FROM Flemington to the Breeders’ Cup, Saudi Arabia to the Cox Plate, Joseph O’Brien’s highest-profile achievements as a trainer have tended to be gems conjured up from outside the traditional box.

It is his exploits on home soil in recent months that have been really catching the eye, however, and perhaps we are witnessing the early stages of what could be a record season for the dominant dual-purpose operation.

O’Brien hit the headlines in Britain with A Piece Of Heaven’s deliciously-executed Chester Cup plot last week, and that theme continued domestically with James J Braddock downing Pierre Bonnard late on in the Group 3 Cashel Palace Hotel Derby Trial Stakes on Sunday.

In his always-informative column in these pages a few weeks ago, Tony Keenan noted that “O’Brien has been the main story of the early flat season,” and the results that have followed since have truly hit home that fact. It is noticeable just how strongly he has started the 2026 flat season in Ireland relative to other years.

The Covid-impacted season of 2020 excluded, the following table (accurate up to before last night’s card at Leopardstown) shows O’Brien’s combined totals across the months of March, April and May since he began training.

It’s clear to see that he has never started a season in such a prolific manner - already seven winners clear of his best return for these three months combined. There are a number of noteworthy off-shoots from the 2026 figures, but none more so than the fact that he has reached 35 winners with more than half a month to go in the month of May. He still has the chance to drive on further and set an even bigger total for the opening months of the season.

Maiden quality

A standout theme to this year’s figures is just how many maiden and non-handicap winners have formed the current haul.

From the beginning of 2026, O’Brien has saddled 44 flat winners in Ireland. It is no mean feat that half of those (22) came in maiden company. Another 14% were in blacktype races (four Group 3 winners/two listed winners), and 20% (nine) came in other non-handicaps.

That leaves just seven handicap winners in the pile. It must be viewed as encouraging for the remainder of the season that the majority of O’Brien’s early-season scorers have been collecting in generally solid company and could well have mileage left in them to progress through the campaign, especially in the case of his young maiden winners.

Many stables find life tougher when operating in a period without access to their number-one rider, yet this blistering beginning got underway in a period when champion jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle was on the sidelines with a back injury. That is testament to the depth of quality riders in the Carriganóg team.

Declan McDonogh has been a reliable pair of hands to call on for 13 of the 44 winners this year (almost 30%), while it was eye-catching to see how seamlessly Joey Sheridan stepped up to capitalise on opportunities. The Group 1-winning 24-year-old had a career-best season in 2025 with 36 winners (up from a previous best of 24 in 2021). He has partnered 16 winners for O’Brien already this calendar year and sits second in the jockeys’ championship on 15 winners since the turf campaign began. Ronan Whelan and Scott McCullagh (including a Group 3 success on Starford) have been able deputies too, though it must be said that Browne McMonagle has been riding like a man possessed since getting back in action on May 3rd.

He bagged a double on his first day back at Cork, another brace at Gowran two days later, the Chester Cup last week in Britain, a wide-margin winner at Naas the next day and that was quickly followed by a treble at Leopardstown on Sunday. He rattled in another double at Roscommon at Monday and a consecutive brace the following evening at Killarney.

In the money

All told, Browne McMonagle won on 13 of his first 48 rides since resuming race-riding (27% strike rate), along with a further nine seconds.

Additionally, 37 of his 48 rides (77%) have been in the prize money. While trailing the pace-setting Billy Lee (23 winners) and currently sixth in the jockeys’ championship, it’s hardly any surprise to see the Breeders’ Cup-winning rider cut this week to even-money favourite for a repeat title.

There is always a chance when a stable gets off to a rapid start that it can have an adverse effect later in the season. However, when considering the type of quality pedigrees at hand, the strong ownership support behind the yard and the impressive nature of many performances in recent weeks, it feels like there is enough going for the yard to instead use this as a platform for a massive year.

Aidan O’Brien set a record for winners in an Irish turf season when saddling an astonishing 152 winners in 2018. It will take something truly special from any trainer to outgun that type of figure in future, but Joseph will have several opportunities to have a crack at it in time, given he only turns 33 next weekend.

This year, he at least has set himself up well to potentially exceed last year’s seasonal total of 100 and maybe even take down his career-best haul of 108 from 2021. ‘Tús maith leath na hoibre’ and all that.

IT was terrific to follow the results of a landmark achievement for Irish connections down under in recent days.

Hats off to Wicklow native and former champion conditional National Hunt rider Shane Jackson on being crowned leading trainer at the 2026 Warrnambool May Racing Carnival - emerging from the prominent meeting with four winners (and doing so without a string of massive scale).

The feat means that Jackson is now the only person to be leading jockey and leading trainer at ‘The ‘Bool’, coming nearly two years since he opened his own stable in Australia.

It’s clearly not straightforward for anyone to up sticks and build a career so far from home, but Jackson - with the key support of his partner Lauren - backed himself a number of years ago in the southern hemisphere. That call has been paying off for some time and the team deserves every bit of luck for their endeavour.