Racing:Vincent O'Brien, arguably the greatest trainer of all time, died earlier today, aged 92, at his home in Straffan in Kildare. Superlatives are thrown about with reckless abandon in horse racing, but the legendary trainer deserved them all.
Born on April 9th, 1917, in Churchtown, Cork, Michael Vincent O’Brien was the fifth son of a sporting farmer who loved to trade in horses, in a part of Ireland renowned for rearing them.
Dan O’Brien laid a gallop around Clashganiff Farm and trained racehorses before selling them on at a profit, but he did not particularly enjoy the day-to-day business of readying them for the racecourse. He discovered that his son Vincent did.
The young Vincent was soon organising his father’s string, learning his craft behind the scenes, though he made his initial mark officially as an amateur jockey when winning at Limerick in November 1940 on Hallowment.
All he really wanted to do was train, however, and his popular father’s untimely death from pneumonia in 1943 quickly brought matters to a head.
Without the capital to establish himself, the young, unknown O’Brien required gambled-on winners, and got them, soon establishing his reputation when in 1944 Good Days won the Irish Cesarewitch and Drybob dead-heated for the Irish Cambridgeshire.
What was needed next was a top-class winner, but the O’Briens - his brothers were always part of the team - cannot have expected it to be the unraced six-year-old they were asked to collect from a boggy field at the back of a doctor’s surgery in Mallow.
This horse went on to win the Irish Cesarewitch, the Leopardstown Chase, the King George VI Chase and three Cheltenham Gold Cups. His name was Cottage Rake.
In the summer of 1948, after the Rake’s first victory at Prestbury Park, O’Brien acquired a no-more-than-useful eight-year-old hurdler and set about improving him. This was Hatton’s Grace, winner of the Champion Hurdle for the next three years.
It was the establishment of an extraordinary love affair with Cheltenham for the dapper Irishman, whose rare talent was never more exemplified than by his success in the Gloucestershire (now Supreme Novices’) Hurdle.
Always split into two divisions to embrace the huge number of entries, it was won 10 times in the seven years from 1952 by O’Brien runners.
The family farm in Cork was never going to be big enough to contain the ambitions, or indeed talent, of the budding master trainer and O’Brien moved on in 1951, buying his own place in Tipperary - Ballydoyle.
From there, now married to Australian MP’s daughter Jacqueline Wittenoom, he achieved his greatest feat in the National Hunt arena, following up the 1953 Gold Cup victory of Knock Hard by training three quite different steeplechasers, Early Mist, Royal Tan and Quare Times, to win consecutive Grand Nationals.
It was not all plain sailing, however. Genius often attracts suspicion, and so it was with O’Brien. In 1954 the Irish stewards, unhappy with how they perceived some of his horses were being run, withdrew his licence for three months. It was little more than a blip, though one that was deeply felt.
A new chapter was about to be written, however, and it is well nigh incredible to record that for all O’Brien’s successes in the National Hunt arena, he was about to do even better when he switched his attentions exclusively to the Flat.
Among his first acquisitions were Ballymoss and Gladness.
The former won the 1957 Irish Derby and Doncaster St Leger and the 1958 Coronation Cup, Eclipse, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. The latter took the 1958 Ascot Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup and Ebor Handicap (in which this extraordinary mare carried 9st 7lb and won by six lengths).
It all came close to a shuddering halt in 1960 when traces of a banned substance were supposedly found in the three-year-old Chamour after a maiden at the Curragh, and O’Brien was harshly warned-off for 18 months at the subsequent inquiry.
His brother Phonsie was allowed to train the horses at Ballydoyle, but Vincent was not allowed to have anything to do with them. The public, solidly behind their idol, cheered to the rafters when Chamour went on to win the Irish Derby while O’Brien spent the day fishing.
The sentence was eventually cut to a year and the aggrieved master trainer won an apology and costs from the stewards on the day a High Court libel case was to begin as he sought to clear his name.
Success without parallel followed. Larkspur’s Derby victory in 1962 - when there were seven fallers - was the first of six, and all the others were better. They were Sir Ivor, Nijinsky, Roberto, The Minstrel and Golden Fleece; illustrious names all.
Nijinsky’s purchase was all O’Brien’s work, as he had flown out to Canada to inspect a yearling on behalf of billionaire owner Charles Engelhard, but was much more taken by a son of the unproven sire Northern Dancer.
This colt went on to win the 1970 Triple Crown - he remains the last horse to do so - and is rated alongside Sir Ivor as the best ever trained at Ballydoyle.
By now immersed in American bloodlines and a keen student of bloodstock, O’Brien bought a stud near Ballydoyle by the name of Coolmore and approached a bright young John Magnier, who was to become his son-in-law, to run it. Not long after a syndicate was born, its third member a rich owner-investor - Robert Sangster.
Their aim was to purchase top-class yearlings from America with a view to winning Classics and turning them into sought-after, big-earning stallions. Riches would, and indeed did, follow.
Coolmore is now the world’s pre-eminent stallion station and is part of O’Brien’s great legacy. Other investors have joined the Magnier-led team, and the horses are still trained at Ballydoyle by an O’Brien, the unrelated Aidan.
Champions flowed from the Tipperary yard under the incomparable Vincent; as well as the Derby heroes there were the likes of El Gran Senor, Artaius, Solford, Sadler’s Wells, Caerleon, Storm Bird and dual-Arc winner Alleged.
Lester Piggott was most associated with the early champions and Pat Eddery with the later ones, but there was to be a remarkable swansong, a jaw-dropping finale to the O’Brien story at the Breeders’ Cup in 1990.
Vincent was 73 when he sent Royal Academy over to America for the Mile at Belmont Park and he was instrumental in persuading the 54-year-old Piggott to come out of retirement. The horse’s remarkable victory is one of racing’s great fairytales.
Vincent O’Brien, a family man with five children including David, who handled the Derby winner Secreto, and Charles, who trains in Ireland, retired in October 1994.
He had won 25 races at Royal Ascot and 23 at the Cheltenham Festival, 16 English Classics and 27 Irish, and had been champion trainer in Ireland 13 times and in England twice over jumps and twice on the Flat.
He spent much of his later years in the warm climate of Australia.
Early in 2003 the industry's daily newspaper, the Racing Post, polled its readers on the sport of kings' all-time greats. Voted into the number one spot, the greatest personality in the history of the sport, was Vincent O'Brien.
Such is the light that has been extinguished.
“Dad’s racing career speaks for itself and needs no elaboration,” said Sue and John Magnier in a statement today. “There was nobody like him. Coolmore Stud and Ballydoyle are the results of his vision and testament to his success.
“More importantly, he was a loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather and an extraordinary mentor. His passing is a great loss to me and my family and we will all miss him greatly.”
Aidan O'Brien also expressed his deepest sympathy. “It is with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Dr Vincent O’Brien today,” he said. “As for so many people in racing, he was my hero growing up. For Anne Marie and me to come to Ballydoyle, to the training facility he established, was an extraordinary privilege.
“Dr O’Brien was tireless in improving the yards and gallops and we enjoy the benefits of his half-century of hard work and dedication today. We would never have been able to achieve our successes without the facility and gallops he built.
“There is nothing that compares to it anywhere in the world. I feel the sense of history every morning when I walk into the yard that had horses such as Nijinksy, Sir Ivor to Sadler’s Wells. His dedication to the sport of racing and to the highest standards knew no bounds. It is humbling to follow in his footsteps.”
Vincent O’Brien Factfile:
Name: Michael Vincent O'Brien.
Born: Good Friday, April 9th, 1917 in Churchtown, Co Cork.
First winner: Oversway, Limerick Junction, May 20th, 1943.
Final winner: Mysterious Ways, Curragh, September 17th, 1994.
Total winners in Ireland: 1,529.
Champion trainer in Ireland: 1959, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1989.
Champion NH trainer in Britain: 1952-53 & 1953-54.
Champion flat trainer in Britain: 1966 & 1977.
Irish Classics: 2,000 Guineas ( 5); 1,000 Guineas (3); Derby (6); Oaks (4); St Leger (9).
British Classics: 2,000 Guineas (4); 1,000 Guineas (1); Derby (6) Oaks (2); St Leger (3).
Major International Victories: Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (3); French Derby (1); Washington DC I'ntl (1); Breeders' Cup Mile (1); Major NH wins: Aintree Grand National (3); Cheltenham Gold Cup (4); Champion Hurdle (3); Irish Grand National (1); King George VI (1).
Honours: Honorary doctorates from the National University of Ireland and Ulster University.