Peerless O'Brien on top of the world as Saxon Warrior seals Group 1 record

He's now just a general 5-1 chance for the Derby, but that doesn't really matter. Not on Saturday at least.

Saxon Warrior won the Racing Post Trophy to become Aidan O'Brien's 26th top-level winner of the year, breaking the record set by Bobby Frankel 14 years ago, and did in a style so typical of Ballydoyle runners.

The winner showed class and a game attitude to repel the John Gosden-trained Roaring Lion, who had looked all set to triumph at one stage – to the point it was a surprise he went only as short as 1-9 in-running - but was ultimately beaten by a widening neck.

The finish was much like the 2017 season in microcosm: in some senses it has belonged to Gosden with stars like Enable – the only non-Ballydoyle horse to win a Classic in Britain and Ireland this year – and Cracksman, but O'Brien characteristically had the final word.

As Saxon Warrior came into the winner's enclosure under Ryan Moore, much of the O'Brien clan – Aidan with wife Annemarie and daughters Sarah and Ana – walked abreast in an image that brought to mind Team Sky's preferred formation crossing the line on the Champs Elysses.

Speaking after the race, O'Brien underlined the collaborative nature of the Ballydoyle project. "It's a fantastic team effort and I've been very privileged to work with the people I have – Annemarie, the kids and all the team at home have been brilliant," he said.

"Every Group 1 is hard to win, we don't expect to win them and we've been very lucky to win what we have. I thought John's horse had him at one stage, but Ryan's given Saxon Warrior a great ride and he's battled back, which is a really promising sign."

Saxon Warrior had a couple of battles to win. First Verbal Dexterity, trained by O'Brien's mentor Jim Bolger, came to challenge on the far side and then Roaring Lion swept round to the outside to launch his own assault.

Historic win: Saxon Warrior (far side), ridden by Ryan Moore, battles back to defeat Roaring Lion in the Racing Post Trophy, providing Aidan O’Brien with a record 26th top-level victory this yearCredit: Edward Whitaker

"Roaring Lion ran a fantastic race and I was thrilled with him," said Gosden. "He had the race won but then got blown off course, they were quite tough conditions out there. He's a very nice horse and there's no reason why he won't go for the Guineas."

For Saxon Warrior to see off successive challenges on just his third start is a testament to something and is probably multi-faceted. Although he is out of Maybe, who herself delivered O'Brien the Moyglare as a two-year-old, he is by Deep Impact, one of Japan's most famous sires.

O'Brien's partners at Coolmore, John Magnier, Michael Tabor – who on Saturday was celebrating his 76th birthday – and Derrick Smith, have perhaps the strongest stallion line-up in Europe but are famously adept at mixing their stock with the best from further afield.

Saxon Warrior is the first Deep Impact to reach so high a profile for this operation and is now unlikely to be the last.

"You have to give a lot of the credit to the lads, who breed all of these horses themselves and create all these good horses," said O'Brien. "It's just my job to get them to the track."

O'Brien is most comfortable when being magnanimous and confessed the record is not something that typically occupies the forefront of his mind.

"I wasn't even thinking about it for a long time, but this last month it's been building up and I'm delighted we've got there," he said. "It means a lot now it's happened."

The Pentagon, long assumed to be the main Ballydoyle hope in the months leading up to this race, finished third. His previous run had come before Saxon Warrior had made his debut in August, underlining the development O'Brien's horses make through the season.

"They improve at least partly because of the people who look after them day in, day out," added O'Brien. "They're so dedicated, and they have to be for us to get the results like this."

Celebration time: Aidan O’Brien and his wife Annemarie are all smiles following the record-breaking triumphCredit: Edward Whitaker

After O'Brien received his prize – and congratulations on the way to the podium, including from his former boss Jim Bolger, whose Verbal Dexterity finished fourth – thoughts turned to the future and just where the new high-water mark might rise before the year is out.

O'Brien has four of the seven in Sunday's Criterium de Saint-Cloud, although he admitted he had not yet had time to study the opposition, which he will no doubt have rectified within minutes of leaving the winner's enclosure. He also confirmed all is on track with his Breeders' Cup runners, including Classic hopeful Churchill.

He said: "After the season's finished we'll celebrate and I'll sit down and look back at this and what the achievement means. We'll put the horses away but we'll bring them back next year for the Classics."

Those who look forward are the ones who make history, and that is the mark of O'Brien, who was tangibly on more comfortable territory when talking about the prospects of Saxon Warrior and US Navy Flag, the other half of his Dewhurst-Racing Post Trophy double.

"Ryan is adamant this lad has the speed for a mile," he said. "There's a lot of stamina in his breeding, but he can always start in the Guineas and work upwards. The best mile-and-a-half horses are often comfortable at a mile."

The record-breaker concluded: "It's always good to look forward to the next thing."

Winning memento: Racing Post chief executive Alan Byrne congratulates Aidan O’BrienCredit: Edward Whitaker