Irish Breeders' Cup winners to note for next season The Breeders' Cup 2025 is in the books and, once more, the great American show lived up to the hype as Aidan O'Brien set a new benchmark for total winners, Willie Mullins got in on the act and Frankie Dettori bid farewell to this grand stage. There were three Irish-trained winners at the Breeders' Cup, with Donnacha O'Brien emulating his father Aidan and his brother Joseph in joining the ranks of winning trainers at the meeting. We're taking a look at what 2026 might hold for the Irish Breeders' Cup heroes. Gstaad He takes his name from a resort town in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps and on Friday night Gstaad towered about his rivals en route to handing Aidan O'Brien his record-breaking 21st Breeders' Cup victory and a record-extending eighth win in the Juvenile Turf. Winner of the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot and runner-up in three Group 1s since, most recently the Dewhurst, the Starspangledbanner colt brought the strongest form into the contest and Christophe Soumillon's mount settled the race in emphatic fashion late on. As he almost always does, his trainer was looking forwards, rather than backwards, post-race. Gstaad is a joint-favourite 8/1 chance with some firms for the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday May 2nd, 2026 and that is seemingly the principal target now says his trainer. "This horse will be a Guineas horse, he's a big horse that's getting quicker and we always felt he would get a mile," said the Ballydoyle trainer. "He's a (half) brother to a very good one (Vandeek). We thought he'd have won a couple of Group 1s by this stage, he's a horse to look forward to next year." Ethical Diamond He's trained by Willie Mullins, so he might well aim to trot on water in 2026 - anything seems possible for the Closutton maestro at this point! In his last three runs, he has won a handicap at Royal Ascot, the Ebor at York and the Breeders' Cup Turf as Mullins reimagines the boundaries of possibility. Next month's Hong Kong Vase is being touted for a year-end target and, who knows, in 2026 he could become a Cup horse with some major stayers' targets possible. His win in the US showed he doesn't lack a devastating turn of foot over a mile-and-a-half either - so there will be no shortage of options for him on the Flat. And lest we forget, Ethical Diamond was a good fourth in the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March off a mark of 143. He's had only seven runs over timber and is still just five-years-old, so retains a ton of scope for better in the National Hunt game too. The future is bright and incredibly unpredictable for this highly versatile sort. Balantina Amid the understandable hype that surrounded Aidan O'Brien's landmark win and Mullins unlikely triumph, it could easily be forgotten that the first Irish winner of the meeting came from a new - if predictable - source in Donnacha O'Brien. He carries on the family tradition, emulating his all-conquering father and also brother Joseph by landing a Breeders' Cup winner when Balantina won the Juvenile Fillies Turf in the hands of Britain's champion jockey Oisin Murphy. The daughter of Ten Sovereigns only had a Curragh maiden over 6f to show from five runs in Europe, though she went very close in a Group 3 at Deauville in August over 7f and had been third in the Albany at Royal Ascot following her maiden win. She holds an entry in the Tattersalls Irish 10000 Guineas next season.
