PHONSIE O’Brien was laid to rest yesterday in Rosegreen, Co Tipperary. The former jockey and trainer died on Tuesday, aged 86, after a long illness.

Alphonsus Septimus O’Brien was the seventh and youngest son of Dan O’Brien in Churchtown, Co Cork. Champion trainer Vincent was the eldest.

Phonsie rode many winners in the 1940s and took out a trainer’s licence in 1956. Based at South Lodge in Carrick-on-Suir and later at Thomastown Stables in Cashel, he sent out four consecutive winners of the Galway Plate between 1962 and 1965.

In 1950 when Vincent O’Brien bought Ballydoyle it was Phonsie who oversaw the preparation of the gallops while Vincent remained at the family home in Churchtown overseeing the horses. Phonsie bought land nearby and began training a small string of jumpers before moving to South Lodge.

Phonsie returned to Ballydoyle in the spring of 1960 to take over from Vincent, who had been banned for 18 months following a positive drug test returned by the leading three-year-old Chamour. When Chamour went on to win the Irish Derby that year, the trainer was listed as Phonsie O’Brien. Vincent’s suspension was later reduced to 12 months.

In the 1970s Phonsie became involved in buying yearlings in America for Ballydoyle. He and bloodstock agent Tom Cooper would visit studs in Kentucky before attending the Keeneland Sales. It was these buying trips that uncovered the colts who would go on to establish Coolmore Stud as a leading stallion farm.

Phonsie was a close friend of Coolmore investor Robert Sangster in the 1970s and managed to buy a share in Sadler’s Wells as a two-year-old. It was to prove an extremely lucrative investment.

With his wife Anne, Phonsie bred many good winners on the flat and over jumps at Landscape Stud near Kilsheelan in Co Tipperary. He is survived by his wife, his daughters Gillian, Yvonne and Mary Ann, and four grandchildren.

Vincent’s son Charles this week described his uncle as “a terrific man, a larger than life character” who had ridden many winners for his father and had played a big part in the early years at Ballydoyle. Charles fondly recalled how Phonsie had made a hilarious speech at his wedding “and many of the guests actually thought we had hired a comedian. He will be missed by us all.”