In the latest of our series of interviews with some of the biggest training names in National Hunt racing, GG’s Joe Napier caught up with Fergal O’Brien. He gave us the latest on Sixmilebridge and Ryan’s Rocket while also listing a host of names who may shine in the future.
GG: Hi Fergal, thanks so much for giving some of your time to GG today. Numerically, in terms of winners, the last few seasons haven’t quite reached your absolute peak, but you’ve won three Grade 1s in the last four seasons. Has that made them feel that little bit more successful overall?
Fergal O’Brien: Yeah, it’s probably something that in any business or sport – you’re sort of always going forward, you don’t tend to look back too much. You reflect now and again, but yeah, I think the Grade 1s are obviously important. For prize money, I think it’s always important for us to try and get over the million, or as far over the million as we can get, and 100 winners is also very important. We haven’t done that for a few seasons and are very unlikely to do it this season, but that’s somewhere I’d like to get back to as well, because that’s a real sign of consistency.
GG: You mention that £1 million mark. It must be very refreshing that, although Crambo, your dual Grade 1 winner, retired earlier this season, within a month or two you’d found your next top-level hero in Sixmilebridge. How good was it to have that immediate successor, and how confident does that make you that you’re in a really good position for the next couple of seasons with a horse like him?
O’Brien: He’s a lovely horse. He’s very straightforward in his races, you know – he does want a bit of soft ground, so at the minute we’re having to search for that a little bit. That’s why he hasn’t run yet, but he’s in good form. Crambo retired and he’s having a lovely retirement. Crambo was with me from a four-year-old, so he didn’t come through the Irish point-to-points or anything like that. He came to me straight from Noel Fehily, who bred him with Jared Sullivan. To see him retire and be happy doing what he’s doing now is fantastic – he’s won lots of different classes in his new role as a show horse. To get Sixmilebridge just after, you’d be hoping there’s one or two others that can follow him next as well.
GG: On Sixmilebridge, what are the plans for this season? Obviously, after his Grade 1 success last term, you must be thinking big?
O’Brien: We were entered in the Colin Parker (Memorial Chase at Carlisle), but it was just a bit quick there for us. Potters Charm, although he didn’t win, we would have had to give 10lb to, because we’d had a Grade 1 penalty. So our next port of call would be Ascot, and then if that doesn’t come off, maybe somewhere like the Peterborough Chase. We’ve got to keep looking and keep searching. Someone suggested maybe going to Ireland with him, but he didn’t travel to Ireland great last year, so it’s not somewhere I’d be particularly busting a gut to go back to.
“Sixmilebridge didn’t like being out of his routine in Ireland.”
GG: Does that mean his spring plans, if you were working back from something, would be more like the Ryanair and the Melling Chase rather than anything at Leopardstown or Punchestown?
O’Brien: Yeah, probably. Like I said, I wouldn’t totally rule out going back to Ireland, but I’d rather find an option at home. He didn’t like being out of his routine in Ireland.
GG: Before Sixmilebridge, one of the potential heirs to the top-level throne was going to be Dysart Enos, but we hear she’s in foal to Golden Horn. How is she?
O’Brien: She’s very well, actually. She just came in from the field today to go into the barn for the winter with her friends. She’s been a totally different character as a broodmare than she was in training. She didn’t really like people when she was in training, but now she’s a little bit plumper and in foal, she’s definitely mellowed a little bit, I can tell you that!
GG: That’s lovely to hear. From a racing perspective, going back to your current stable, the cavalry behind Sixmilebridge are probably headed by the likes of Ryan’s Rocket and Tripoli Flyer, who got injured on the Flat. What are their destinations likely to be this season if fit?
O’Brien: Unfortunately Tripoli Flyer picked up an injury at Newcastle, so we won’t see him for the rest of this season anyway. Ryan’s Rocket, though, he’ll go back to Newbury. We did toy with going to Aintree because he’s run well there, but we’ve been getting him ready for Newbury, where he won last year. So that’s where he’ll head off to, and then we’ll see where we go after that. A couple of times it didn’t happen for him last season, but he really bounced back by winning that big handicap at Aintree last year.
GG: Jonathan Burke went freelance at the end of last season, having been your regular rider for many seasons. You suggested you’d be using your existing pool of jockeys and seeing how the land lies, and your numbers this season suggest there is real competition for places at your yard. Is that quite refreshing, that you maybe have two or three jockeys who are playing for that number one spot?
O’Brien: Yeah, that’s what we try to do. Rather than just having one stable jockey who rides everything, we try to match the horses with whoever we think will suit them best. I think Fern has ridden the most winners for us at the minute, five or six, and then I think Jack’s done very well. Jack Hogan had his first winner at Cheltenham for us last week on Frontier Prince, and Liam (Harrison) and Tom (Broughton) are there as well. Both lads, Liam and Tom, are huge assets in the yard as well.
“Whatever you think of Dan and Harry Skelton, you’ve got to admire them.”
GG: Thinking a little bit more broadly, a lot of people have been speaking about Dan Skelton and his record chasing recently. Is it an inspiration that you have someone like him representing British trainers up against what has been a period of Irish domination? Or are you slightly concerned that it could create a further imbalance towards two trainers: Skelton and Mullins?
O’Brien: I think whatever you think of Dan and Harry Skelton, you’ve got to admire them. They’ve rolled their sleeves up, they’ve got a great work ethic from their dad (Olympian Nick Skelton), and they work very well together. I know it’s Dan’s name on the licence, but don’t underplay how much Harry Skelton does there – first of all, he’s a phenomenal jockey and he’s riding incredibly well. You don’t need me to tell you how good they are, and it was great that they pulled off a £100,000 handicap with a £7,000 horse. They really can do it at all levels. So from a personal point of view, as much as they are rivals or competitors, anyone who loves jump racing has to admire them as well.
GG: We’ll finish by going back to something you mentioned earlier. Firstly, are there any newcomers or unraced horses we should be looking out for from your yard this season? And secondly, are there any better-known or existing names who have done particularly well over the summer and maybe we haven’t seen the best of yet?
O’Brien: I know he was disappointing the other day, finishing fifth, but I’ve still got a lot of faith in Willow Tide. He’s a beautiful horse. What we saw on the racetrack isn’t what we see at home, and I’m sure there are a few reasons there which we can iron out. So he’d be one. There’s a lovely horse called Milford Road, again a gorgeous horse: he’s only four, won his Irish point-to-point, and he’ll run in December. Dennehys Cross is another one, and then I’ve got another one for the same owners called Soldier Boy, a beautiful-looking horse.
Of the ones we haven’t seen the best of yet, there’s Siog Geal over fences – she hasn’t run yet. We took her to Uttoxeter and the ground was a bit quick for her. She ran a strong race before she got brought down at Bangor. Dream Shadow needs another run or two, but I’m excited about her going over fences, and there’s a nice mares’ race for her at Warwick in December. Freetobe was fourth in the bumper the other day at Cheltenham, and he’s a young one to look forward to, and Frontier Prince has won his last two for us, so hopefully he’s still progressing. So yeah, fingers crossed, there’s a lot to look forward to.