I FIND it impossible to adequately describe Jacqueline O’Brien.

For many people in the racing industry she will forever be known as the wife of Vincent O’Brien, the greatest racehorse trainer of all time and voted the most influential figure in the history of the sport. However, to simply describe Jacqueline as Vincent’s wife would be to do her a huge discredit.

Always by his side, she was pivotal in attracting some of the world’s wealthiest people to own racehorses in Ireland.

The foundations laid by her late husband resulted in the global influence that the training establishment at Ballydoyle has become, and even more so of Coolmore Stud.

Jacqueline O’Brien continued to own and race thoroughbreds after her husband’s death and her children and grandchildren have distinguished themselves in the sector.

Equines were just one part of the Jacqueline O’Brien story. A prolific author and editor of a number of volumes, she showed great versatility in the range of subjects she could write authoritatively about. Books on great Irish houses and castles, the history of Western Australia, her own husband’s life and horses, and most recently her involvement in a history of Ireland’s premier classic race, the Irish Derby, all came easily to her.

Her work in this area was not confined to writing or photography only; she liked to see a book through the entire process. This, I know, involved a huge hands-on effort with publishers, designers, printers and more. She was a perfectionist.

At an age when most people were well retired, Jacqueline O’Brien was enjoying and celebrating life. Though she fought serious illness with never a moan or complaint in public, she also took to further studying and when she graduated in recent years with a diploma in photography she won the gold medal – in a class of the brightest young people. Age was never a barrier.

Incredibly energetic, Jacqueline O’Brien was an inspirational person to know. If you were to meet her for the first time you would never guess that she was in her 90th year – indeed you would have taken her to be between 20 and 30 years younger. She was remarkable and always just waiting for a new adventure.

I was extremely fortunate and honoured to know this special lady. She was a lady in every sense of that word. Thankfully her family and her life’s work will ensure that she will never be forgotten.

Leo Powell

March 2016