THE trajectory of Donnacha O’Brien’s career has been upward from the very first day he pulled on his boots. He only turns 20 on July 22nd but has already achieved more than many of his weigh room colleagues.

The youngest of four talented children to two champion trainers understands that it is the advantages of birth that have given him opportunities that many of those colleagues could only dream of, but not everybody has the talent, hunger and work ethic required to turn potential into achievement.

Already in 2018, O’Brien has doubled his career Group 1 tally thanks to breaking his classic duck in the 2,000 Guineas on Saxon Warrior, and quickly notching up his second courtesy of Forever Together in the Oaks at Epsom.

He has been consistently excellent too and thanks to the backing of his father Aidan and brother Joseph, is sitting at the top of the jockeys’ table at the time of writing with 24 winners prior to racing at Leopardstown on Thursday evening.

He is no blabbermouth but has always been open and willing to offer an opinion. This writer’s first encounter with him was at the breakfast table in Ballydoyle with the family for an article in the Irish Racing Yearbook, just before they headed off for the Breeders’ Cup in 2014.

It was a very relaxed affair and the quips were flowing. Aidan was chief jester but Donnacha wasn’t far behind. Only months into his riding career, the 16-year-old was already aware he was on borrowed time and cracked that Sarah would want to enjoy her run that included seven winners in a row, as he would be riding in bumpers when he hit 12 stone.

At one point, he asked his mother Annemarie if his Leaving Cert coincided with Royal Ascot.

“If I have a ride, I’m not doing it.”

As it happens, he did sit his Leaving Certificate and passed it. He credits the teaching staff of Rockwell College for understanding that this was the primary target and for helping him achieve it. It is probably fair to say that Annemarie was the parent who ensured he saw that out to the end.

“Dad was never strict in terms of school. Dad’s not strict. As long as you’re doing the right things, he trusts us to make up our own minds on everything. He’s very good that way.”

He pauses, clearly remembering a time when his father did put his foot down.

“Look, he’s strict in some ways and completely not strict in other ways.”

Like most parents.

“Exactly.”

EVENTING

Like the rest of his siblings, O’Brien medalled for Ireland at the European Pony Riders’ Eventing Championships. His colour was bronze, just like Sarah and Joseph’s. Ana trumped them all with a gold medal. The hero who brought them on those wonderful journeys, Ice Cool Bailey is now 22, the same age as Ana. Residing in Istabraq’s old stable, he is “loving life and getting spoiled”.

Donnacha credits eventing with giving him a more complete set of skills when it comes to horsemanship.

“It’s a great grounding to get your riding right,” he says. “You’re riding in different ways. It rounds off your riding. You get the balance, you get everything. Obviously the more different kinds of riding you’re doing, the more natural it comes for you.

He was determined to be a jockey though and rode his first winner, Quartz, for his father at Dundalk two months after his 16th birthday. Soon after that, he won the Irish Cesarewitch on El Salvador, who was owned by his mother and trained by his father. He beat his uncle Pat Smullen in the finish. Joseph was back in third.

It was a special day as his grandfather, Joe Crowley had won the race with Ravaro in 1985, with Gabriel ‘Squibs’ Curran wearing the same colours as O’Brien 29 years later, due to Crowley owning (and breeding) the victorious filly.

There have been many such family days. Bagging his first Group 1 on Intricately in the Moyglare Stud Stakes in 2016 to give Joseph his first Group 1 as a trainer was wonderful. Annemarie was a significant part of the story too, having bred the winner.

This year, it has moved to another level again. His current 23% strike rate suggests that he will continue the trend of improving his tally year-on-year, from four in his debut campaign to 51 last season.

It is the classics that have emphasised this breakthrough term though. Once more, O’Brien points to fortune and his father’s abilities, but if he downplays his role, we shouldn’t.

“At the start of the year I didn’t expect to win a classic. Things worked out well. Ryan (Moore) had to ride (Mendelssohn) in America so I was lucky. In them big races, if you’re riding one of Dad’s, second, third or fourth string you have a chance so I was lucky to be on the right one at Epsom as well.”

He is realising lifetime dreams but has enough self-possession to realise that he may not fully comprehend the enormity of it all right now.

“I think I probably don’t appreciate it as much as you should but it’s hard to get the chance to reflect on it. It’s probably only when I stop riding I’ll realise what I’m getting to do. It’s every day at the minute, you’re riding horses and that’s your day job, one day after the other. You’d have to stop for a minute to appreciate it but horse racing is the next day and the next day. Thankfully it’s going really well.”

Donnacha punches the air passing the line on Saxon Warrior in the 2,000 Guineas

SAXON WARRIOR

After Saxon Warrior’s facile 2000 Guineas win, he conceded that he had been surprised by the colt’s acceleration in such a contest and probably got a bit over-excited.

“I was travelling well on a horse I thought would stay well and when I pressed the button, he responded a lot quicker than I thought he would and I ended up there two furlongs too soon on him. Good horses do that I suppose.”

He had been hopeful of a big run from Forever Together in Epsom after a good effort behind stablemate and Oaks favourite, Magic Wand in Chester. It is reasonable to expect more progress, given that Aidan hadn’t worked his string on grass until the latter end of May.

“She was a late foal as well, the 25th of May so she was barely three when she ran in Epsom. So she probably had more improvement than a lot of the others. She seems to have come out of it well so hopefully she can improve again.”

She is bound for the Curragh, as is Saxon Warrior, who disappointed when odds-on favourite in the Derby.

“I rode Saxon Warrior the other day, he’s spot on. He’s definitely better than that. He’s as good a horse as I’ve ridden, both at home and on the track and hopefully he can show it the next day.

“I don’t think he lost it beforehand. I think too much is made of horses having sweats and stuff like that. I don’t think he handled the track particularly well. Things didn’t go very smooth for the race and for an immature three-year-old, little things like that can make a big difference.”

Interestingly, he wasn’t one that qualified for one of Sue Magnier’s signature names as a juvenile, because he hadn’t shown enough to earn a stellar rating.

“The first time I rode him was the day before he ran at the Curragh and he gave me a nice feel. Then when we came to the Curragh, I gave him a squeeze and he absolutely took off so that’s when I knew he was a bit special; around the same time everyone else did.

“I think he’s a very good horse. I don’t mind saying it now he’s been beaten so people can’t say I’m hyping him up.

“I said after Newmarket I think he’s a mile-and-a-quarter horse. He’ll probably go for the Irish Derby and we’ll see from there but I think he’d be suited for the Juddmonte or something like that. But obviously, we’ll leave that to Dad.”

It seems the wisest course of action. In the immediate post-race interview, O’Brien remarked that his father often did things he didn’t understand, but invariably produced positive results.

“He’s been at it a long time. He’s able to tweak little things in horses that bring out big improvements. Obviously he’s very gifted, you don’t need me to say that. It’s amazing how he can bring out these big improvements in horses.”

This writer has witnessed the collaborative nature of decision-making among the family. Aidan will always make the final call, of course, and his youngest won’t always concur.

“Sometimes he does stuff at home, I’d disagree with him, we’d have an argument and I’d be wrong, and that’s how it works out the whole time. I’m starting to learn not to disagree with him.”

JOSEPH

Joseph is shooting the lights out over both codes and when we convened at the Curragh last Saturday, it was before Donnacha rode his brother’s 15th winner in 14 days over both codes. Joseph clearly has some big backers but on the flat, he does not have access to the pedigrees that his father does and so his current run is quite astonishing.

“You see him there with Rockfish winning three on the bounce and four in total so far this year. He’s getting them consistently to bring out their best time after time, and improving them. He’s a very good trainer.”

And thankfully, he’s not one for detailed riding instructions.

“He understands better than anyone. Instructions only get you so far in racing. Realistically, when the stalls open, everything changes.

“Things change in a race and so if you follow instructions, you could suddenly give your horse a bad ride. I think giving a jockey instructions in races is completely counter-productive.”

That means does a bit of homework but even at that, he won’t clutter his head with too much information.

“You study it but there’s no point in getting too deep. When I look at a race I look at what’s the pace around me, what’s fancied. Basically what I try to look at is where I want to be in relation to anything else.

“Probably the worst thing in a race is when you’re on a horse that you know wants every yard of the trip and you see one in front doing a hack canter. You know this isn’t going to happen. And you know they’re going to quicken from the three to the two. You’re going to get outpaced and then you’re gonna fly home and it’ll look like you gave it a balls of a ride and you’re gonna get plenty of abuse on Twitter.”

He does fancy training at some time in the future, maybe in four years but at 20, five years is forever. He is flabbergasted to be even asked to consider what he might be doing at 24. He won’t ride in a National Hunt race anyway, that’s for sure.

“When Joseph started training, myself and himself schooled everything. It’s probably why they all jumped so badly! But no, I’m not gonna go jumping.”

WEIGHT

What is certain is that he will have to hang up the boots sooner rather than later, no matter how much success he enjoys. His passion for riding means he must put himself through a very tough regime to ride on the flat.

Like Joseph, he is close to six feet tall and like Joseph, he will lose the battle with nature.

It was only after he retired that Joseph really opened up on the torturous nature of what he needed to do to make weight. Yet he felt that the last thing he wanted to be doing was complaining, when he was going out to ride the favourite in the Derby at the weekend.

So it is with Donnacha, although he is in a slightly less onerous position than his brother, in that he is not number one and him missing out one day is more likely to slip under the radar.

“Mentally and physically it’s tough. When you’re eating something and you’re thinking ‘This is gonna cost me 20 minutes in the sauna’, it’s mentally draining as well as physically. But when you’re riding good horses, it’s worth it I suppose.

“(Joseph) was in a tough position. I think people don’t appreciate how tough it was for him. I’ve massive respect for him now and what he did when he was riding.”

While he would love to win a championship before packing it in, he is coy on his chances, despite being at the business end of the table.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m keeping an eye on it and I think I’m (the bookies’) favourite to win it, but I don’t think I will win it and that’s being a 100% honest. A lot of our winners are maidens and that can peter out towards the end of the year. As well, I’ll be in England a good bit.”

He has already quoted his uncle Pat Smullen, on only considering a drive for the championship after Listowel. News of the nine-time champion’s illness shook everyone in racing but clearly it would have affected his family far more.

“It was a big shock to everyone. It shows how quickly things can change. Pat is certainly a very tough character and I’m sure he’ll beat this the same way he beat me in finishes most of the time.”

The business of racing doesn’t stop though and a first winner at Royal Ascot is another box Donnacha would like to tick on the CV.

“It’s the Cheltenham of flat racing, isn’t it? It’s the big summer meeting and that’s the one where you want to get a winner. I suppose it’s the one meeting where you can get a buzz out of winners that aren’t Group 1 winners. There’s no other meeting like that. It’s something special.”

This time, there will be no arguments about him travelling. And you wouldn’t be surprised to see him making the trip pay.

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