What can you say? he said of the three-year-old owned by publisher David Sullivan
Posted in General on 06. Sep, 2010
“What can you say?” he said of the three-year-old, owned by publisher David Sullivan. “It may be a surprise, but it’s now in the form book.” It was a second top-level winner here for Meehan this autumn, after Donna Blini’s Cheveley Park Stakes, and set the seal on the season for champion jockey-elect Jamie Spencer. In the day’s sub-plot, the battle between Aidan O’Brien and Sir Michael Stoute for the trainers’ title, the Newmarket handler maintained his lead, thanks to Maraahel and the Jockey Club Cup winner, Cover Up, on whom the Ballydoyle No 1, Fallon, rode like a demon for his old boss. BETS OF THE DAY Serious bet: Lou Du Moulin Mas (Market Rasen 3.50) is consistent – consistently second (six times last season), but is well weighted to win today Fun bet: Bond Boy (Musselburgh 4.00). His form may read 060 rather than 007, but he could announce himself as boldly as Daniel Craig.. Ballydoyle. Just to breathe the name of the verdant County Tipperary acres, guarded by the mountain of Slievenamon, evokes a sense of majesty; of rippling-muscled, flowing equine horsepower, blessed with smooth acceleration.
For those of a certain age, the name M V O’Brien adjacent to that of a horse in a racecard provoked a frisson similar to that experienced by a prestige-car enthusiast eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new Bentley
Never vast numbers of them at any time. But the name said it all, and with the likes of Nijinsky, Sir Ivor, Roberto, The Minstrel and the rest, all synonymous with excellence – that particular quartet all partnered by his long-standing “equerry”, Lester Piggott – the son of Cork created a legacy bequeathed to his namesake, Aidan. Though he is no blood relation, he surely emerged from a similar gene pool as the man acknowledged as “The Boss” or simply “MV”.
The War in Europe still raged when Michael Vincent O’Brien embarked upon a training career. By the time he retired, in 1994, the first Iraq war was over. It is a measure of the durability of a man who retired 11 years ago that a fascination with ?te bloodstock still resides within him. In the intervening years, O’Brien propelled himself to immortality; first over jumps, Cottage Rake claiming a sequence of three Cheltenham Gold Cup triumphs, followed by a trio of Grand National victories; then transferring his genius primarily to the Flat.In a recent table of the 35 best stallions worldwide, he had trained no fewer than nine: Nijinsky, Sadler’s Wells, Southern Halo, Caerleon, Alleged, Sir Ivor, Roberto, Royal Academy, and Bluebird.His wife Jacqueline has supported him since their marriage in 1951, and as a renowned photographer, she has focused on him and his operation with her Rolleiflexes and Nikons.
Her studies of subjects, both equine and landscape, are renowned.Her soon-to-be launched biography* of O’Brien is testament to a trainer the like of whom we will not witness again. Who but O’Brien, then 73 and in the twilight of his career, would have inveigled Piggott, a 54-year-old grandfather, out of retirement to partner Royal Academy – a horse he had captured for $3.5 million in one sensational bidding bout at Keeneland – to win the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Mile?”It is probably my most abiding memory of all,” Jacqueline admits “Vincent only had a few horses in training by then He had flu and couldn’t go himself. So I went, with my son Charles [O'Brien's then assistant trainer]. Vincent had got Lester to ride, which everyone said was crazy. It was like a miracle.”Only marginally less emotional was the victory of College Chapel who won at Royal Ascot when O’Brien was about to retire “He led the horse in Before that, he’d only led in Nijinsky [of the Flat horses].
The crowd that day burst the sound barrier.”Today, O’Brien spends most of his time in and around their home near Dublin. They spend the winter at Jacqueline’s birthplace in Perth, Australia. He is now “rising 89″, but from his standpoint of godfather of what has become a blue blood empire – his son-in-law, John Magnier, married to daughter Sue, is the guiding force of the Coolmore stud – he can survey the extended family’s fortunes O’Brien still has horses in training with Charles. Magnier’s daughter, Katie, is married to the bright young trainer David Wachman.”He’s in great spirits,” says Jacqueline of her husband. “Though walking is a bit difficult these days.” O’Brien has always been a reluctant self-publicist, and that inclination has not been altered by retirement.