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Kilkenny
By Enda McElhinney
The oldest son of Aidan and Annemarie O'Brien, Joseph O'Brien is one of four siblings that grew up amid the splendour of Ballydoyle.
Joseph shares many traits with his father. He's soft-spoken and impeccably well-mannered.
He rode into the history books as Irish champion jockey at just 19, racking up an impressive tally of big-race winners, the highlight being the Epsom Derby on Camelot.
His sisters Sarah and Ana were European medallists in eventing and his brother, Donnacha, was a Classic-winning rider and has now also followed into the training ranks where he has enjoyed elite-level successes. Little wonder, then, the O'Brien's are regarded as the First family of the turf in Ireland.
Joseph O'Brien began riding in 2009 and the following year shared the Champion Apprentice title with Gary Carroll and Ben Curtis.
He rode his first Irish Classic winner aged 17 when Roderic O'Connor won the Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh and he became the youngest jockey to win a Breeders' Cup race when successful on St Nicholas Abbey in the Breeders' Cup Turf aged 18.
He was Ireland's champion jockey on the Flat in 2012 and 2013, with 126 winners in the later success, eclipsing Michael Kinane's 20-year-old record of 115 winners.
He won four Classics in England, the Epsom Derby twice as Australia in 2014 added to Camelot's success. He also landed the Newmarket Guineas on Camelot and was second in the St Leger at Doncaster, going closest to bridging the gap to Nijinsky in 1970 as the first horse since to win the Triple Crown.
Joseph won the St Leger a year later on Leading Light and in March 2016 he announced that he would be stepping down from riding to concentrate on his new career as a trainer, aged 23, after battling against height and weight.
Joseph soon set about following in the footsteps of his father. Set in the picturesque location of Owning Hill near Piltown in Co Kilkenny, Carriganog Racing is headed up by Joseph and is based in a yard that is steeped in racing history.
His grandfather Joe Crowley was the first to train from the yard and his parents Annemarie and Aidan were both crowned Irish Champion National Hunt Trainers from there.
He was widely credited with training 2016 Triumph Hurdle winner Ivanovich Gorbatov at Cheltenham, though Aidan's name went in the history books.
Intricately, ridden by his younger brother Donnacha, won the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes in 2016 during Irish Champions Weekend for his first top level win.
He got his Cheltenham breakthrough with a double in 2019 as Band Of Outlaws won the Fred Winter and Early Doors landed the Martin Pipe.
He's now a Grade 1-winning jumps trainer to go with his Group 1 successes on the Flat.
He landed his first British Classic as a trainer when Galileo Chrome won the St Leger in 2020, his first Royal Ascot win with State Of Rest in the 2022 Prince of Wales's Stakes and in 2024 Banbridge won the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day.
He has trained Group 1 winners in Ireland, Britain, France, Germany, Australia and America.
Joseph O'Brien famously landed the Melbourne Cup in 2017, just a year after taking out his training license.
Rekindling became the youngest winner since Skipton in 1941, and back in second spot was none other than Johannes Vermeer ? trained by Aidan O'Brien!
