Dual Irish champion jockey Joseph O’Brien has decided not to ride at all this year to concentrate on his new role as a trainer.
The move had been widely expected as the record-breaking jockey had been turning his attentions more to the training side and is in the process of taking out a full licence.
O’Brien, 22, has recently been playing a key role in helping his father, champion trainer Aidan O’Brien, with a large string of horses.
Tall for a Flat jockey, O’Brien was always likely to find his battle with the scales proving too much over a period of time, but is looking to gain his training licence shortly.
“It’s hard enough to make a decent job of one thing, never mind trying to juggle two things so I’ll be concentrating on training and won’t be riding any more,” O’Brien told the Racing Post.
Having ridden his first winner for his father at the age of 16, O’Brien went on to share the Irish champion apprentice title and was twice crowned champion Irish Flat jockey.
In taking his second senior championship in 2013, he broke Mick Kinane’s long-standing record for the number of winners ridden in an Irish season, ending on a new record total of 126 wins.
O’Brien can number an array of top Flat horses such as Camelot, St Nicholas Abbey, Australia and many others on his riding CV, twice winning the Derby at Epsom.
His first Classic success came on Roderic O’Connor in the 2011 Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh, and he is hopeful of further big-race glory when he oversees Ivanovich Gorbatov in the Istabraq colours of JP McManus at Cheltenham next week.
