The overall outcome was that Aidan O'Brien bagged another racing record, becoming the first ever trainer to have three Irish Derbys in a row, plus the fact that he also reached the same official figure of Irish Derby winners (6), as his legendary predecessor at Ballydoyle, Vincent O'Brien. You will have noticed that I used the word "official", for in fact, the Vincent O'Brien stable did have another Curragh Derby winner when it was on the go.

To explain, the year was 1960, the month February, and the scene began with a Maiden race at the Curragh, the Ballysax Stakes, which was worth about £200 to the winner. Vincent had the favourite (4/6), Chamour, in the race, and his charge duly cruised to a facile victory. Unfortunately, in a random sweat sample taken from the horse after the race, the tiniest atom of a banned substance was found, and subsequently, after a series of hearings, the Irish stewards, during the month of May, decided to stand down the great trainer for 12 months. This looked like a completely off the wall decision, seeing that Chamour's target for that year was the Irish Derby, and indeed, he was well fancied for the race. In the circumstances, common sense dictates that Vincent would have been very silly in the extreme to allegedly dope a horse to win a race worth just £200 in the lead up to the big one. Vincent requested the local garda authorities to begin an investigation to try to locate who could have administered the drug, and even went so far as to hope that Scotland Yard inquiries would eventually unearth the culprits.

It is strange to relate that the British Stewards followed their Irish counterparts with the same ban in Britain, and extended it to take in the National Hunt sphere as well. Vincent of course had to stand down, but handed over all training responsibilities to his brother "Phonsie", who was a decent trainer in his own right. It is now racing history that Chamour, in the talented hands of Garnie Bougoure, went on to win the Irish Derby, with the winner going into the record books as, trained by "A.S.O'Brien", when it actually should have read, trained by "M.V.O'Brien". So, that would, in total, have been Vincent's "seventh" Irish Derby winner, but for an improbable occurrence!! The Saturday Trio for this week works out as—Campanologist, Distinction, and Melodramatic, all at Sandown Park. Best of luck, and…GOOD HUNTING!

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