Joseph O'Brien

Scott Heider has privately purchased listed-winning 3-year-old filly Twilight Spinner (GB) (Twilight Son {GB}), who has joined trainer Joseph O'Brien. A £30,000 Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale purchase by Jason Kelly, Twilight Spinner was third at first asking at Pontefract in April for Hambleton Racing and trainer David O'Meara before breaking her maiden at Ripon. She won the six furlong Listed Cecil Frail S. at Haydock by 6 1/2 lengths on May 21. "Kevin Blake picked her out for Scott and she looks like she's a progressive filly," said O'Brien,...

A field of eight is set to go postward in the GII Belmont Gold Cup at Belmont Park Friday, with only Conviction Trade (Exchange Rate) ever having attempted the marathon two-mile distance. The 5-year-old set the pace before settling for second in the H Allen Jerkens S. at Gulfstream Park last December. Again on the front end early, he tired to third in the 1 1/2-mile John B. Connally Turf Cup S. at Sam Houston Jan. 31. Eighth in the Mar. 20 GII Muniz Memorial Classic S. at Fair Grounds...

Now that the abnormally dry Spring has given way to an ongoing wet spell, Sunday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas at The Curragh looks poised for John Oxley's Pretty Gorgeous (Fr) (Lawman {Fr}) to re-impose herself on a division she had largely mastered by the end of 2020. Labelled a 'TDN Rising Star' on her impressive debut at Bellewstown in July, she remained unbeaten on ground softer than good thereafter, adding this track's G2 Debutante S. and Newmarket's G1 Fillies' Mile to her tally. Second to Shale (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})...

Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}), the winner of the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas, is among the 14 entries for the G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas. The bay Jim Bolger homebred won the G3 Killavullan S. at two, and was first past the post in the Listed Ballylinch Stud "Red Rocks" 2000 Guineas Trial S. on Apr. 11 prior to his 2000 Guineas score. He most recently contested the G1 Emirates Poule d'Essai des Poulains at ParisLongchamp in very soft ground to finish sixth. His Group 1-winning stablemate Mac Swiney...

Group 1 winner Thunder Moon (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) will make his next start in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas on May 1. A winner of a maiden at The Curragh in August, the bay stepped up and won the G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. by 1 ½ lengths there in September. He lost his unbeaten record with a third-place finish in the G1 Darley Dewhurst S. behind St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Wembley (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), both trained by trainer Joseph O'Brien's father Aidan. "He's wintered very...

Entries were revealed on Wednesday for the G1 Qipco 2000 Guineas and G1 Qipco 1000 Guineas, with 72 colts signed on for the 2000 Guineas on May 1 and 63 fillies for the 1000 the following day. Aidan O'Brien has saddled 10 winners of the first Classic of the season and has 12 entries for the 2000 Guineas, including 2-year-old champion St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and G2 Vintage S. scorer Battleground (War Front). O'Brien's son Joseph, likewise, has Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez's G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. winner Thunder...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Today's Observations features a half-brother to an American Grade I winner. 4.30 Dundalk, Mdn, €14,000, 2yo, 7f (AWT) Joseph O'Brien trainee DEVIL'S OUTLAW (War Front) was led out unsold at $785,000 as a Keeneland September yearling and is a half-brother to GI American Oaks heroine Competitionofideas (Speightstown), herself a...

Classic hero Galileo Chrome (Ire) (Australia {GB}-Curious Mind {GB}, by Dansili {GB}) will stand at Starfield Stud in Ireland next year for the National Hunt division of Compas Stallions. The bay, trained by Joseph O'Brien for the Galileo Chrome Partnership, took the G1 St Leger S. at Doncaster last out in September, his fourth straight win from five starts. He also saluted in the Listed Yeats S. A fee for the Mohamed Ali Meddeb-bred, who has $313,148 in earnings, will be announced later. "A tall, scopey, athletic individual with a...

Scott Heider's G3 Gallinule S. winner Crossfirehurricane (Kitten's Joy) will travel to America this weekend, where he will be trained as a 4-year-old in 2021 by Mike McCarthy in California. Bred by Heider in partnership with Craig Bernick's Glen Hill Farm, Crossfirehurricane was shipped to Ireland to join trainer Joseph O'Brien. He broke his maiden in his lone start at two and won a conditions race and the Listed Patton S. in February going seven furlongs and a mile both at Dundalk before stepping up to 2000 metres to win...

Now I do realise that I am in a minority of one here. But while everyone else seems to perceive some unique alchemy between Galileo (Ire) and Danehill, to me the number of good horses obtained by that cross is pretty much as you should expect when one breed-shaping stallion is mated with the daughters of another. After all, their dams will in turn have been well-bred and/or accomplished runners, simply to have gained access to an elite sire. If we call this "selective breeding", we are surely flattering ourselves....

The Lexus Melbourne Cup went to Joseph O'Brien for the second time in four years as the Jim Bolger-bred Twilight Payment (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) gave owner Lloyd Williams his seventh victory in Australia's storied race under a bold front-running ride from Jye McNeil. It was a clean sweep of the top three places for European raiders and, in an echo of 2017 when Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) held off Johannes Vermeer (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), O'Brien's father Aidan had to settle for second best when Irish Derby runner-up Tiger Moth...

Following Friday's G1 Fillies' Mile victory of Pretty Gorgeous (Fr) (Lawman {Fr}), Joseph O'Brien could be celebrating a notable Newmarket double on Saturday if fellow TDN Rising Star Thunder Moon (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) can provide the stable with further glory in the G1 Darley Dewhurst S. Showing an impressive surge of acceleration to upstage the re-opposing Ballydoyle pair Wembley (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) in The Curragh's G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. over this seven-furlong trip Sept. 13, Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez's bay appears the main...