Joseph O'Brien

It's early-February and already the Flat enthusiasts are getting excited about what stallion will end the season as champion first-season sire. A futile exercise, one would have thought? Not a bit of it. Even the greatest handlers of young stock, Malcolm Bastard, Alan McCabe, Joseph O'Brien, Conor Hoban and Dick Brabazon, men who know better than most the folly that comes with predicting 2-year-old talent, are keen to have their say on which up-and-coming stallion can make the biggest splash this season.  O'Brien is sticking loyal to Ten Sovereigns (Ire)...

Trainer Joseph O'Brien intends to send a string of five horses to compete Down Under at the Sydney Autumn Carnival, Racing.com reported on Tuesday. The quintet, which consists of G3 Ballyroan S. runner-up Cleveland (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), winner Temple Of Artemis (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), triple group winner and Group 1-placed Baron Samedi (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}), G3 Irish St. Leger Trial hero Raise You (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and Statement (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), who won the G3 Concorde S., are supposed to be among the nominations--released later in the...

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. Friday's Observations features a close relative of Shamardal. 5.30 Dundalk, Mdn, €12,500, 2yo, 8f (AWT) JUST AN HOUR (IRE) (Justify) cost China Horse Club International 450,000gns at the 2021 Book 1 Sale, with the dam being a half-sister to the champion and sire luminary Shamardal and to the G2...

Two of Ireland's leading jockeys--Ben Coen and Mike Sheehy--will be plying their trade in New South Wales, Australia for the next few months. Coen, who is the number one jockey for conditioner Johnny Murtagh, and last year won the G1 Irish St Leger aboard Sonnyboyliston (Ire) (Power {GB}), will spend his time in Sydney with the Chris Waller stable. "This opportunity gives me the chance to experience another style of racing," he said. "I've never ridden trackwork with times as well, so that's an experience and something you can obviously...

Four-time Group 1 winner State Of Rest will stand for €25,000 in his debut season at Rathbarry Stud. He will also cover in the southern hemisphere at Henry Field's Newgate Stud.  The Starspangledbanner (Aus) colt, who was bred by Tinnakill Bloodstock, won three Group/Grade 1 contests in as many different continents under the management of Joseph O'Brien.  State Of Rest opened his account at the highest level when storming to Saratoga Derby glory in New York last year. He confirmed his reputation as a globetrotting superstar when taking the Cox...

Stride, a new syndicate platform for buying and selling shares in elite-level racehorses, was launched on Tuesday. Stride will purchase unraced yearlings and 2-year-old breeze-up horses in a price bracket from €25,000-€150,000 and will sell shares in syndicates of between two and six horses. The intention is to sell within 12 months of purchase and profits returned to owners. Cillian Barry and Eugene Cosgrove, founders of SportCaller, are the Chairman and Head of Product, respectively, while veteran COO Donal Browne will handle the day-to-day business operations for a venture whose...

Tim Cohen did not come halfway around the world to walk away from the Tattersalls table when the stakes get higher and the American-based agent did not blink in securing I'm A Gambler for 850,000gns on behalf of Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal on day two of the Autumn Horses In Training Sale.  I'm A Gambler (Ire) (No Nay Never), a typical Charlie and Mark Johnston-trained runner who has gone from strength to strength this season and was last seen winning a Listed event at Redcar, will continue his...

   Still a maiden entering Saturday's G3 Staffordstown Stud S. at The Curragh, Michael O'Flynn's Lumiere Rock (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) stepped up to make all and shed that status in style for the Joseph O'Brien stable. Let go at 11-1, the 55,000gns Book 2 graduate was committed by Mikey Sheehy and relished the front-running role, giving plenty when briefly headed 1 1/2 furlongs out by Speirling Beag (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) who had beaten her last time over this mile trip at Gowran Park Sept. 17 and securing a 1...

NEWMARKET, UK-It is going to require a Herculean effort to plunder the best of what is on offer at Tattersalls, according to leading bloodstock agent Alex Elliott who, on the eve of the eagerly-anticipated Book 1 session, described the stock on offer as being "the cream of the crop".  With Sheikh Mohommad, Sheikha Hissa Hamdan Al Maktoum, Aidan O'Brien, John Gosden, Yoshito Tahagi, Chad Brown and a host of American and foreign buyers in attendance at Newmarket on Monday, Elliott is expecting more mayhem in the sales ring this week. ...

Joseph O'Brien trainee Basil Martini (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}--Under Offer {Ire}, by Bated Breath {GB}) was a four-start maiden heading into Sunday's G3 Weld Park S. at the Curragh and returned home with black-type and a first win of any kind after making all under Declan McDonogh in the seven-furlong juvenile fillies' heat. The 12-1 chance had collected prizemoney in all outings to date and went postward for this stakes debut coming back off a short-head second at Punchestown earlier in the month. Basil Martini, the sharpest of 10 into stride,...

Connections of Al Riffa (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), the brilliant G1 National S. winner, are confident that they have a Guineas horse on their hands and are predicting Joseph O'Brien's exciting colt to be even better next year. Khalifa Bin Ahmed Alattiyah, a familiar face on Irish racecourses and on the sales circuit, was at the Curragh on Sunday to see Al Riffa, owned by his cousin Jassim Bin Ali Al Attiyah, tower over his rivals. Not only did Al Riffa provide crack youngster Dylan Browne McMonagle with his first...

Second to the reopposing Hans Andersen (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in his July 16 debut over seven furlongs at the Curragh, Jassim Bin Ali Al Attiyah's Al Riffa (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}--Love On My Mind {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) graduated over the same course and distance last month and stepped forward to provide apprentice jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle with a career high in Sunday's G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S., his third seven-furlong outing at the Co. Kildare venue. The 9-1 chance settled into a rhythm behind all five rivals through...