EIGHT-IN-A-ROW AND A FIFTH GROUP 1 VICTORY FOR AIDAN O'BRIEN'S STAR STAYER SCANDINAVIA

By Graham Potter | Sunday, September 13, 2026

The Aidan O’Brien trained Scandinavia extended his already impressive winning sequence to eight wins on the trot when he landed the Group 1 Irish St Leger at the Curragh beating his stable companions Queenstown and Jan Brueghel into second and third place respectively.

Scandinavia, who had his regular partner Ryan Moore in the saddle, remains unbeaten in 2026, becoming only the fifth horse to win both the St Leger at Doncaster last season and the Irish St Leger.

The St Leger double was previously completed by Royal Lancer in 1922 … by Trigo in 1929 and by Touching Wood in 1982 who all claimed that distinction when the races were contested in the same season when the Irish St Leger remained restricted to three-year-olds.

In 2023 Eldar Eldarov became the first horse to complete the double in separate seasons, following his Doncaster success in 2022 and his Irish St Leger win twelve months later. Scandinavia this is only the second horse to emulate that achievement.

"He's a great horse," said O'Brien, after saddling his eighth Irish St Leger winner, one short of the training record of nine Irish St Leger winners which is held jointly by Vincent O'Brien and Dermot Weld.

"He has an unbelievable amount of stamina, a big, high-cruising stamina. Ryan (Moore) said he really only kicks in after a mile and 6, which is very unusual, and the ground is probably as soft as he wants it because he's a very good mover."

Moore recorded his fifth Irish St Leger success. He had previous wins in the race aboard Order Of St George in 2017, Flag Of Honour in 2018 and Kyprios in 2022 and 2024.

Although all ended well for Scandinavia, the O’Brien stating star was made to work for his victory before taking the measure of the pace-setting Queenstown while also doing enough to keep Jan Breugle at bay.

Scandinavia is now a nine-time winner from thirteen starts having landed wins over distances ranging from 2011m to 4023m.

Five of those wins have come at Group 1 level … the Group 1 Goodwood Cup, the Group 1 St Leger, the Group 1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, the Group 1 Goodwood Cup and now the Group 1 Irish St Leger.

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