The King must by now be on pretty friendly terms with Aidan O'Brien, the trainer who has spent more time than any in his counting house. On Tuesday he handed him the trainer's prize for the five-furlong sprint named in His Majesty's honour and 48 hours later another was dished out for the longest Group 1 race run in Britain.The Gold Cup, with its 219-year history, is also one of the most cherished races of the week. In these eyes it ranks above all others, and a huge portion of the noticeably larger crowd on course for what was the original Ladies' Day appeared to agree, for they were in full cry before the field had even rounded the turn for home. It is fair to imagine that many would have been cheering for last year's winner Trawlerman, the kind of stayer who makes your heart burst with his no-nonsense genuineness. Calling to mind another favourite of old, he has that Persian Punch way of going: jump, grab the front rank and crank up the pressure while daring those behind to come and have a go if they think they're hard enough. One horse was. Scandinavia, a colt half Trawlerman's age, with 11 skirmishes in the book to Trawlerman's 24, is the coming force in the staying ranks.He is the winner of the 2026 Gold Cup – it likely won't be his last – but it takes at least two horses to make a horse race. Trawlerman, begoggled in the preliminaries in an attempt not to exacerbate an aversion to bright light which has dogged his spring, deserves equal credit in his narrowest of defeats.Scandinavia's win, however, was seismic not just in terms of the thrill the tussle gave those on course but for it bringing up the remarkable Royal Ascot landmark of a century of winners for Aidan O'Brien. Ten per cent of those have come in the Gold Cup, first with the record-breaking four-time winner Yeats, who was followed by Fame And Glory, Leading Light, Order Of St George, Kyprios twice, and now Scandinavia. The trainer's four winners this week, however, speak to his range. A two-year-old filly over the minimum trip through to a progressive older stayer – then throw in pretty much everything in between during a season in which he has already claimed seven Classics across Britain, Ireland and France.Ask O'Brien a question following any of his big wins and he routinely namecheck the vast team behind him, and every member – from the tight-knit bunch of owner-breeders to the farrier whose name we now know is Kieran (or perhaps Ciaran) – is undoubtedly important. But what about O'Brien himself?Never really in danger of being overshadowed this week, except perhaps by his own son, Joseph, he must still feel the pressure under the spotlight at such a meeting. “There is pressure. It really is all the time,” said his wife Annemarie in the aftermath of the Gold Cup. “Sometimes things don't happen, but then what you've done earlier doesn't really matter. Each new race is a whole other thing.”It is indeed important to keep a sense of perspective, though the first-race scratching of O'Brien's favourite Aix La Chapelle, who reared in the stalls for the Chesham, appeared to leave his jockey Ryan Moore distinctly unimpressed at being withdrawn. One Justify colt was out, clearing the way for another, Nola Soul, to become a popular winner for Fozzy Stack and Craig Bernick when chased home in the Chesham by yet another son of Justify, On Just Terms. The American Triple Crown-winning stallion still had another ace up his sleeve, however, and that was played to perfection via Scandinavia.Assessing a red-latter day for the Coolmore team, MV Magnier said, “I know what this means to Dad, these Justify winners. He had first and second in the Chesham, and then to go and have a Gold Cup winner. In fairness to Michael [Tabor] and Derrick [Smith] and everyone, they've put so much faith into Justify, and for him to be able to do both of those within an hour is pretty incredible.”He continued, “It's a big deal to everyone. Aidan, is an incredible man. To get his 100 Royal Ascot winners in the Gold Cup is pretty special. “He's a very nice guy, and he's obviously a very good breeder himself – we can all see what Joseph and Donnacha are doing. Aidan's just a down-to-earth good fellow, and he works very hard.”On the regard in which Royal Ascot is held, he added, “It's what everybody strives to do, is to have a winner here and meet the King and Queen. We're a very, very lucky industry to have the two of them showing as much interest as they do.”The double strike for Justify follows a double on the opening day for another son of Scat Daddy in No Nay Never, whose sons Great Barrier Reef and Mission Central won the Coventry Stakes and King Charles III Stakes. “Scat Daddy, what he was doing was pretty incredible. Sadly we lost him very early – we lost him way too early,” Magnier said.“Then Justify came along, and Michael and Derrick were very keen on trying to buy him. It was a big gamble and thankfully it is paying off.”Following three days of the royal meeting, Aidan O'Brien is tied with his son Joseph in the trainer rankings on four wins and three seconds apiece, with the latter providing a popular homebred winner for Maria Niarchos when Enceladus (Sea The Stars) struck in the King George V Stakes. William Haggas, Andrew Balding and George Boughey have two winners each. Haggas supplied Wathnan Racing with a second victory at this year's Royal Ascot in Earth Shot, whose purchase was completed just a week ago. The Anthony Oppenheimer-bred daughter of Time Test had been bought by Jill Lamb as a yearling on behalf of Paul and Sally Flatt of Childwickbury Stud, in whose colours she had impressed at both Newmarket and Goodwood this season. It was thus bittersweet for the Flatts to watch their erstwhile filly post an impressive win in the Ribblesdale Stakes, but they were welcomed into the winner's circle by the Wathnan team.“I'm just so pleased for everyone involved,” said Sally Flatt. “She fought really hard. It wasn't an easy race for her, she was thrown out wide, but she's proved to everyone what a filly she is, which is what Jill and I have always believed from the word go. We'll be following her, absolutely. This is not the end – we'll be following her journey.”Wathnan Racing's Richard Brown added, “Most of the races that you're looking at where you might be able to buy something that could come and win at the royal meeting, [the deadline] is always tight. I've known Jill Lamb for a long time and she is thoroughly professional to deal with. And Paul and Sally Flatt, all credit to them – they're trying to build a broodmare band, and hopefully they can use the sales proceeds to go and buy some nice mares.” The post Hundred Up: O’Brien Raises His Bat In Gold Cup For The Ages appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.