Brian O’Connell is a young rider that has shot to prominence in recent seasons and is best known for his partnership with the exciting Dunguib. Initially a successful amateur rider, he turned professional in the days leading up to Dunguib’s tremendously impressive win in the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse in December 2009 and he hasn’t looked back since.
Principal Trainers: Philip Fenton
Notable Wins:
- Midlands National Handicap Chase (Golden Kite 2010)
- Hugh McMahon Memorial Novice Chase (Caim Hill 2010)
- Deloitte Novice Hurdle (Dunguib 2010)
- Royal Bond Novice Hurdle (Dunguib 2009)
- Paddy Power Champion INH Flat Race (Dunguib 2009, subsequently disqualified)
- Cheltenham Champion Bumper (Dunguib 2009)
- Surehaul Mercedes Novice Hurdle (Caim Hill 2009)
- Glen Dimplex Future Champions Bumper (Dunguib 2008, Shirley Caspar 2006)
- Dorans Pride Novice Hurdle (Vic Venturi 2005)
A Patient Beginning
O’Connell had his first ride on the racecourse as a fresh-faced 16-year-old on the Pat Doyle-trained Here We Go Again in a bumper at Gowran Park in April 2003. Over the course of the next two years, he picked up rides here and there, mostly from trainers based in the rider’s local Tipperary region. In early-2005, O’Connell became associated with trainer Philip Fenton and he didn’t have to wait long for that partnership to yield success, as it was Fenton that provided the 18-year-old O’Connell with his first winner, giving him the leg up on Shoot The Breeze before the pairing won a qualified riders maiden hurdle at Down Royal in early-May 2005. A month later, the pair doubled their respective tallies when winning a handicap hurdle at Tralee.
While O’Connell had to wait over six months for his next winner, it was well worth the wait as it came at Grade 3 level in the Dorans Pride Novice Hurdle at the Christmas meeting at Limerick on the Fenton-trained Vic Venturi. Not many young amateur jockeys have tasted Grade 3 glory at such an early stage of their careers, but O’Connell did not get carried away with the success, continuing to work hard and improve himself as he gathered more experience. A few months later, O’Connell partnered the useful Woodbine Willie to success in a bumper at Clonmel for Fenton and he wrapped up his season in fine style by winning the Gigginstown House Stud Point to Point Championship Flat Race at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival on the Fenton-trained Arrive Sir Clive, on whom he had won a point-to-point on the previous February.
O’Connell continued to ride winners through the summer months and as the National Hunt season got going in earnest, he enjoyed a great spell of success in November/December when riding three winners from just seven rides, including the Grade 2 Glen Dimplex Future Champions Bumper at Navan on Shirley Caspar. While 2007 lacked a big-race winner for O’Connell, he maintained his strike-rate from previous seasons from an increased number of rides and he did enjoy another purple patch, this time when riding three winners in bumpers in a three-week-period in June.
A Star Is Launched
It was the 2008/9 season that O’Connell’s career took off in no uncertain terms, thanks in no small part to two horses trained by Philip Fenton, Caim Hill and Dunguib. O’Connell’s association with Caim Hill began in perfect style, with him riding the five-year-old to success in a bumper at Kilbeggan in August. The pair followed up that win with another success a fortnight later, this time in a red-hot bumper at the Galway Festival. Just over three weeks later, O’Connell rode the son of Deploy to make a winning hurdling debut in a maiden hurdle at Sligo and less than a fortnight later, the pair combined to win a novice hurdle back at Galway. Then given a winter break, Caim Hill returned to the track in a Listed novice hurdle at Clonmel in February and O’Connell was seen at his very strongest to get him up on the line to force a dead-heat with On The Way Out. While that was the last success the pair enjoyed that season, it is a rare feat for any horse to complete a five-timer in Irish National Hunt racing and both horse and rider earned many plaudits for that achievement.
Dunguib The Destroyer
O’Connell first sat on Dunguib in public when they finished second to On Raglan Road in a bumper at the Punchestown Festival in 2008. The promise of that run was obvious, but few could have guessed the heights the son of Presenting would rise to in the year that followed. Having made an impressive winning reappearance under O’Connell in a bumper at Punchestown in November, the pairing surged to a highly-impressive success in the Grade 2 Glen Dimplex Future Champions Bumper at Navan a month later. Such was the impression the five-year-old created, he was immediately installed as the ante-post favourite for the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival. Fenton opted to put his highly-promising charge away for that contest and while many talented bumper horses had emerged by the time the Festival came about, O’Connell’s charge was still very much a leading fancy. Unfazed by the occasion, O’Connell gave his mount a cool ride, making headway from the rear to lead over 2f out and soon surging clear of his opposition, eventually coming home 10 lengths clear of the talented field. It was a remarkable performance by the horse, but in victory O’Connell also went into the record books as just the fourth amateur to win the prestigious race, with Ruby Walsh, Patrick Mullins and his father Willie Mullins being the other three. The win was greeted by rapturous scenes of celebration in the winner’s enclosure and it is a day that O’Connell will never forget.
However, O’Connell and Dunguib were not finished for the season yet, as just over six weeks later they teamed up in the Paddy Power Champion INH Flat Race at the Punchestown Festival and again, both put in faultless displays. Arguably up against an even stronger field than they met at Cheltenham, the pair cruised through the race and having taken up the running with 3f to run, again simply surged clear to record a nine lengths success. After that win, the son of Presenting was widely being referred to as the best bumper horse in 20 years and while the Punchestown success was later taken off Dunguib due to a technicality, nothing could take away from the tremendous impression he created that day.
Hurdling Beckons For Dunguib
The 2009/10 season was all been about Dunguib for O’Connell. Unsurprisingly, the interest in the prospect of the six-year-old being sent over hurdles was huge and having been given two simple tasks to start with, Dunguib has made the perfect start to his new discipline, with O’Connell not needing to ask his mount any sort of question to win both contests with contemptuous ease. With the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse being set as his next target, O’Connell made the decision to turn profession just before the race. Despite having to wait a few days longer than expected after the original meeting was postponed due to water logging, Dunguib and O’Connell barely had to break sweat to beat some of the best novice hurdlers in the country by an easy seven lengths. That was O’Connell’s first Grade 1 win over hurdles, but he didn’t have to wait long to double that tally, with Dunguib again bolting up in the Deloitte Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown in February. That win set the pair up for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, but unfortunately it didn’t work out on the day, with Dunguib not enjoying the best of passages and finding two too good for him on the day. It was unquestionably a big disappointment for O’Connell, but the very next day his old friend Caim Hill helped ease the pain by winning a maiden chase at Down Royal. Indeed, that horse provided O’Connell with the perfect finish to the season when succeeding in the Grade 2 Hugh McMahon Memorial Novice Chase at Limerick the following month.
The Future
Not unsurprisingly, the 2010/11 campaign has been O’Connell’s busiest yet. While his strike rate has not been maintained alongside his increase in workload, he has managed to score on the big-race scene, riding the Adrian Maguire-trained Golden Kite to win the Midlands National Handicap Chase at Kilbeggan. With Dunguib being geared towards a spring campaign, the best is likely to be still to come for O’Connell this season.
Info supplied by Horse Racing Ireland - Updated January 2011
