Aidan O'Brien warns big guns Lake Victoria and Albert Einstein might not run again this season

Aidan O'Brien has revealed two of his biggest guns could miss the remainder of the season, with Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Lake Victoria and the massively hyped Albert Einstein both suffering setbacks.

Albert Einstein was talked about in glowing terms by O'Brien after Gstaad's victory in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, with the Ballydoyle trainer unequivocal as to which horse he felt was the best juvenile in the yard.

The son of Wootton Bassett has been the ante-post favourite for next year's 2,000 Guineas and Derby ever since. He has won both starts but has not been seen since landing the Group 3 Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh in May and it is looking unlikely that he will race again in 2025.

O'Brien raised the possibility Lake Victoria may return in time for the Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown in September, but also admitted the winner of six of her seven starts could well have run her last race.

“Lake Victoria isn’t back yet, so we have to wait until she returns and then we can see,” O'Brien said. “I’d love to have her back for the Matron, but I think she’s running out of time. If she doesn’t we’ll have to see whether she keeps going next year. Because of who she is, there won’t be any chances taken with her.

“It’s similar with Albert Einstein so we’ll see with him, but he’ll obviously be staying around for next year.”

Charles Darwin: Norfolk Stakes winner has suffered a setbackCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

O'Brien also threw into doubt the immediate future of another top juvenile when revealing that Charles Darwin has also suffered a setback. The Norfolk Stakes winner is 5-2 favourite for the Nunthorpe on August 22, but O'Brien said: "He's had a little setback as well. We had to ease off of him last week. 

"He's a big horse and with those horses once they've had two or three runs they're educated for next year then. If they come back and run again fine, but if they don't it's not a problem." 

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