LAST Monday marked the 29th anniversary of Fergal O’Brien being enrolled in the British Racing School.
Just over a year before, he had spent a summer with Doug Francis, for whom his brother Brian worked. He was still only 14 but loved it and going back home to school was torture. O’Brien returned the following summer and has been based in England since.
It cannot have been easy but it was what he wanted, this youngest of six, born to a bus driver and housewife living in a council estate in Ballina, on the Tipperary side of the border with Clare and Limerick.
Now 45, he is firmly established as a leader of the crop of up-and-coming handlers in the UK, having prospered since taking the plunge after 18 years with Nigel Twiston-Davies towards the end of September 2011.
After Francis got him into the BRC, he was sent to Grand National specialist Captain Tim Forster and had a short spell with Ginger McCain, which he enjoyed thoroughly, before landing a job at Grange Hill Farm through Carl Llewellyn, who he knew from their time together at Forster’s.
It was there he learned most of the ropes and now he is back, renting the Upper Yard from his former guvnor.
He set a career-high mark of 60 last season and is on the way to bettering that on 50 prior to racing yesterday, at a 20% strike rate.
Even more notable than the quantity however, is the quality.
Poetic Rhythm provided a maiden Grade 1 success in the Challow Hurdle, following up on a Grade 2 victory early in the term. Colin’s Sister, Perfect Candidate and Cap Soleil have garnered Grade 2, Grade 3 and listed pots, while Chase The Spud bolted up in a valuable handicap chase. That puts O’Brien on target for setting a new PB for prizemoney too.
January had been a little underwhelming though, so when Barney Dwan landed the spoils in a novice chase at Musselburgh on Saturday, it was a relief, not least because the former Grade 3-winning hurdler is such a nice prospect.
His two main rivals fell at the fourth last but Brian Hughes told the trainer he thought they was going to win anyway.
Ironically, the third horse in that race, Martiloo, is owned by Timmy Murphy’s father-in-law Raymond Anderson Green, the man who owned Cilldara Stud, which is where O’Brien began his new life as a fully-licensed trainer.
MAKING WAVES
He had been making waves on the point-to-point circuit for the previous decade and handled a number of hunter chase winners on the track in that period too. This was for keeps though. It was all on him. He could not leave it behind him once he closed the latch on the last stable door of an evening.
It went well for the most part. He trained 11 winners the first season, 27 the next and then 47 in a campaign that yielded a first graded race courtesy of Alvarado and three more listed prizes via Down Ace, Me And Ben and The Govaness. It was a trajectory that would prove difficult to maintain, for a variety of reasons, with personal turmoil prominent among them. In the end, Anderson Green sold Cilldara and O’Brien needed a new home. Twiston-Davies told him his top yard was available. It was the break he needed.
“We came back with 25 horses,” O’Brien explains. “I had about 50 in training at Cilldara. I had a couple of quiet seasons, my marriage went wrong, I lost a few owners... Coming back to Naunton just gave us a fresh start. That’s how it felt, we got our enthusiasm back again having gotten away from the uncertainty at Cilldara and made the most of it.
“I’ve been lucky in that we bought some nice horses. Coming back to Grange Hill Farm was a great thing. Once we got our first season out of the way, things were going well and then people felt a bit more confidence; and you get more confidence in yourself.
“It all just coincided well. I met my partner Sally Randell two and a half years ago. She moved to us full time this year, Paddy Brennan not riding for Tom George anymore, and the quality of horses and attracting more owners. Once you’re having winners, that’s where owners want to be.”
INVALUABLE
Brennan has a key role in the operation, not just as a talented rider but with the accuracy and detail of his debriefs. Such is his knowledge, that he will invariably suggest a trip or track or even race that might suit a horse. Having that type of experience available to you is invaluable. He is, says O’Brien, a real team player. The same applies to another Irishman, Alain Cawley.
Brennan and O’Brien had a strong relationship from their time with Twiston-Davies, with the Galwegian on board when Imperial Commander won the 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup. O’Brien was at Grange Hill Farm for the Grand National successes of Earth Summit (1998) and Bindaree (2002) also, but there is no doubting the highlight for a Cheltenham-based firm.
“Bindaree’s Grand National was a great day for the fact that Nigel had made up his mind that he was gonna retire. Probably if it wasn’t for Bindaree, none of us would be here! We don’t know if Nigel would have gone through with it, if he hadn’t won.
“But I’d have to say the Gold Cup is special. It was down the road and it was just fantastic for him, and the way he did it. All the hype was about Denman and Kauto Star, that it was a match between the two, and he annihilated the pair of them. That was a fantastic day.”
Another relationship forged during his initial Grange Hill Farm stint was with Chris Coley. Coley had some horses there and they travelled together to a lot of meetings, becoming friendly. O’Brien even went with him to watch a few Cheltenham Town games.
When Coley wound down his corporate entertainment business - he tended to the hospitality at Cheltenham racetrack - he was looking for something else to do and decided to finance O’Brien’s budding enterprise.
Fergal O'Brien's twitter account is almost as popular as the horses
“I’m sure there are days he doesn’t think it’s a good idea when he looks at the bank balance! We’ve had some downs but we’ve had some great ups and it’s worked well for both of us.
“Thankfully the books have been balancing themselves the last three years, but Chris has always been there. If I want to buy a horse and I haven’t got an owner for it straight away – I wouldn’t have the money to go and buy one on spec – but as long as I can sell the idea to Chris, that if we buy it, I’ll try and find an owner for it, he’s there. There’s been one or two I haven’t found an owner for but he’s been happy to hold onto them and that’s where he’s been brilliant.”
O’Brien has enjoyed a lot of success with the fairer sex though that is more a quirk of what he has been sent. He doesn’t work them as hard as the boys but other than that, there is no other secret apart from them having ability. He has had a strong bumper team in the past couple of years also, and that is always a positive trend, with at least some of them likely progressing into competitive novices.
While Coley is willing to open the cheque book if O’Brien is persuasive enough, there is a level of horse that is completely available. So Richard Curran looks out for potential around Northern Ireland.
That is where Perfect Candidate came from. Further south, Neil O’Donnell’s encyclopaedic knowledge as a point-to-point journalist is put to good use. Grade 3 victor Lord Of The Island is one of his purchases. Tom Keating has also been a source of some good raw material.
“We try to look for a little value. When there’s a Cheltenham sale or any of those (boutique) sales, if it’s one run, one win we put a line through it. We’re not going to waste our time looking at it. We’ll be looking at a horse that’s maybe had three or four runs, got a little bit of a pedigree, good sire and that will be in our budget, which is between £30,000 and £60,000 and we’ve been lucky with those horses.”
The majority of what he buys himself will be Irish, but it’s not misplaced patriotism.
“We had a couple of French horses when we started and we didn’t really take to them. Cap Soleil is French-bred but we’ve had her since the time she’s broken in. On the whole, Irish horses are what we like, either pointers or under rules. There’s value there to be had.
“Willie Mullins won a bumper with an (Irish-bred) English pointer (Blackbow) that came out of Tom Lacey’s the other day, but English pointing, in my opinion, is totally sub-standard compared to Irish pointing.
“I do see the Irish write-ups and the ratings are sometimes ridiculous compared to what you think they should be. But they’re set up to be sold so they’re well educated, well schooled but it doesn’t work for them all and we hopefully try to find some value from that. Poetic Rhythm was a great example. Had four runs, never won, cost £35,000. You can’t argue with that.”
Poetic Rhythm and Paddy Brennan (near) give Fergal O'Brien a Grade 1 winner in the Betfred Challow Novices' Hurdle
With the success comes attention and support from notable patrons such as Paul and Claire Rooney, Malcolm Denmark and William and Angela Rucker. A strong base of homebreds sent by locals buttresses the organisation however and winning with them gives them a particular thrill.
He took so much on board watching Twiston-Davies and his team but two lessons in particular were heeded.
“To keep believing in yourself when things aren’t going right. And the other thing is never be afraid to have a go. It’s paid off for us a few times. We’ve had a couple of good days at Cheltenham – a 25/1 outsider winning. You can’t replace those days, going as an outsider and coming out on top.”
He hopes to be travelling to the festival with a few shorter-priced runners this March. Barney Dwan could go in the RSA or NH Four-Mile Chases, but the preferred option would be the Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap Chase.
“He travelled really well last year in the Pertemps and you need to have a bit of speed to do that, and whether the two mile, seven, found him out coming up the hill, who knows? He was a good second and Presenting Percy was a very well handicapped horse probably and has done very well over fences and hurdles this year. As long as everything is okay, he’ll run in Cheltenham and if he runs in the RSA.”
Poetic Rhythm is bound for the Albert Bartlett, thrice listed winner Cap Soleil will be a fancy for the Mares’ Novice Hurdle, while Colin’s Sister followed up a Grade 2 triumph on her seasonal debut with three competitive showings in the stayers’ division and will take on the boys over three miles rather than battle Apple’s Jade in the Mares’ Hurdle. Lovely Job is a possibility for the National Hunt Chase.
BIG RACES
Later on in the spring, Midlands National winner Chase The Spud could be in line for a tilt at the Grand National, if there was a bit of moisture in the ground. It is nice to be going in to big races with real chances, rather than hoping for the best.
He knows what it’s like, of course, to enjoy top-flight success in his own right thanks to Poetic Rhythm. They say you never forget your first but it always feels good to receive further affirmation that you are taking the right route.
“It does, yeah. I had lots of nice texts, that you could say you’re a Grade 1-winning trainer now and there’s lots of good trainers haven’t won a Grade 1. He’s a good horse, he’s a nice horse. It was lovely as he was the first horse that Sally and I bought together.
“Chris Coley, the man who helped set me up, owns him for The Yes No Wait Sorries, it was down the road at Newbury which is not a million miles away, so there were lots of friends and owners there. It was just a great day. Like you said, you don’t forget your first one and that was a fantastic day which we won’t forget.”
His Twitter account is almost as popular as the horses. Laced with humour, information and insight, it reflects well on him, brings profile to the yard and the horses, and makes racing more accessible to the public. Sally attends to the blog on his website, but it is Simon Gilson, a doctor by trade, but racing fan by inclination, who runs the blue bird.
“He’s very witty. He lives and breathes racing. He’s just come back from the Dublin (Racing) Festival in Leopardstown. He’s a good form man as well, loves watching the horses work. He’s great there on a Saturday with owners – a lot of owners come on Saturday and bring cakes, before going off to have breakfast in The Black Horse, our local pub. Him, Chris Coley and Geoff Keys, they’re great people – they make everyone feel welcome. People pay a lot of money to have horses in training and they need to be having a good time.
“It happened by accident, like most good ideas. Simon came along and when we moved back up to Cilldara, he revamped the website. He’s always thinking of different things to do and he was happy to get involved. Simon was with me in Wetherby when Colin’s Sister won and she was still in the paddock when the phone started beeping because people were retweeting whatever he’d put on there. You can’t beat that, getting the horses out there and owners like to see that as well.”
The family involvement is still there, though David, who was working for Nicky Henderson when O’Brien moved over initially, is now back in Ireland, employed as a postman. David rides out Barney Dwan and Colin’s Sister. It is the enjoyment that his two daughters derive from what he does that gives him the greatest joy however.
“Fern and Daisy love the racing and I’m very lucky I do a job that they’re both involved in. Fern, who’s 12, rides out for me. Daisy loves coming racing and she’s great with owners. Even though she’s only 10, she’s never short of a word.
“I left Ballina when I had about £60 in 1989. You never look back and think you’ve made it and done well but I’m just very appreciative of all the luck I’ve had along the way.”