PICKING yourself off the canvas once at the highest level of sport takes some doing, so for Aidan O’Brien to have done it twice in the same season with Auguste Rodin goes down as a year and achievement to remember with extreme fondness.

After plenty of chatter surrounding the Coolmore homebred’s talents at two, 2023 was the year that the son of Deep Impact spoke up and established his own CV to prove he is worthy of the hype. Nothing ended the year with a higher official rating domestically (125).