AIDAN O’Brien marked his latest career milestone over the weekend as Lambourn became the 20th horse to complete the Anglo-Irish double.
Aidan, 55, was joined in the celebratory scenes at the Curragh’s winners enclosure by wife Ann-Marie.
Saturday’s success was the 17th time he’s trained an Irish Derby winner[/caption]
Son Joseph, 32, is a rising star as a trainer[/caption]
Here, SunSport delves into his life beyond the race track with Ann-Marie and their four children.
WHERE IS AIDAN O’BRIEN FROM?
The Ballydoyle handler hails from County Wexford though his yard is actually located in Tipperary near Rosegreen. It is owned by John Magnier and Coolmore Stud.
He was born on October 16 1969 as one of six kids. His dad Denis was involved in the racing industry but only as a small-time trainer with his day job being farming.
Aidan went to secondary school at New Ross’ Good Counsel College. Interestingly, he’s been a proud pioneer since his teenage days and has always abstained from alcohol.
WHO IS AIDAN O’BRIEN’S WIFE?
He and Anne-Marie tied the knot in 1991. They have four children with racing fans needing no introduction to son Joseph who at 32, has already established himself as a quality trainer in his own right.
But their three other offspring in son Donnacha and daughters Sarah Anastasia have also been jockeys before so the whole family is steeped in the sport.
Aidan is no relation to Irish racing icon Vincent O’Brien who dominated on both sides of the Irish Sea before Aidan took over the Ballydoyle stables after he retired in 1994.
PERSONAL INSIGHTS
The flat legend largely keeps his private life just that.
But in a rare feature interview last year with the Daily Mail he allowed one of their reporters to follow him around for a day Ballydoyle.
In the piece he’s compared to Pep Guardiola due to his renowned attention to detail.
But days of failure still come such as City of Troy’s flop in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Asked how he deals with setbacks like that, O’Brien emphasized compartmentalising is a crucial aspect of the racing game since it is such a relentless calendar.
He outlined: “Look, when the day is bad like that, I get on the plane and I sleep. That’s the first thing, to cut myself off.
“When I get home, I’ll have two or three hours work to do in the yard and set up tomorrow morning.
“That takes me to bed time. I’ll go straight to sleep and when I get up, I never thinking about yesterday. It’s gone.
“By thinking about it, you’re not going to get it back. You have to get focused on the days in front and learn from the things we need to be working on.
“I can sleep no problem. If you don’t sleep, the next day you’ll be destroyed and the reason I would sleep is to let your mind heal, relax and go on.
“If you start off the day after not sleeping it’s going to be a disaster the next day and that’s a little bit of a strange thing that I’ve done over the years.”
