In his gentle, whispering, charming way, Ireland's greatest trainer answered his Australian counterpart.Bart Cummings, he was told, wasn't happy that so many Europeans were trying to win the Melbourne Cup.It almost had Aidan O'Brien falling to his knees and blessing himself."Bart Cummings is an unbelievably special man and everything he says I listen to," O'Brien said."I wouldn't contradict or say anything against what he said."Instead, he tactfully ignored it.And then proceeded to detail how, n

In his gentle, whispering, charming way, Ireland's greatest trainer answered his Australian counterpart.

Bart Cummings, he was told, wasn't happy that so many Europeans were trying to win the Melbourne Cup.

It almost had Aidan O'Brien falling to his knees and blessing himself.

"Bart Cummings is an unbelievably special man and everything he says I listen to," O'Brien said.

"I wouldn't contradict or say anything against what he said."

Instead, he tactfully ignored it.

And then proceeded to detail how, next Tuesday, he would win the trophy Cummings has claimed 11 times and take it back to Tipperary.

O'Brien may well be the world's greatest racehorse trainer.

Since beginning his association with the Coolmore group in 1996, O'Brien has trained 144 Group One winners.

This season alone he has sent out a staggering 22 Group One winners, and next week he intends to make it 23.

After watching his three Cup horses work at Sandown - and 24 hours after assuring everyone his three runners were all in it to win - O'Brien again made his Cup plans crystal clear.

"If our horses get good clean breaks, we'll make plenty of use of them ... we won't be waiting," O'Brien said.

"And if that happens it will be a solidly-run race.

"We know we have to do that for our horses to have the best chance of winning.

"If they do that, and they get it right, and the travel hasn't taken too much out of them, our horses will keep going."

The one he believes will keep going longer and faster than the others is the Cup favourite Septimus, a horse that fits O'Brien's idea of what a thoroughbred should be.

Unlike his stable companions Alessandro Volta and Honolulu, Septimus is a horse who will run till it hurts, and then run some more.

It has caused his trainer his only serious Melbourne Cup concern. And it provokes his admiration and respect.

"Septimus is a horse that tries extremely hard," O'Brien said.

"Honolulu and Alessandro Volta, they save a little bit, they're lazy and they only give what they need to.

"But Septimus, when you ask him, he gives it all."

The desire and the honesty of the horse regarded as Europe's best stayer went on full show in the Irish St Leger last month, a race Septimus won by 13 lengths.

"Even though he won that easily, I don't think he could have won by 14 lengths," the trainer said.

"He gave it all, every drop he left out there on the track."

As admirable as Septimus' desire may be, it has left him a couple of kilograms lighter than O'Brien would like.

It is only a slight concern, but it also reveals something of how those 22 Group One races have been won.

"I won't be changing plans, but it's something you keep in your head," he said.

"Just to be gentle with him."

While Septimus is the horse his trainer has the most faith in, the other two have a part in the Cup plot.

"We're going to hope that Alessandro Volta, with a light weight on his back, will step up," he said.

"With Honolulu, we know that he stays well and we just hope that he's quick enough.

"And with Septimus, we're just going to hope that with the big weight, that he might be able to do it."

If he does, you get the feeling that he might apologise to Cummings and the rest of the doomsayers who believe the Cup is now at the mercy of European horses and trainers.

And as he does, he will be planning how he'll do it again next year.