O'Brien juveniles ready to shine in US, but the family's monopoly of two-year-old races in Ireland is not entirely healthy

Last weekend was a triumph for the Ballydoyle juvenile squad. Saturday's William Hill Futurity provided a one-two-three for the stable, led home by Hawk Mountain. On Sunday, Puerto Rico and Pierre Bonnard completed a Group 1 double at Saint-Cloud. In many bookmakers' lists, Aidan O'Brien-trained colts occupy the top half-dozen or so positions in the 2026 Derby betting.

Now all that remains is Halloween night in Del Mar. Fireworks or horror show? There is potential for either extreme, with Precise and Gstaad both saddled with an outside draw for the Breeders' Cup bid that represents the final pieces in the jigsaw for O'Brien's formidable two-year-old crop.

In a sense, barring calamity, the job is already done. Precise, Gstaad and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint candidate True Love have already done more than enough to put themselves on the European Group 1 map for next season. If Gstaad's misfortune in finding one just a shade too good in all three Group 1 attempts so far has been frustrating, the stable has readily found other colts to supplant the Coventry Stakes winner in the pecking order.