Joseph O'Brien

You can keep your fashionistas, foodies, royal processions and Group 1 races. Give me the scenes that followed the success of Crystal Black (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes any day of the week instead.  Win, lose or draw, the Wear A Pink Ribbon Syndicate who own Crystal Black came to Ascot for a party. Boy did their rapidly progressive gelding provide them with something to celebrate and the scenes that followed his success for the father and son team of Gerry and Colin Keane will go...

Leading Royal Ascot fancy A Piece Of Heaven (Fr) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) will sport a new set of silks when he lines out in the Copper Horse Handicap after Syndicates Racing secured a deal for the potential Melbourne Cup contender to join Joseph O'Brien.  That bit of business comes as a double blow to A Piece Of Heaven's former trainer Barry Fitzgerald as, not only did he lose his flag-bearer in the transaction, but he now finds himself without a yard to train from after a fallout with his landlord...

Starfield Stud's first-season sire King Of Change (GB) (by Farhh {GB}) got off the mark on Friday evening when his 2-year-old filly Lady With The Lamp (Ire) made a rare foray to Bath a successful one for the Joseph O'Brien stable. Sent off the 7-2 favourite having been third on debut at Windsor last month, the daughter of the ex-Godolphin mare Caring Touch (Elusive Quality) was positioned behind the leaders early by Billy Loughnane before being produced to lead approaching the furlong pole and score by half a length from...

Joseph O'Brien has laid out an adventure in America for juvenile Group 1-winner Al Riffa (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), the target being the GI Manhattan S. in New York on June 8, in a path eventually routing to the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. After having his sophomore season disrupted by injury, Al Riffa resurfaced in the G1 Prix Ganay at ParisLongchamp and was only beaten by three-quarters of a length in a wild scramble on the wire. O'Brien admits his charge's size is something of a concern, and...

Royal Ascot-bound Cowardofthecounty (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) has been snapped up by Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Stables and other American-based partners. Cowardofthecounty made a scintillating start to his career when scoring on debut for Joseph O'Brien over 6f at the Curragh.  The form has since been franked with the runner-up, the Aidan O'Brien-rained Whistlejacket (Ire) (No Nay Never), landing the First Flier S. over 5f at the Curragh in similarly impressive fashion.  Cowardofthecounty is prominent in the betting for the Coventry S. at odds of 5-1 and, according to O'Brien, the...

Brian Kavanagh has said that he agrees completely with Johnny Murtagh's assertion that Ireland should not be "resting on its laurels" when it comes to prize-money while Irish Racehorse Trainers Association [IRTA] chief Ryan McElligott expressed a wish that the Curragh boss's decision to up the minimum prize fund at the track to €20,000 could stir up similar change among other racecourses.  Leopardstown, Ireland's only other Group 1 Flat track, has followed the Curragh's lead in raising its basement prize-money levels to €15,000. However, leading trainers Joseph O'Brien and Ado...

Group 2 winner Rogue Millennium (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), a winner of the Duke of Cambridge S. and second in the G1 Matron S. last term for Tom Clover, is an "exciting prospect" for 2024, according to new trainer Joseph O'Brien. Formerly owned by the Rogues Gallery, who picked her up for 35,000gns at the Tattersalls Mare December Sale as an unraced 2-year-old in 2021, the now-5-year-old mare was fifth in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. on QIPCO Champions Day last out in October. She was knocked down for 1.65...

CHELTENHAM, UK -- The biggest cheer all day at Cheltenham came from the Ascot crowd. Sir Francis Brooke, first Her Majesty's and now His Majesty's Representative at Ascot was engulfed by back-slappers and well-wishers as the horse he owns with Richard Pilkington, Chianti Classico (Ire) (Shantou {Ire}), ground his way through the extended three miles of the Ultima Handicap Chase to provide the sole strike for Britain on a day dominated - predictably - by Willie Mullins.  Chianti Classico's trainer Kim Bailey has had his share of Cheltenham glory but...

Al Shira'aa boss Kieran Lalor has admitted that it will be hard to top last season's achievements in winning the G1 Prix Saint-Alary with Jannah Rose (Ire) but nominated the Willie McCreery-trained Group 2 scorer Vespertilio (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) as being the operation's best chance of delivering big-race riches in 2024.  Meanwhile, the decision has been made to retire the powerful owner-breeder's flagship performer Jannah Rose, with a visit to superstar stallion Dubawi (Ire) pencilled in for the four-year-old this spring. Lalor explained how retiring the Group 1-winning...

Group 1 second Islandsinthestream (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and the group-placed Mythology (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) have both been sold to Hong Kong interests and will race on in that jurisdiction, Joseph O'Brien confirmed to The Irish Field on Tuesday. The former is now in the barn of Tony Cruz, with Mythology settled in with Pierre Ng. "Everybody needs to keep trading for the bottom line," O'Brien told The Irish Field. "We're lucky to have had 2-year-olds who could compete in those top juvenile races and now it's all about looking...

There were emotional scenes in the early parts of the Saturday session at Arqana when Without Words (Mendelssohn), who Mick Murphy and Sarah O'Connell of Longways Stables failed to sell at the breeze-up here in May, was knocked down to Justin Casse on behalf of Joseph O'Brien for €450,000.  Without Words carried O'Connell's colours to victory on her second start for trainer Francois Rohaut at Toulouse. There was a kaleidoscope of significance to the win and subsequent sale with Murphy revealing afterwards that his wife had recently been diagnosed with...

Hanshen Tham has become one of the most recognisable faces on the bloodstock circuit in Britain and Ireland but that's not to say that many people know a lot about the owner-breeder and pinhooker. Instead, Tham prefers to go about his business quietly.  This year was a big one for the 34-year-old. His family enjoyed its greatest success on a racecourse when homebred Thornbrook landed a listed contest in France for Joseph O'Brien. Not long afterwards, the Tham family enjoyed its biggest day in the ring when a Night Of...