JOSEPH O’Brien’s consistent demonstration of elite-level results has led to a major breakthrough for the yard, with world-renowned operation Juddmonte adding him to their select roster of trainers.

The move means that the 44-time Group 1/Grade 1-winning trainer is now alongside only Dermot Weld and Ger Lyons in being supported by the iconic pink, white and green silks in the Irish training fraternity. He has received “a couple of two-year-olds” to run towards the second half of the season.

An electric start to the season for O’Brien continued at the Curragh on Tattersalls Irish Guineas weekend when saddling a double, and his tally of winners for April and May are already the highest he has ever posted in his career.

Speaking to the Nick Luck Daily Podcast, O’Brien, who turned 33 last Saturday, said of the new link: “It’s a real privilege for us to be asked to train horses for the Juddmonte family and team there. Obviously they’ve had an incredible number of years as a historic operation and colours, so it really is a privilege.

“It came about through Barry Mahon some time ago, some of the team came and visited the yard and it went from there. We have a couple of two-year-olds, obviously at this stage of the season they will be second half of the season types.

“Hopefully we can have some success and it can be a long and fruitful relationship. It’s very hard to get horses that are capable of turning up in classic and Group 1-type races, there’s only a certain amount in each generation, but some of the bigger breeding operations have the access to these incredible families.

“Juddmonte have that, so we hope that in the coming years we have the type of horse that can compete in those big races.”

Juddmonte’s British-trained team are gearing up for a significant attack on the Epsom classics, with Item a prominent player in the Betfred Derby picture and Legacy Link a live player in the Betfred Oaks.