Donnacha O'Brien has made the transition from jockey to trainer a successful one after notching his first winner at Dundalk on Friday evening, the 3-year-old filly Flower Garland (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) winning a one-mile maiden in the colours of his mother, Annemarie O'Brien. Flower Garland was O'Brien's fourth runner, and he has had two placed.
“It's nice to get it [the first winner] out of the way,” he said. “She did it well. She was entitled to probably win off her mark, but I didn't think she'd win that well.
“She gets the mile well and I think she'll probably stay a mile and a quarter as well. She had plenty of experience and was very fit.”
The 21-year-old O'Brien rode 10 Group 1 winners during his time in the saddle, headed by G1 2000 Guineas winners Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Magna Grecia (Jpn) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), as well as G1 Investec Oaks winner Forever Together (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and G1 Irish Derby winner Latrobe (Ire) (Camelot {GB}).
O'Brien, who rode his first winner at Dundalk at the age of 16, said he has 35 horses in his yard.
“We have a few nice well-bred 2-year-olds, the likes of Fancy Blue [a Deep Impact colt from the family of High Chaparral] and a few 3-year-olds that haven't run,” he said. “Hopefully there are a few decent horses there.”
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