Vincent O’Brien, widely regarded as the greatest racehorse trainer of all time, died aged 92 on Monday.
O’Brien secured 16 English and 27 Irish Classic victories, 25 Royal Ascot wins and 23 Cheltenham Festival successes during his 51-year career.
O’Brien — son of a farmer and one of whose brothers, Phonsie, also trained — achieved greatness on both the national hunt and flat stages, which is a rare feat and almost unimaginable now.
PHOTO: AP
He trained three Grand National winners, and Cottage Rake won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times between 1948 and 1950. He then switched his attention to the flat and trained an extraordinary six Epsom Derby winners between 1962 and 1982. He trained the likes of Nijinsky, Sir Ivor, Sadler’s Wells, Golden Fleece, The Minstrel, El Gran Senor and Ballymoss during his stellar career before retiring from training in October 1994 and spending time in Perth, Australia.
During the 1970s, he and owner Robert Sangster, along with O’Brien’s son-in-law John Magnier, established the Coolmore syndicate in County Tipperary which is presently the most influential breeding operation in the world.
The Canadian-bred horse Northern Dancer proved to be a particularly profitable sire. One son of Northern Dancer was Nijinsky, who some commentators have described as 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 1960s and 1970s.
Piggott paid a glowing tribute to his former boss.
“There’s really no argument he was the greatest,” Piggott said.
“Vincent’s attention to detail was to be seen everywhere at Ballydoyle [his stables], and he wanted to operate at the level where he could get to know each individual animal as closely as was humanly possible,” Piggott added. “Everything he did was geared to keeping his horses happy and relaxed at home so that they would perform to their full potential on the racecourse, and the results speak for themselves.”
O’Brien was voted both greatest National Hunt trainer and greatest Flat trainer of the 20th century.
O’Brien is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, and five children, including David, who trained the 1984 Derby winner Secreto edging out his father’s heavily fancied El Gran Senor — and now lives in Perth, and Charles, who trains in Ireland.
MOTHER KNOWS BEST: Warriors’ coach Kerr said his 91-year-old mother criticized him for his attitude toward officials that led to his ejection from Monday’s game Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Wednesday rescued the Oklahoma City Thunder with a game-tying buzzer-beater before finishing with 46 points in a 129-125 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz. The reigning NBA champions looked to be heading for a third straight loss after the Jazz inched into a 114-112 lead following Lauri Markkanen’s layup with just three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. However, NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander drained a superb 13-foot jump shot to tie it up at 114-114 as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime. Gilgeous-Alexander then took over in the extra period with nine points as the Western
Manchester City have confirmed defender Josko Gvardiol suffered a broken leg in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. Gvardiol was one of two City centerbacks who went off injured in the second half, along with Ruben Dias, before Enzo Fernandez scored a stoppage-time equalizer for the visitors. The draw left second-placed City six points behind English Premier League leaders Arsenal. City, announcing Gvardiol sustained a tibial fracture to his right leg, added in a statement issued on Monday: “The defender will have surgery later this week and assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the
Mohamed Salah’s Egypt knocked reigning champions Ivory Coast out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a 3-2 win in the quarter-finals on Saturday, while Victor Osimhen starred as Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 to set up a clash with hosts Morocco. In Agadir, Morocco, a thrilling last-eight tie saw Omar Marmoush and Ramy Rabia net in the first half for the Pharaohs before an own goal by Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh brought the Ivorians back into it. Salah then got Egypt’s third early in the second half and they held on after Guela Doue again reduced the deficit. Egypt is to face Senegal
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE: Sabalenka aims to follow up with a third Australian Open win, while Taiwanese Joanna Garland claimed a WTA 125 title in Canberra Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to reach her third Brisbane International final in a row yesterday, a week ahead of the Australian Open. Sabalenka looked in great touch against the tricky Czech, who had won their last three meetings and went into the match as one of the few players with a winning record over the world No. 1. However, Sabalenka showed her class and power as she broke Muchova once in each set to take the semi-final 6-3, 6-4 in 89 minutes to face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final. “I struggled against her a couple of times [in
RSS