Fergal O’Brien

Welcome to our trainer profile of Fergal O’Brien who is rapidly making a name for himself in the British training ranks.

We look at his current runners, big wins, history and more.

Find out more about Fergal O’Brien:

Fergal O’Brien Entries

Here are all the Fergal O’Brien horses running today and future entries.

If no entries are shown above then Fergal O’Brien has no racehorses confirmed to run.

Fergal O’Brien Recent Form

Here are all the latest finishing positions for horses trained by Fergal O’Brien.

The Fergal O’Brien recent form is interesting to see if they are one of the inform trainers.

Fergal O’Brien Key Stats

• Name – Fergal O’Brien
• Date of Birth – 19 August 1972
• Birthplace – Limerick
• Racing Yard – Ravenswell Farm, Gloucestershire
• Big Wins: Challow Novices Hurdle, Persian War Novices Hurdle, Greatwood Gold Cup, Altcar Novices Chase.
• Age – 51 years old
• Nationality – Irish

Trainer Profile – Fergal O’Brien

Fergal is the youngest of six children and was brought up in Ballina, County Tipperary. Two of his brothers moved to England to work in racing and Fergal attended the British Racing School at Newmarket in 1989.

He joined Captain Tim Forster’s National Hunt yard and then went to the Nigel Twiston-Davies stables in Gloucestershire. He was there for 19 years, working as head lad and assistant trainer as the yard enjoyed two Grand National victories and a Cheltenham Gold Cup success.

After a brief venture into the point-to-point field, Fergal set up his own yard at Cilldara Stud near Northleach in 2011 before moving to Upper Yard at Grange Hill Farm.

In 2019 he moved to Ravenswell Farm which is now one of the most modern stables in Britain.

Fergal O’Brien – Key Trainer Stats

Since training eleven winners in 2011-12, O’Brien has worked steadily up the training ranks.

In 2021-22 he recorded his highest tally to date of 128 winners. He is well on course to surpass that total in 2022-23. He has already earned more than £1 million in prize money for the second season in a row.

His first century of winners in a season came in 2020-21 when he finished seventh in the Trainers’ Championship on 104.

He finished one place higher the following season and also had more seconds and thirds than any other trainer.

Fergal O’Brien’s Big Race Wins

O’Brien’s first Grade 1 victory came in the Challow Novices’ Hurdle in 2017 with Poetic Rhythm. The horse had previously won the Grade 2 Persian War Novices Hurdle at Chepstow and finished third at Cheltenham. He ran in the Albert Bartlett at the Festival meeting but could only finish in midfield.

Paint The Dream has shown his best form at Newbury, winning the Grade 3 Greatwood Gold Cup Handicap Chase in March 2022 and claiming another valuable chase at the same track in November.

Imperial Alcazar went close to providing O’Brien with his first Cheltenham Festival victory when second to Coole Cody in 2022.

Fergal O’Brien – Most Famous Victories

Poetic Rhythm’s breakthrough Grade 1 victory in the 2017 Challow Hurdle remains a significant moment for O’Brien. He will surely be adding further top-level successes as he continues his climb up the training ranks.

Imperial Alcazar was a very smooth winner of a Pertemps Qualifier at Warwick in 2021. Although below his best at Cheltenham in the final, he returned to Prestbury Park to win the Timeform Novices Handicap Chase in January 2022.

Summary of Trainer Fergal O’Brien

All of the indications are that Fergal O’Brien is heading towards the top of the British Trainers list in years to come.

It is surely only a matter of time before he picks up a couple of Grade 1 horses to become competitive at the major festival meetings.

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