In a nutshell, yes, he did, with three different horses in as many years. Arguably the greatest racehorse trainer of all time, Michael Vincent O’Brien, generally known by his middle name, excelled under National Hunt rules in the early years of his career. By the time he trained his first winner of the Grand National, Early Mist, in 1953, he had already saddled Cottage Rake to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times, in 1948, 1949 and 1950 and Hatton’s Grace to win the Champion Hurdle three times, in 1949, 1950 and 1951. He had also purchased Ballydoyle House, near Cashel, in Co. Tipperary, which he would subsequently establish as the foremost training centre in Ireland.
On March 28, 1953, Early Mist, owned by ‘Mincemeat Joe’ Griffin and ridden Bryan Marshall, made amends for falling at the first fence in the 1952 Grand National by winning ‘very easily, by 20 lengths. Carrying 11st 2lb, the eight-year-old led by 9 lengths at the final fence and only had to be pushed out with hands and heels to draw further away on the run-in. Twelve months later, on March 27, 1954, the same connections won the Grand National again, with the ten-year-old Royal Tan who, like Early Mist, had been notoriously difficult to train. He, too, led over the final fence, but was ultimately all out to hold the rallying Tudor Line by a neck.
Twelve months later still, on March 26, 1955, O’Brien completed his unprecedented hat-trick in the Grand National when Quare Times, a nine-year-old owned by Mrs. Cecily Welman and ridden by Pat Taafe, made light of conditions so testing that the Water Jump was omitted due to waterlogging to win ‘easily’ by 12 lengths. Tudor Line kept on at one pace to finish second for the second year running, while Early Mist and Royal Tan, carrying 12st 3lb and 12st 4lb, respectively, plugged on to finish ninth and twelfth.