O'Brien dominant in major events but no shortage of variety on the Flat
It is a neat coincidence that an array of statistics published by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board this year cover precisely the period during which Aidan O'Brien's training career has flourished.
O'Brien trained his first Listed winner on the Flat on April 27, 1996, when Proud Titania took the Athasi Stakes at the Curragh, on the same day that Life Of A Lord won the Whitbread, the trainer's first major feature-race success in Britain.
The IHRB statistics outline fundamental changes in the shape of Irish Flat racing that have taken place in the intervening years.
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