O'Brien Brothers upstage legendary Father to land Irish Derby

If one had to commission a script writer to objectively preview Saturdays Irish Derby at the Curragh, they would struggle to come up with what we witnessed as the O'Brien brothers Joseph and Donnocha combined to land Ireland's biggest race with the 14/1 chance Latrobe, at the expense of their legendary father Aidan who saddled the second, third, fourth and fifth in a clean sweep for the family.

Having shed his maiden tag just a few weeks earlier at the venue, Latrobe was not considered to be in the same league as the likes of Saxon Warrior who had landed the Newmarket 2000 Guineas but failed to handle contours of Epsom when a hot favourite for the English Derby or indeed Dee Ex Bee who finished second in that race and was confidently expected to go one better here.

However, no matter how well constructed the plot in a script is it can be woefully wide of the mark as the son of Camelot showed as he was always prominent before hitting the front shortly after turning for home and defying all comers to catch him before passing the post half a length to good from Rostropovich with Saxon Warrior a neck further back in third place.

Since taking out his trainers licence less than a year ago due to increasing weight as a jockey, Joseph O'Brien's progress has been spectacular with victories in the Galway Hurdle, the Melbourne Cup and the Irish Gold Cup over fences. He has obviously inherited the training skills of his father and also his grandfather Joe Crowley whose yard at Owning he now occupies and at just 25 years of age he has achieved more as a rider and now a trainer than most will do in a lifetime.

 

To read more, pick up a copy of this weeks Nenagh Guardian locally or subscribe to our e-paper to access it online each Wednesday.