AIDAN O’BRIEN will be waving goodbye to an absolute ‘tank of a horse’ and Royal Ascot hero – barely weeks after the biggest win of his career.
Trinity College looked every inch a middle distance star of the future when bolting up in the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes in June.
Sent off 5-2 under Ryan Moore he eased away from the field comfortably to scoop the £85,000 first-place prize.
The race has a knack for producing future Group-level winners.
Godolphin stars Hawkbill and Benbatl went onto top tier success after winning the Hampton Court, while Russian Emperor bagged millions abroad.
Trinity College almost hit Group 1 success in his very next race when beaten a short head in the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp last month.
But any future success won’t come under O’Brien, with the horse due to be shipped over to Australia where he will be trained by Chris Waller.
A Hall of Fame trainer Down Under, Waller was a favourite of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
He has turned George Boughey’s former charge Via Sistina in a world-beater with more than £6.6m in earnings.
And he has Royal Ascot success too, having won the old King’s Stand with Nature Strip in 2022.
It’s not clear who Trinity College’s new owners will be – if indeed he has changed ownership from Coolmore.
Although with the Ballydoyle boss exclusively training their horses, it’s likely he was bought for some serious cash.
What is clear is O’Brien will be seeing a horse with massive potential leave his all-conquering yard.
Speaking after that Ascot win, O’Brien said: “He’s a lovely, straightforward horse and his trip is a mile and a quarter.
“We’ve always thought he was a nice horse and he’s only really started to progress now – you would have to be very happy with that.
“I would say ten furlongs is his trip and he’s very comfortable at that distance because he’s not slow.
“He’s a good member of the team.”
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