In the early years of his training career, Aidan O’Brien succeeded his wife, Anne-Marie – who is the eldest daughter of the late Joe Crowley – as Irish Champion National Hunt Trainer in 1993/94 and went on to win the title for five consecutive seasons. In 1996, he was recruited by billionaire John Magnier to succeed his father-in-law, Vincent O’Brien (no relation to Aidan) as his private
trainer at Ballydoyle Racing Stable in Co. Tipperary. Under the auspices of Magnier and his powerful Coolmore breeding operation, O’Brien was Irish Champion Flat Trainer for the first time in 1999 and has been the perennial incumbent of that title ever since.
Of course, Aidan O’Brien is no stranger to success on the opposite side of the Irish Sea, where he has saddled no fewer than 42 British Classic winners and is the leading trainer in the history of the 2,000 Guineas, the Derby and numerous other races of the highest calibre, including the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park, to name but three. Indeed, aside from his exploits in his native land, O’Brien has also been British Champion Flat Trainer on six occasions – in 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2016 and 2017 – which places him joint sixth on the all-time list, alongside Fred Darling.
O’Brien enjoyed his most successful season on British soil, numerically and financially, in 2017, when he saddled 32 winners from 165 runners, at a strike rate of 19%, and amassed £8.34 million in prize money. Seasonal highlights included winning both the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas with Winter and Churchill, who both won the Irish equivalents, the Coronation Cup and Prince of Wales’s Stakes with Highland Reel, the Derby with Wings Of Eagles, the Commonwealth Cup with Caravaggio, the Coronation Stakes with Winter, again, and the Falmouth Stakes with Roly Poly. All told, in 2017, he trained 28 Group 1 winners worldwide, therby setting a new single-season record.