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22 Oct 2025

Wins in and out of the saddle - Donnacha O'Brien on success at the Curragh

Wins in and out of the saddle - Donnacha O'Brien on success at the Curragh

Jockey Donnacha O'Brien and trainer Joseph O'Brien celebrate in the winner's enclosure after winning the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby with Latrobe, Photo by Matt Browne/Sportsfile

Few names are more entrenched in the history of Irish flat racing than the O’Brien’s, especially at this time of the year at the Curragh. As the Irish Derby rolls around for 2023, Donnacha O’Brien reflects upon being on the saddle for what both his brother Joseph and father Aidan referred to as their finest memory from each of their illustrious racing careers.

Aidan who has seen both the brothers reach Champion Jockey status was removed from proceedings this time as Donnacha boarded the Joseph-trained Latrobe for the 2018 Irish Derby at the Curragh. The boys main competitor was Aidan himself as they sent out their 14-1 colt to face the field and chiefly O’Brien Sr’s Saxon Warrior who sat as favourite.The young brothers would shock the field with the outsider as the previously inconspicuous horse came home to win. Quite how young they were is still st

aggering to this day with trainer Joseph aged 25 and the man with the reins Donnacha, aged 19.

Donnacha says, “It’s for sure one of the best days (I’ve had), to win the premier flat race in Ireland was very special. It’s definitely up there and part of the advantage of having it on home soil was having the family element too, so it was a great day.”

“It’s an incredible track, probably the best grass track in Europe. It’s a track where the best horse usually wins, it’s very fair, every horse gets his chance. I was lucky to win a few Moyglare’s (Stud Stakes) as a jockey and trainer. Obviously then winning the Derby with Latrobe, it is a track I have had plenty of luck at.”

The Derby win came in the year of Donnacha’s first Irish flat racing Jockey Championship winning campaign as he took the title for the first time. 

Donnacha says of the win, “In terms of when I was riding, that was of course the main aim when I started. I was lucky enough to be champion Jockey twice and to be riding great horses, which makes it easier. It was a privilege and I was proud to be able to do it.”

However, it would be his attempts at title retention  in 2019 that would see him and his adversary for the crown, Colin Keane, make headlines and break records.

The 2019 season saw the top riding pair of Keane and O’Brien be the first jockeys to both achieve over 100 winners in a season in Ireland together.

“It’s tough, I think people don’t realise when you are in a title race, it takes its toll on you. It’s all you can think about, you get so wrapped up in it. It’s only when you are a trainer that you realise that it is not as a big deal as you thought. But when you are riding, it's all you can think about. It can take its toll, mentally as well as physically,” Donnacha recalls.

“When you are riding a few months out from the end and you come out with a double on a particular day, if the other fella rode a treble it would be a bad day. Everything is in perspective, it's just another element that gets added to the pressure of a close race. I was lucky to come out on the right side of it.”

The title retention in his final season as a jockey would be Donnacha's crowning moment in the record-breaking year. It was also the culmination of years of work that had gone into a riding career that centred around elite racing and a pressure that arrived as soon as he took to the saddle.

“There was a bit of expectation on me but I was lucky in that I had plenty of rides, a lot more early in my career than what most apprentices would have access to. When I did eventually get the ball rolling I was in a privileged position compared to most people,” Donnacha explains.

“Same as everyone, it probably took me a while to adjust. You're a 16-year-old kid and you get thrown in riding against these brilliantly experienced riders. It is a very steep learning curve but I was fortunate enough to have access to a lot of good rides and when you have that you learn quicker. You get the hang of race riding and how things work so I probably got the hang of it a bit quicker than what some lads would.”

That experience would stand to the man that would become a Champion Jockey and is now a budding trainer following his retirement in 2019. In a similar vein to his brother Joseph, Donnacha had physically outgrown the ability to take the reins himself.

“It was (in the plans). I knew I wasn’t going to be a jockey forever, I was too tall. It was only something you could bear for a few years, the same as Joseph. When you are doing it you don’t think about anything else. But when your heart's not in it, it is time to call it quits and I never tried to make a big deal out of it. When it was time to stop, I stopped and started something else,” Donnacha says.

“It was a big change but it's good, we’re going well. It’s completely different, it’s not as straightforward as what everyone sees, it’s a completely different way of life. It definitely takes a bit of getting used to, but we’re getting there now.”

Having had success in the previously mentioned Moyglare Stud Stakes as a jockey, that particular Group 1 flat horse race would prove to be particularly fruitful once more as a trainer. Donnacha sent out Shale to win the race at the Curragh in 2020 as Ryan Moore on board gave the latest O’Brien trainer his first Group 1 Irish win.

Donnacha, having taken out his licence in December 2019 and already with a classic to his name, is able to analyse the differences of being in and out of the saddle for these races.

“As a rider, it's the same as most races, you kind of put in more homework for a big race than you would for a small race. Especially in a Group 1, you have more ideas on how horses are going to run and be ridden because there's form in the book. Compared to the likes of a handicap or maiden where you have to wing it a little bit, there is no point in doing homework because it will change so much,” He explains.

“As a trainer, you have to prepare for it as if it's any other race with a horse, only that you are probably preparing a better horse than what you usually have. Training in the Moyglare for example, you just stick to your programme, the same as if it was a moderate horse.”

Added to his knowledge of horse racing from having been embroiled in the business all his life, few trainers are better equipped with recent success as a jockey to guide the men and women taking the reins for them as Donnacha. 

One of the 24-year old trainers main riders is Gavin Ryan, and after riding Flower Garland to the EBF Fillies Maiden at Dundalk to give Donnacha his first win, he and Ryan have remained a flourishing partnership ever since.

“It’s good, Gavin’s local to me and he was with Jim Bolger originally, so when I started up he gave me a call to come down. It suited me and I was looking for a jockey at the time so it worked out well. He’s a great rider and a good help so it’s positive to have.”

The O’Brien’s are embedded into Irish horse racing and Donnacha like all the other members wouldn’t have it any other way.

“We were all born into it and all very involved from when we were kids. This is all I was ever going to be in was this game and thankfully we were lucky enough that it worked out that way,” He says.

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