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Joseph O’Brien misses opening day of Flat season to ride over jumps Joseph O’Brien misses opening day of Flat season to ride over jumps
(about 4 hours later)
Joseph O’Brien will miss the opening day of the Irish Flat season on Sunday and is booked to ride over hurdles at Limerick instead. Joseph O’Brien, Ireland’s champion Flat jockey for the last two seasons, will ride over hurdles at Limerick on Sunday, a move which will prompt speculation that the stable jockey to his father Aidan’s powerful Ballydoyle yard is struggling with his weight.
The 21-year-old has twice been crowned champion jockey on the level but he will bypass the first card of the new season in favour of riding Egyptian Warrior in the Family Fun Day Rated Novice Hurdle. Aidan O’Brien confirmed on Friday that his son will not be at The Curragh on Sunday for the first meeting of the new Irish season on Turf, but will instead partner Egyptian Warrior, one of the yard’s handful of jumps horses, in a race at Limerick.
O’Brien’s mount is trained by his father Aidan for owner JP McManus and has won two of his four outings over obstacles. O’Brien has taken just nine rides so far in 2015, and none at all since 27 February, when he partnered two horses on the all-weather circuit at Dundalk, both of which were set to carry top weight of 9st 10lb in handicap events.
O’Brien is due to be at The Curragh after racing to ride some of his father’s illustrious Flat string in now-traditional post-race gallops, and it is understood he will continue to ride on the Flat this season. However, O’Brien plans to travel to The Curragh after riding at Limerick to partner some of Ballydoyle’s Flat horses in a public gallop after racing, including Gleneagles, the gambled-on favourite for the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in May.
“Joseph told me earlier in the week he was going to ride at the weekend so we’re looking forward to it,” said Frank Berry, McManus’ racing manager. “He’s had a lot of experience at eventing and everything like that. It will come naturally to him and we wish him the best of luck. He has loads of experience and has been riding over jumps since he was a child. It will come easy to him.” “Joseph is a little heavy at the moment,” Aidan O’Brien said on Friday, “but he plans to be back riding on the Flat shortly. He has his first ride over hurdles on Egyptian Warrior at Limerick on Sunday, after which he will travel to The Curragh to ride work after racing. Ryan [Moore, who will be riding in Dubai on Saturday afternoon] will ride all of our first-string horses at The Curragh on Sunday.”
Aidan O’Brien confirmed his son’s plans to return to the Flat in due course. Egyptian Warrior is owned by JP McManus, whose colours were also carried by Ballydoyle’s three-time Champion Hurdle winner Istabraq.
In a statement to Press Association Sport, O’Brien said: “Joseph is a little heavy at the moment but plans to be back riding on the Flat shortly. He has his first ride over hurdles on Egyptian Warrior at Limerick on Sunday after which he will travel to the Curragh to ride work after racing. Ryan [Moore] will ride all of our first-string horses at the Curragh on Sunday.” “Joseph told me earlier in the week he was going to ride at the weekend so we’re looking forward to it,” Frank Berry, McManus’s racing manager, said on Friday.
“He has a lot of experience at eventing and everything like that. It will come naturally to him and we wish him the best of luck. He has loads of experience and has been riding over jumps since he was a child. It will come easy to him.”
Joseph O’Brien is still just 21, but has already recorded more big victories in his six seasons in the saddle than most jockey could hope to achieve in 30. He has won the Derby twice, on Camelot (2012) and Australia (2014), both of whom followed up in the Irish equivalent, while he also steered St Nicholas Abbey to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2011.
He is six feet tall, however, and doubts have been expressed about how long he might be able to continue riding on the Flat almost from the moment he started to ride as an apprentice in 2009. He was unable to ride Camelot in the 2012 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, in which three-year-olds carry 8st 11lb, and has not ridden below 8st 12lb in the last 12 months.