Irish Greats: The Legacy of Vincent O'Brien Few names in the history of Irish racing stand out more than that of Vincent O'Brien, the formative pioneer for the thoroughbred industry's success on the island of Ireland. The County Cork-born O'Brien transformed the very basis on which his sport was founded and his impression is still felt today. The original Ballydoyle maestro Born in Churchtown in Cork in April 1917, O'Brien would go on to create a legacy of unmatched success and visionary advances in horse racing. In 2003, he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a poll hosted by the Racing Post. O'Brien's tally includes six Epsom Derbys, three Grand Nationals and he also saddled Nijinsky, who remains the only winner of the British Triple Crown since the Second World War. He is the only trainer to have been champion trainer in Britain under both codes, Flat and jumps. He started out as a trainer in 1944 and, seven years later, moved to the Ballydoyle stables in County Tipperary that he would make famous over four decades. He was succeeded there by Aidan O'Brien — though the pair are not related. The coup that founded a racing empire In the autumn of 1944, Vincent O'Brien pulled off a 400/1 ante-post double when Drybob won the Irish Cambridgeshire and Good Days scored in the Irish Cesarewitch. The finances gained from that success are said to have laid the foundation of O'Brien's fortune and allowed him to become the racing behemoth of his generation. He became one of the greatest trainers of all time, firstly over the jumps and then on the Flat, and established Ballydoyle as the pre-eminent training centre in Ireland. He fostered the successful partnership with Coolmore that stands firm to this day at the majestic Ballydoyle estate and continues to see the Tipperary yard dominate in world racing. In 1948 Cottage Rake won the first of three Cheltenham Gold Cups and, after moving from Churchtown to Ballydoyle, O'Brien became the only trainer ever to score a hat-trick in the Grand National (1953-55), achieving the feat with three different horses — Early Mist, Royal Tan and Quare Times. Anything is possible for O'Brien In those early years, Irish horses were sent to England on the boat to race. O'Brien changed all that, commandeering an old RAF plane to bring the likes of Cottage Rake and three-time Champion Hurdle winner Hatton's Grace to Cheltenham. Soon he wanted to branch out to the Flat, where the real money was to be made. That prompted the switch to Ballydoyle in many ways and, once there, he began to innovate and revolutionise the methods of preparing horses. Larkspur won his first Epsom Derby in 1962 and five more wins would follow over two decades as well as victories in all the British Classics and unprecedented success in Ireland, France and America. Legendary BBC commentator Peter O'Sullevan summed up the unlikely prospering of O'Brien from his base in rural Ireland when he wrote in the Daily Express: "It is not in accord with tradition for Classic winners to be trained in Tipperary but I am fast developing the opinion that with Vincent O'Brien, one of Ireland's youngest trainers, almost anything is possible."
