Aidan O’Brien

Principal Jockeys: Johnny Murtagh, Seamus Heffernan, Colm O’Donoghue, Sean Levey, David McCabe

 Notable Wins:

  • Irish Derby (Cape Blanco 2010, Fame And Glory 2009, Frozen Fire 2008, Soldier Of Fortune 2007, Dylan Thomas 2006, High Chaparral 2002, Galileo 2001, Desert King 1997)
  • Golden Jubilee Stakes (Starspangledbanner 2010)
  • Cororation Stakes (Lillie Langtry 2010, Sophisticat 2002)
  • Coronation Cup (Fame And Glory 2010, Soldier Of Fortune 2008, Scorpion 2007, Yeats 2005)
  • Tattersalls Gold Cup (Fame And Glory 2010, Duke of Marmalade 2008, Powerscourt 2004, Black Sam Bellamy 2003)
  • Racing Post Trophy (St Nicholas Abbey 2009, Brian Boru 2002, High Chaparral 2001, Aristotle 1999)
  • Dewhurst Stakes (Beethoven 2009, Rock Of Gibraltar 2001)
  • Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Rip Van Winkle 2009, George Washington 2006)
  • Sussex Stakes (Rip Van Winkle 2009, Henrythenavigator 2008, Rock Of Gibraltar 2002, Giants Causeway 2000)
  • Phoenix Stakes (Alfred Nobel 2009, Mastercraftsman 2008, Holy Roman Emperor 2006, George Washington 2005, One Cool Cat 2003, Spartacus 2002, Johannesburg 2001, Minardi 2000, Fasliyev 1999, Lavery 1998)
  • Ascot Gold Cup (Yeats 2009 + 2008 + 2007 + 2006)
  • St James’ Palace Stakes (Mastercraftsman 2009, Henrythenavigator 2008, Excellent Art 2007, Rock Of Gibraltar 2002, Black Minnaloushe 2001, Giants Causeway 2000)
  • Irish 2,000 Guineas (Mastercraftsman 2009, Henrythenavigator 2008, Rock Of Gibraltar 2002, Black Minnaloushe 2001, Saffron Walden 1999, Desert King 1997)
  • Irish St Leger (Septimus 2008, Yeats 2007)
  • National Stakes (Mastercraftsman 2008, George Washington 2005, One Cool Cat 2003, Hawk Wing 2001, Beckett 2000, King of Kings 1997, Desert King 1996)
  • Coral-Eclipse Stakes (Mount Nelson 2008, Oratorio 2005, Hawk Wing 2002, Giants Causeway 2000)
  • Juddmonte International (Duke Of Marmalade 2008, Giants Causeway 2000)
  • King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes (Duke Of Marmalade 2008, Dylan Thomas 2007, Galileo 2001)
  • Irish Oaks (Moonstone 2008, Peeping Fawn 2007, Alexandrova 2006)
  • Queen Anne Stakes (Haradasun 2008, Ad Valorem 2006)
  • Prince of Wales's Stakes (Duke of Marmalade 2008)
  • Irish 1,000 Guineas (Halfway to Heaven 2008, Yesterday 2003, Imagine 2001, Classic Park 1997)
  • English 2,000 Guineas (Henrythenavigator 2008, George Washington 2006, Footstepsinthesand 2005, Rock Of Gibraltar 2002, King Of Kings 1998)
  • Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Dylan Thomas 2007)
  • Irish Champion Stakes (Dylan Thomas 2007 + 2006, Oratorio 2005, High Chaparral 2003, Giants Causeway 2000)
  • Pretty Polly Stakes (Peeping Fawn 2007)
  • French 2,000 Guineas (Astronomer Royal 2007, Aussie Rules 2006, Landseer 2002)
  • Epsom Oaks (Alexandrova 2006, Imagine 2001, Shahtoush 1998)
  • English St Leger (Scorpion 2005, Brian Boru 2003, Milan 2001)
  • Arlington Million (Powerscourt 2005)
  • English 1,000 Guineas (Virginia Waters 2005)
  • Middle Park Stakes (Ad Valorem 2004, Johannesburg 2001, Minardi 2000)
  • Breeders Cup Turf (High Chaparral 2003 + 2002)
  • Canadian International (Ballingarry 2002)
  • Epsom Derby (High Chaparral 2002, Galileo 2001)
  • Breeders Cup Juvenile (Johannesburg 2001)
  • French 1,000 Guineas (Rose Gypsy 2001)

It is hard to believe that it is as recent as 1007 that trainer Aidan O’Brien saddled his first Classic winner’s in magnificent style when completing a remarkable double with Classic Park landing the Irish 1,000 Guineas before Desert King took the Irish 2,000 Guineas 24 hours later. It was only a few short weeks later that Desert King doubled his personal Classic tally with a memorable success in the Irish Derby under Christy Roche and that period of phenomenal success very much launched O’Brien on to the international map in Flat racing terms and he hasn’t looked back since.

O’Brien became the number one trainer for the powerful Coolmore operation soon after that remarkable period and Classic Park was the first of 23 Irish Classic winners he has saddled. Ironically, on that same weekend that he saddled his first Classic winner at the Curragh, he introduced King Of Kings to make a winning debut in a two-year-old maiden and it was that horse that gave him the first of 14 English Classics when taking the English 2,000 Guineas the following season.

Early Days

O’Brien had taken out his trainers licence in 1993 and his first winner was a horse called Wandering Thoughts at Tralee in June of that year. In the early stages of his career, he broke all manner of records in National Hunt racing in terms of winners trained and also became the first trainer to saddle a 1-2-3 in the 1995 Galway Plate when Life Of A Lord defeated Kelly’s Pearl and Loshian. Life Of A Lord went on win the Kerry National at Listowel the following September while he also proved successful in the Whitbread Gold Cup at Sandown the following April, before going back to Galway to claim a second consecutive victory in the Galway Plate.

Cheltenham Festival Success

O’Brien’s first Cheltenham Festival success came with Urubande in the 1996 Sun Alliance Hurdle, but he will undoubtedly be best remembered by the National Hunt fraternity as the man who trained the legendary Istabraq. A hugely talented but fragile performer, Aidan showed great skill with this horse in completing a magnificent hat-trick of victories in the Smurfit Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham from 1998 to 2000 inclusive and indeed he would have been a long odds-on favourite to become the first horse ever to win a fourth one in 2001, but unfortunately the Festival had to be cancelled due to an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease.

Concentration On The Flat Yields Handsome Dividends

His first Group 1 winner on the Flat came with Desert King in the 1996 National Stakes at the Curragh, a race he has won on six subsequent occasions. Since taking on the job at Ballydoyle, Aidan has become Champion Trainer on numerous occasions and the list of big-race winners trained in Ireland alone is extremely impressive.

Since that initial success at the highest level, O’Brien has added an abundance of Group 1 victories to his tally including no less than 40 Classics in Ireland, England and France. He has trained some of the best horses in the last 25 years in that period, including Giants Causeway, who won five Group 1’s in succession in 2000, Rock Of Gibraltar who won a total of seven Group 1’s in succession in 2001/2 and Galileo won his first six starts including the Irish Derby, the Epsom Derby and the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes in 2001. He trained one of the best two-year-olds in recent memory in the shape of Johannesburg who won all seven of his juvenile outings in 2001 including four Group 1’s which culminated in a memorable win in the Breeders Cup Juvenile. High Chaparral was another top-class performer for O’Brien, winning the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy as a juvenile in 2001 before winning the English and Irish Derby’s as well as the Breeders Cup Turf in 2002, then coming back as a four-year-old in 2003 to win the Irish Champion Stakes and another Breeders Cup Turf. While perhaps not as successful as those horses, George Washington will be remembered just as much by the public. An enigmatic character from the outset, the son of Danehill was a dual Group 1 winner as a two-year-old, easily winning the Phoenix Stakes and the National Stakes and as a three-year-old, he went on to win the Newmarket 2,000 Guineas before easily winning the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. Dylan Thomas was another top-class performer for O’Brien in 2006 and 2007, winning no less than six Group 1’s including consecutive wins in the Irish Champion Stakes. In terms of fillies, Peeping Fawn has to be given a mention, having showed rapid progression as a three-year-old to win four consecutive Group 1 races in 2007.

The Perfect Season

While the situation with O’Brien’s stable jockey was somewhat erratic in the years that followed Mick Kinane’s exit from the position, 2008 saw a new dawn in this regard with Johnny Murtagh being appointed as the retained jockey for the Coolmore partnership of John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith. What followed was a truly remarkable season, with O’Brien saddling no less than 23 Group 1 winners worldwide, which included a clean sweep of all five Irish Classics, thus being the first trainer to achieve that feat since 1935. He also equalled former Ballydoyle resident Vincent O’Brien’s record of six winners at Royal Ascot, four of which were at the highest level including Yeats’ record equalling third consecutive Ascot Gold Cup. To single out some individuals, Duke Of Marmalade won no less than five times at Group 1 level, while Henrythenavigator won both the Irish and English 2000 Guineas, as well as the St James’s Palace Stakes. It was a season the likes of which has never been seen in modern Irish racing and it represented perhaps the best time of O’Brien’s glittering career to date.

The Present And The Future

AidenOBrien22009 was another highly-successful year for O’Brien and if it wasn’t for a colt by the name of Sea The Stars being on the scene, it would have been an exceptional one. Mastercraftsman got the ball rolling by winning the Irish 2000 Guineas and the St James Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. However, the latter meeting will be always be remembered as the one during which O’Brien saddled Yeats to win his historic fourth Ascot Gold Cup in succession, a training performance that ranks right up there with the very best in recent decades. While Fame And Glory had to play second fiddle to Sea The Stars in the Epsom Derby, he gained compensation for Team Ballydoyle by leading home an O’Brien 1-2 in the Irish Derby. Rip Van Winkle was arguably the star performer of the season, bouncing back from three defeats at the hands of Sea The Stars to win the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. 

Following a bad winter in weather terms, Team Ballydoyle made a slower than usual start to the season in 2010, but it wasn’t long before the Group 1 wins started to flow. Fame And Glory got the ball rolling, with the four-year-old gaining the third and fourth successes at the highest level in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh and the Coronation Cup at Epsom respectively. Despite looking in danger of having a disappointing week at Royal Ascot, O’Brien pulled two Group 1 rabbits out of his hat in the shape of Lillie Langtry in the Coronation Stakes and the exciting Starspangledbanner in the Golden Jubilee Stakes. A few weeks later, O’Brien continued his dominance of the Irish Derby by saddling Cape Blanco to lead home a Ballydoyle-trained 1-2-3 in the race, given O’Brien his fifth consecutive win in the prestigious contest.

With the likes of Fame And Glory, Starspangledbanner, Rip Van Winkle and Cape Blanco to look forward to in the months ahead, O’Brien looks sure to continue his dominance of the European Group 1 stage. Whatever happens, Aidan O’Brien is likely to continue to set high standards when it comes to training racehorses in the foreseeable future and his list of big-race wins looks set to grow and grow in the years ahead.

Updated June 2010.