2024 Caulfield Cup: Young Werther’s trainer Danny O’Brien is a law unto himself
He was educated at one of the nation’s finest private schools before going on to complete a law degree … but the courtroom barely stood a chance of usurping the thoroughbred as Danny O’Brien’s life’s passion.
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Danny O’Brien has an education befitting a Prime Minister but the courtroom barely stood a chance of usurping the thoroughbred as his life’s passion.
The son of a Kyabram GP, O’Brien – who will saddle up Young Werther in Saturday’s $5 million Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) – boarded at the prestigious Xavier College in Melbourne before completing commerce and law degrees at Deakin University.
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AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon, seven-time Melbourne Cup-winning owner Lloyd Williams and Federal politicians Tim Fischer, Bill Shorten and Dan Tehan also graduated from the Kew school.
But his childhood, long before he headed to Xavier College, permanently transfused the thoroughbred and racing into O’Brien’s system.
“My father was a hobby horse trainer and horse breeder so I grew up on about 40 acres and we have eight to 10 mares and foals,” O’Brien said.
“He also had three or four horses in training all the time that he’d take to Tatura to gallop so as long as I can remember, I’d been feeding horses before and after school, mucking out boxes and looking after horses of all ages.
“Looking after thoroughbreds is something I’ve done all my life.”
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O’Brien combined his studies with working in racing stables during break periods, which only served to heighten his desire to join the training ranks.
Like his secondary schooling, O’Brien found himself in one of Australian racing’s great educational venues, the Bart Cummings stable.
O’Brien worked for Cummings and under the tutelage of his long-time Melbourne foreman Leon Corstens while several established stars went through the Flemington yard.
“I was there in the early 90s, Let’s Elope was there, Richfield Lady, Muirfield Village and Riva Diva won the Blue Diamond,” O’Brien said.
“There were some great horses there at the time.
“When I finished my law degree, I’d already been working in the stables with Bart Cummings over the summers so I wasn’t keen on doing articles and becoming a lawyer.
“To be fair, I think less than 50 per cent of people that get law degrees end up practising law.”
A move to James Riley’s team as stable foreman followed O’Brien’s time with Cummings.
Riley’s stable gave O’Brien his first sample of international competition as the grand galloper State Taj won the Kilmore Cup, Waterford Crystal Mile and the Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin in 1994.
However, O’Brien soon decided it was time to branch out on his own, buying the tried horse Mad Hatter, who became the 24-year-old trainer’s first of more than 1550 wins in a training career that will span 30 years next year.
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It took O’Brien five years to notch his maiden Group 1 win with Porto Roca in the 2001 Coolmore Classic in Sydney. Porto Roca later became the dam of Dubai World Cup winner Monterosso.
O’Brien has won the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup, leaving only the Golden Slipper as the last of Australian racing’s ‘Grand Slam’ to be captured.
With 23 Group 1 wins among 135 stakes wins, O’Brien comfortably sits among the elite bracket of Australian trainers.
But the lifelong horseman’s drive to get up every morning to prepare his team to compete on the biggest stages such as Saturday’s Caulfield Cup, won’t evaporate any time soon.
“I love being around the horses and I’ve got my property down at Barwon Heads,” he said.
“It’s hard work because it’s every day and it’s constant but you’re doing something you love. Not everyone gets to do that.”
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He said racing continued to educate him despite hitting the peaks of the sport at Flemington, Randwick and even the Royal Ascot carnival in England during his three decades of training.
“It (racing) does breed resilience and it teaches you a lot of lessons,” O’Brien said.
“There are a lot more disappointments than successes, no matter how well you are going.
When you’re going at your absolute peak as a trainer or a jockey, it’s very rare that you’re going better than winning at a 20 per cent strike rate.
“That means you’re still beaten four times in every five starts.
“It’s a tough competitive business and it teaches you a lot of life lessons.”
Aside from the highs and lows of victory and defeat, racing also indirectly led O’Brien to his now wife Nina at an awards function about 20 years again.
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Mrs O’Brien was modelling in Milan in Italy at the time before permanently returning to Australia, gradually becoming a key part of the family business.
“You definitely need someone that has a really good understanding of what it takes to be a trainer, which Nina does,” O’Brien said.
“She’s worked a lot in our business now the kids (Thomas, 17, and Grace, 14) are older.
“She does a lot of our HR work, of which there is a lot because we’ve got three training facilities now.
“She does all the jobs no-one else wants to do.
“It’s like any family small business, everyone pitches in.”
And the O’Brien family might just be pitching in to celebrate another Caulfield Cup win with Young Werther on Saturday night.
Originally published as 2024 Caulfield Cup: Young Werther’s trainer Danny O’Brien is a law unto himself
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