Holding fire but itching to press go: Aidan O'Brien poised for May resumption

It says a lot about Aidan O’Brien that he still believes there are not enough hours in the day. Yes, even now. Even in this furloughed world of scrabble and charades, lockdown and loneliness, a world where boredom has besieged hustle and bustle, darkness descends on Ballydoyle sooner than the master trainer would like.

"Sure listen, we’re still very busy all the time," he says. "We have a lot of staff and a big number of horses to look after so our days are still full. It still goes quickly from morning to night. We’re never looking for work anyway, that’s for sure. The days are never long enough, that’s the problem. The horses have no idea what’s going on in the world, so they all need to be looked after in the same way they always are."

The morning scene from BallydoyleCredit: Patrick McCann

O’Brien should be cranking things up a notch this week. We should be just ten days away from the first Classic of the campaign. He should be assembling an army to shoot down Pinatubo in an attempt to win the Qipco 2,000 Guineas for an unprecedented 11th time. We should be wondering which of his fillies will be forward enough for the 1,000 Guineas, a race he has won in three of the last four years. We should already be getting glimpses of his regally bred juveniles, maybe even the one he has earmarked for the Coventry.