Joseph O’Brien Stable Tour

It’s hard to believe that last Sunday marked the fourth anniversary of Joseph O’Brien’s remarkable four-timer on his first day as a trainer in 2016.

The 27-year-old has packed an incredible amount into a short period of time and the 2020 Flat season looks poised to deliver further success for the Owning Hill handler.

He may be without brilliant Breeders’ Cup heroine Iridessa, who has been retired after sustaining an injury and sold on for a breeding career in Japan, but his impressive squad looks well stocked with quality on all fronts.

As leading Australian owner Lloyd Williams continues to concentrate on his European operation, O’Brien has added some smart recruits to his team, such as former James Fanshawe-trained star Pondus, Australian Group 2 winner Yucatan and unexposed ex-Alain de Royer-Dupre four-year-old Verimli.

Raise You is another interesting addition to O’Brien’s ranks from the Andrew Balding stable, while Middle Park Stakes third Summer Sands, who was bought out of Richard Fahey’s stable for 625,000gns at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale, is also a high-class recruit.

A talented band of two-year-olds from last season could yet deliver a second Irish Classic for the trainer in 2020, with New York Girl and Degraves likely to have a significant impact in the three-year-old division.

O’Brien continues to prove himself as one of the best in the business under both codes and his quality ammunition should put him in position for an exciting campaign.

Stable facts

 Yard Owning Hill

 Where Piltown, County Kilkenny

 Started training 2016

 Horses in yard 150

 Strike-rate last season 12%

 Total prize-money 2019 (Flat) €2,844,734

 Members of staff 80

 Head lad Faisal Hayat

 Assistants Mark Power and Brendan Powell

 Secretaries Mark Hackett and Emma Dunning

 Travelling head girls/lads Jim O’Brien, Tina Evans, Paddy Doody and Damien Byrne

 Jockeys Seamie Heffernan, Wayne Lordan, Declan McDonogh, Gary Halpin, Edward Greatrex and Trevor Whelan

 Apprentices Shane Crosse, Alan Persse, Hugh Horgan, Dylan Browne McMonagle, Mikey Sheehy and Cathal Gahan

 Website josephobrienracing.com

Flat winners in Ireland

2019 103

2018 107

2017 52

2016 23

Profit/loss to a €1 stake

2019 -€173.72

2018 -€10.86

2017 -€149.00

2016 -€0.65

Older Horses

 Four-year-old colt Australia (sire) – Artful (dam)

 Owner: Lloyd J Williams

 Form figures: 52112-

 Racing Post Rating: 115; Official rating: 111

He’s done well over the winter and we’re very happy with him. He runs in the Heritage Stakes at Navan on Wednesday.

 5 g Camelot – Cinnamon Rose

 OTI Racing

 12310-0

 RPR 114 OR 112

He’s had a nice break since running in Saudi Arabia in February. He’s going to be campaigned with the second half of the season in mind.

 5 h Camelot – Question Times

 Lloyd J Williams

 442160-

 RPR 116 OR 112

He looks well and could go for the Mooresbridge Stakes at the Curragh on Friday. We’re looking forward to getting him started and are very happy with where we are with him. He travelled well through the Melbourne Cup but probably doesn’t get the trip as much as anything. We’ll be dropping him back in trip this year.

 5 g Frankel – L’Ancresse

 Lloyd J Williams Syndicate

 143354-

 RPR 119 OR 118

He ran a huge race when third in the Gold Cup last year but it would be a big ask to run there for his first run of the year. He’ll probably start off in the Saval Beg at Leopardstown on Sunday or the Martin Molony at Limerick next week. He’s training well and obviously ran well in the Melbourne Cup. He’s a lovely horse to have and we’re looking forward to the season ahead with him.

 4 g Holy Roman Emperor – Delicate Charm

 Long Wait Two Partnership

 56322-1

 RPR 107 OR 104

He’s still improving and won well on the first day of the season at Naas. He’d run well in defeat many times last year so it was good to see him get a win on the board early this season. He could run in the Mooresbridge Stakes on Friday. He’s a good, hardy horse and we think he should be competitive in Group races this year.

 4 g Australia – Ultra Appeal

 Mrs C C Regalado-Gonzalez

 32/21-

 RPR 86 OR 86

He could run in the Irish Lincoln on Friday. He’s a course-and-distance winner and we think he’ll be competitive off his rating. We’re looking forward to the season ahead with him and he might stay a bit further than a mile. He should have plenty of options.

 4 g Sea The Moon – Diablerette

 Lloyd J Williams

 162239-

 RPR 111 OR 107

He’s a nice horse who did well for James Fanshawe last year and has settled in well with us. He’ll probably start off in the Martin Molony Stakes at Limerick next week. Obviously we’re still learning about him but we’re happy with what we’ve seen so far.

 4 c Lope De Vega – Hikari

 J Palmer-Brown & Brian Gleeson

 2/1103-

 RPR 108 OR 105

He’s settled in really well since joining us from Andrew Balding’s yard and seems to be another nice horse. He’ll have a couple of options and I think we’ll just get him started over a mile or ten furlongs and then feel our way from there. At this stage it’ll be the middle to second half of the season we’ll concentrate on with him, but it’ll be nice to get a run under his belt before we go any further. We like what we’ve seen so far.

 6 h High Chaparral – Sitara

 N C Williams, L J Williams Et Al

 01241/0

 RPR 121 OR 119

It’s great to have him back with us and obviously he’s been off the track for a while since having one run after winning the Melbourne Cup in 2017. He’ll start off in a conditions race in July and seems in good shape.

 5 h Excelebration – Maglietta Fina

 Mrs C C Regalado-Gonzalez

 44136-4

 RPR 115 OR 110

He’s a real solid Group horse and will probably start off in the Gladness Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday. He ran nicely in Saudi Arabia and came back well. We’ll probably campaign him in all those 6f or 7f Group races.

 7 g Teofilo – Dream On Buddy

 Lloyd J Williams

 41170-7

 RPR 111 OR 112

He’s a solid, hardy horse and we like what we’ve seen from him since his last start in Saudi Arabia. He’s been there in all those good staying races over the last few years so hopefully he can pick one up again this season. He’ll probably run in the Saval Beg Stakes on Sunday.

 4 g Born To Sea – Verriya

 Lloyd J Williams

 1112-

 RPR 100 OR 100

He’s a nice horse who has come to us from France and been training nicely. He’s rated 100 and could start off in the Ragusa Handicap at the Curragh on Saturday. He seems to have settled in well and looks a straightforward horse.

 6 h Galileo – Six Perfections

 Lloyd J Williams

 1310/07-

 RPR 113 OR 108

He’s been off the track for a little while and had a setback in Australia, but he’s trained well since joining us and we like what we’ve seen from him. He’s a good horse on his day so hopefully we can get him back to something like his old ability.

Three-year-olds

 3 f Zoffany – Simply A Star

 Scott C Heider

 210322-

 RPR 104 OR 102

She’s wintered well and was a consistent filly last season, getting her black type. The main objective this year is for her to win a stakes race. She starts off in the Fillies’ Trial at Leopardstown on Tuesday and we’ll see how she goes from there.

3 c Kingman – Overturned

 Smith/Magniers/Shanahan/Carthy

 12168-2

 RPR 104 OR 104

He’s a good, quick horse who was a Listed winner last year. He ran well in the Listed Committed Stakes on Monday after stumbling coming out of the gates. We’re looking forward to the year ahead with him. He loves quick ground.

3 f Champs Elysees – Slieve

 Mark Dobbin

 14-

 RPR 89 OR 93

She met with a setback on her last start in the Flame of Tara Stakes and that’s why she didn’t run again. She had a bit of time off but is back in good shape and runs in the Fillies’ Trial at Leopardstown on Tuesday. She seemed to handle an ease in the ground when she won but I wouldn’t have thought that’s a necessity for her.

3 c Redoute’s Choice – Thislilsoulofmin

 Charles E Fipke

 41-2

 RPR 88 OR 89

He’s done nothing wrong and there’s a chance he could run in the Gallinule Stakes at the Curragh on Friday as we think he’ll enjoy a step up in distance. He still looks a bit babyish in some of his races and should be progressive with racing.

3 c Kitten’s Joy – Louvakhova

 Scott C Heider

 1-11

 RPR 90 OR 96

He’s a nice horse who has done nothing wrong. He’s progressed with each run and we might look at going slightly up in trip with him, perhaps in the Gallinule Stakes on Friday.

3 c Camelot – Daganya

 Williams, Gudinski & Ateam Syndicate

 4311-

 RPR 104 OR 106

We’re happy with him and he’ll probably run in the second half of June. Trying to win a Group 1 with him would be the ambition, but he’s got to step up a little bit to get to that level. He finished off his season well last year racing on easy ground, but that was mostly to do with the time of the year we ran him. We’d be hopeful he can handle better ground.

3 c Medaglia d’Oro – Rusty Slipper

 Sun Bloodstock

 21-1

 RPR 98 OR 92

He had a little setback after his last run at Southwell, where he enjoyed the surface and won well. We’re happy with how he’s come back and he’ll start off in a premier handicap or Listed race in late June or early July. He could travel at some stage. We can go wherever we want with him but the experience on the surface last time will have done him well.

3 f Make Believe – Queen Of Power

 Blue Devil Racing Stable LLC

 22-

 RPR 82 OR –

She looks a nice maiden and is ready to run. As a well-bred filly, we’ll be hoping that she can get some black type at some stage if we can.

3 f New Approach – Annee Lumiere

 Healthy Wood Co Limited

 41-

 RPR 105 OR 103

She’s a lovely filly. She won her Group race in the Weld Park Stakes and will probably get started in the Irish 1,000 Guineas before we take it from there. We see her as a filly who will stay further. She could be an Oaks type.

3 c Coach House – Koharu

 Mrs C C Regalado-Gonzalez

 16531-8

 RPR 111 OR 109

He’s an exciting horse who was third in the Middle Park for Richard Fahey last year. He’s fast and training well. We were happy with how he ran on his first start for us at Naas on Monday and hopefully we can have a good season ahead with him.

3 c Free Eagle – Alina

 Sun Bloodstock

 21-

 RPR 77 OR 85

He’s a nice horse who has done nothing wrong in his two starts at Dundalk. He’s rated 85 and we’ll probably start him off in a handicap, hoping he can progress from there.

Two-year-olds

“We have a nice bunch of two-year-olds. A couple who will run early are Tar Heel (Zoffany – Nidhaal) and another Zoffany colt out of a mare called Shelley Beach.

“We could also run a Zoffany filly out of Timely called Royal Blend, as well as Dense Star (Starspangledbanner – Condensed), who made a nice debut at Naas on Monday and kept on well.”

Two for the tracker

“Hopefully Thames River can progress this season and New York Girl is a lovely three-year-old filly we’re looking forward to.”

Star quality

Latrobe

Dark horse

Pondus