Vincent O'Brien

Dr. Michael Vincent O'Brien (born April 9 1917 in Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland) is a retired Irish race horse trainer. He is no relation to his namesake, Aidan O'Brien, another Irish race horse trainer. In 2001 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history, according to a worldwide vote hosted by The Racing Post newspaper. He trained six horses to win the Epsom Derby and was twice British Champion Trainer, to name but two of his many achievements.

At first, he was a trainer of steeplechasers, and won the Grand National at Liverpool three times - Early Mist in 1953, Royal Tan in 1954, and Quare Times in 1955. Probably the greatest steeplechaser he trained was Cottage Rake, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times in the fifties. He also won the Champion Hurdle three years in succession with Hatton's Grace.

Soon after, he turned his attention to flat racing, and set up his stables at Ballydoyle, near Cashel, County Tipperary. Ballymoss, owned by American businessman John McShain, was Obrien's first top-flight flat racing horse. In 1957 the colt won the Irish Derby Stakes, England's St. Leger Stakes and in 1958, France's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe en route to earning European Horse of the Year honors. O'Brien's first Epsom Derby winner was Larkspur in 1962. His other Derby winners were Sir Ivor (1968), Nijinsky (1970), Roberto (1972), The Minstrel (1977) and last Golden Fleece (1982).

During the 1970s, he and owner Robert Sangster, along with O'Brien's son-in-law, John Magnier, established what became known as the Coolmore syndicate, which became a highly successful horse-racing and breeding operation, centred on Coolmore Stud in Co Tipperary, but also stud farms in Kentucky and Australia. The combination of Vincent O'Brien's incredible gift for picking world class horses and John Magnier's business mind propelled Coolmore Stud to the top of the racing world, boasting greater assets than any other racing stud in Europe, the Middle East, or America. The key to the success was through use of the bloodline of a Canadian-bred horse named Northern Dancer, who had won a Kentucky Derby. One son of Northern Dancer was Nijinsky, probably the best horse O'Brien ever trained. He was ridden to victory at Epsom by Lester Piggott, who was associated with the Ballydoyle stable during the most successful years of the late sixties and seventies. He was eventually voted the greatest national hunt trainer of the 20th century, and was then voted the greatest flat trainer of the 20th century. He was also voted the greatest figure in the history of horseracing in a massive vote hosted by the Racing Post Newspaper. Lester Piggott came second out of a pool of 100 contenders who had been carefully selected by a panel of racing experts. Vincent O'Brien claimed 28% of the total vote.

O'Brien's son, David, became a trainer, and won the Epsom Derby in 1984 with Secreto, beating his father's horse, El Gran Senor, by a short head. David is the youngest ever trainer to win an Epsom Derby, an Irish Derby, or a French Derby. However, in a decision that shocked the racing world, David suddenly retired from horse racing following the birth of his first son, Andrew. A constant debate followed his retirement, with many believing that he would have continued his success and eventually outshone his father. Vincent O'Brien retired from training in the 1990s after winning the 1990 Breeders' Cup Mile at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York with Royal Academy. Aidan O'Brien was then employed by Coolmore to take over the training responsibilities of Vincent O'Brien. Unlike Vincent, who was involved in every stage of the horses' selecting, training and breeding, Aidan's role involves training whatever horses have been bought or bred for him by Coolmore which is the leading breeding establishment in the world. This narrow focus has allowed Aidan to produce a myriad of winners from Vincent's incredible bloodline of horses, maintaining Coolmore's status as the biggest bloodstock company in the world.

Vincent O'Brien married Jacqueline Wittenoom, from Perth, Australia, in 1951 and had five children, daughters Elizabeth (McClory); Susan (Magnier); Jane (Myerscough) and sons Charles and David who followed in his father's footsteps as trainers.

Vincent O'Brien and his wife now spend half of each year in her home town of Perth, Australia and the remainder of the year in Ireland.

References

* O'Brien, Jacqueline and Herbert, Ivor. "Vincent O'Brien: The Official Biography" (2005) Bantam Press ISBN 0593054741
* [http://www.coolmore.com/Home.asp Coolmore Stud, Fethard, Co Tipperary, Ireland]