RACING/Feature: Brian O'Connor was among the media pack invited to Ballydoyle'sopen day yesterday

AT 7.45 a.m. yesterday the first lot of 40 Ballydoyle blue-bloods circled in an indoor arena as Liam Gallagher's sneer rebounded off the walls from the radio speakers.

Even more scary was a 40- strong hack-pack standing in the middle, trying to look knowledgeable. And in the middle of them all, the most un-rock n' roll figure imaginable had every ear craning towards him.

"We used to have piped music but with the radio, all the different voices seem to perk the horses up," said Aidan O'Brien. "Gerry Ryan is interesting some mornings. He even wakes the lads up sometimes!"

There was a time when the annual open day, a morning when the press are released onto the famous grounds to guess which might be the next Ballydoyle superstar, looked like a week in Stalingrad for the 32-year-old trainer.

But the overwhelming achievement in the seven years he has been in charge has meant changes. Always hospitable, O'Brien seems much more comfortable in the limelight that comes from having trained a world record 23 Group One winners last year. But some things don't change.

"The reality is I'm a very small part of a very big team," he still insists: And the pack still never believe him. The modesty is likely to seem even more strange this year because the classic crop at his disposal looks awesomely strong.

Della Francesca will run in next week's Craven as a pathfinder for a 2,000 Guineas team that could include Rock Of Gibraltar, Tendulkar, Hawk Wing and Landseer.

Almost as an afterthought, Maryinsky, Quarter Moon and Lahinch are mentioned as 1,000 Guineas possibles.

"The horses this year might be a little behind in their fitness but they seem very healthy," is the O'Brien verdict. "There are a lot of them in the different Guineas and we will run them to find out where we are. Last year, it took until the Irish Guineas to sort them all out."

Galileo was the star turn of 2,001 and he started off with a victory in the Ballysax at Leopardstown.

This time, it's the Racing Post winner High Chaparral who has been deemed worthy of the favoured Derby route. "We are hoping to go that way even though he will have do give 7lb.

He is a good bit heavier than I'd prefer but maybe he is just maturing," says O'Brien before facing a barrage of other star names.

Milan will take the Mooresbridge-Tatts Gold Cup road; Hawk Wing could be a Triple Crown prospect - "a beautiful horse but maybe we're just dreaming"; then there's Canberra who will go to France on Sunday, along with Landseer and Sophisticat.

But it's when almost 40 two-year-olds emerge to canter that we realise the strength in depth that O'Brien oversees, possibly the greatest pool of equine talent in the world.

A $6.8 million colt called Van Nistleroy confirms his breeding by eyeing the onlookers suspiciously. Then there is a $4 million colt called Warhol, a $3 million called Russia and a fine looking Storm Cat colt called Hold That Tiger that cost a mere $1.1 million. "He could be a Royal Ascot type," O'Brien reveals. But before that the focus is on a classic team that could even take on a trans-Atlantic element.

But as for goals, the Master Of Ballydoyle definitely has no maybes: "My only target is to try and be here next year!"