G1
- YEATS – GOLD CUP – G1
- MACARTHUR – HARDWICKE STAKES – G2
- HONOLULU – QUEEN ALEXANDRA STAKES – CONDITIONS RACE
2009 Royal Ascot Winners
- MASTERCRAFTSMAN – ST JAMES’S PALACE STAKES – G1
- YEATS – GOLD CUP – G1
2010 Royal Ascot Winners
- LILLIE LANGTRY – CORONATION STAKES – G1
- STARSPANGLEDBANNER – JUBILEE STAKES – G1
- MIKHAIL GLINKA – QUEEN’S VASE – G3
2011 Royal Ascot Winners
- FAME AND GLORY – GOLD CUP – G1
- POWER – COVENTRY STAKES – G2
- AWAIT THE DAWN – HARDWICKE STAKES – G2
- MAYBE – CHESHAM STAKES – LISTED
2012 Royal Ascot Winners
- SO YOU THINK – PRINCE OF WALES STAKES – G1
- ISHVAN – JERSEY STAKES – G3
2013 Royal Ascot Winners
- DECLARATION OF WAR – QUEEN ANNE STAKES – G1
- WAR COMMAND – COVENTRY STAKES – G2
- GALE FORCE TEN – JERSEY STAKES – G3
- LEADING LIGHT – QUEEN’S VASE – G3
2014 Royal Ascot Winners
- LEADING LIGHT – GOLD CUP – G1
- BRACELET – RIBBLESDALE STAKES – G2
2015 Royal Ascot Winners
- GLENEAGLES – ST JAMES’S PALACE STAKES – G1
- WATERLOO BRIDGE – NORFOLK STAKES – G2
- WASHINGTON DC – WINDSOR CASTLE STAKES – LISTED
- ALOFT – QUEEN’S VASE – LISTED
- WAR ENVOY – BRITANNIA STAKES – HANDICAP
2016 Royal Ascot Winners
- CARAVAGGIO – COVENTRY STAKES – G2
- EVEN SONG – RIBBLESDALE STAKES – G2
- ORDER OF ST GEORGE – GOLD CUP – G1
- BRAVE ANNA – ALBANY STAKES – G3
- SWORDFIGHTER – QUEEN’S VASE – LISTED
- CHURCHILL – CHESHAM STAKES – LISTED
- SIR ISAAC NEWTON – WOLFERTON – HANDICAP
2017 Royal Ascot Winners
- HIGHLAND REEL – PRINCE OF WALES – G1
- SIOUX NATION – NORFOLK STAKES – G2
- CARAVAGGIO – COMMONWEALTH STAKES – G1
- WINTER – CORONATION STAKES – G1
- SEPTEMBER – CHESHAM STAKES – LISTED
- IDAHO – HARDWICKE STAKES – G2
2018 Royal Ascot Winners
- KEW GARDENS – QUEENS VASE – G2
- HUNTING HORN – HAMPTON COURT STAKES – G3
- MAGIC WAND – RIBBLESDALE STAKES – G2
- MERCHANT NAVY – JUBILEE STAKES – G1
2019 Royal Ascot Winners
- ARIZONA – COVENTRY STAKES – G2
- CIRCUS MAXIMUS – ST JAMES PALACE STAKES – G1
- SOUTHERN HILLS – WINDSOR CASTLE STAKES – LISTED
- SOUTH PACIFIC – KING GEORGE V STAKES – HANDICAP
- JAPAN – KING EDWARD VII STAKES – G2
2020 Royal Ascot Winners
- CIRCUS MAXIMUS – QUEEN ANNE STAKES – G1
- RUSSIAN EMPEROR – HAMPTON COURT STAKES – G3
- BATTLEGROUND – CHESHAM STAKES – LISTED
- SANTIAGO – QUEENS VASE – G2
2021 Royal Ascot Winners
- LOVE – PRINCE OF WALES’S STAKES – G1
- POINT LONSDALE – CHESHAM STAKES – LISTED
2022 Royal Ascot Winners
- LITTLE BIG BEAR – WINDSOR CASTLE STAKES – LISTED
- KYPRIOS – ASCOT GOLD CUP – G1
- MEDITATE – ALBANY STAKES – G3
- CHANGINGOFTHEGUARD – KING EDWARD VII STAKES – G2
- BROOME – HARDWICKE STAKES – G2
2023 Royal Ascot Winners
- RIVER TIBER – COVENTRY STAKES – G2
- PADDINGTON – ST JAMES’S PALACE STAKES – G1
- WARM HEART – RIBBLESDALE STAKES – G2
- AGE OF KINGS – JERSEY STAKES – G3
2024 Royal Ascot Winners
- ILLINOIS – QUEENS VASE – G2
- AUGUSTE RODIN – PRINCE OF WALES’S STAKES – G1
- PORT FAIRY – RIBBLESDALE STAKES – G2
- KYPRIOS – GOLD CUP – G1
- FAIRY GODMOTHER – ALBANY STAKES – G3
- BEDTIME STORY – CHESHAM STAKES – LISTED
2025 Royal Ascot Winners
- GSTAAD – COVENTRY STAKES – G2
- TRUE LOVE – QUEEN MARY STAKES – G2
- CHARLES DARWIN – NORFOLK STAKES – G2
- GARDEN OF EDEN – RIBBLESDALE STAKES – G2
- TRINITY COLLEGE – HAMPTON COURT – G3
2026 Royal Ascot Winners
- GREAT BARRIER REEF – COVENTRY STAKES – G2
- MISSION CENTRAL – KING CHARLES III STAKES – G1
- VICTORIOUS – QUEEN MARY STAKES – G2
- SCANDINAVIA – GOLD CUP – G1
