Australia’s head trainer for Godolphin John O’Shea says he has the best job in racing

JOHN O’Shea admits being head trainer for Godolphin in Australia is something he often pinches himself about, having grown up in Queensland wanting to one day be a top horse trainer.

Trainer John O'Shea watches Hartnell during trackwork. Picture: Getty Images

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JOHN O’Shea admits being head trainer for Godolphin in Australia is something he often pinches himself about, having grown up in Queensland wanting to one day be a top horse trainer.

“You would never have dreamt to be here,” he said.

“It’s the best job in racing. If you go through other jobs in the world, nothing compares to this job.

“I mean, it’s a big job, but the rewards and the quality of races you run in and the facilities are second to none.”

In the hierarchy of Godolphin, O’Shea does not report to Sheik Mohammed and the pair don’t speak, with the Sheik happy to let O’Shea perform his job without hassle.

“I have met him once,’’ said O’Shea. ‘‘He has enough other people to speak to.

“When I was introduced to him, I said ‘Boss, I’m going to do my best for you’ and he said ‘I know you will’ and that was it.

“Pressure doesn’t come from Godolphin but by definition we are competitive people in these roles, so I guess pressure is what you put on yourself.

“It’s a big job but if you want to be a horse trainer, this is the job you’d like to have.

“To win any feature for his highness is always an honour and to win a Melbourne Cup obviously brings with it extra significance.

“His highness is always trying to win the feature races throughout the world and the Cup is a race everybody would like to win ... to do it for his highness would be an honour.” O’Shea does not miss the pressure of running his own business.

Head trainer for Godolphin in Australia John O'Shea. Picture: Colleen Petch.

Most trainers take huge financial risks every year, backing themselves to see yearlings they buy from the sales.

He said the Godolphin system allowed him to concentrate solely on training the horses.

“Financial pressure is as big a pressure as can be put on anyone,’’ O’Shea said.

‘‘There are a lot of ramifications and you don’t have that here. You just concentrate on your horses.’’

O’Shea was in a jovial mood last week when he fronted the media ahead of Derby Day and the Cup, laughing off Hartnell’s beaten margin in the Cox Plate and whether it might dent the import’s confidence ahead of tomorrow’s $6 million test.

“She (Winx) was that far in front, he probably thought he’d won!” O’Shea said.

“I couldn’t be happier with how he pulled up from the Cox Plate.’’

Hartnell is the Melbourne Cup favourite, despite the camp having much lower ambitions when he first returned to work this time in.

“We had two tiers of races planned for him, relative to how he was going,’’ O’Shea said. ‘‘It became evident after the Hill Stakes how well he was going. He was originally going to the Metropolitan, but it was obvious he was going a bit better than that, so we shifted our focus.

“I think he will run 3200m.

“In (the) Sydney (Cup), albeit he had 52kg and if we had our time over again we wouldn’t have led and then last year once he drew where he did and went back it was over.

‘‘So I think it is inconclusive.”

Originally published as Australia’s head trainer for Godolphin John O’Shea says he has the best job in racing