Stable Tour: Fergal O'Brien looking to kick on following merger with Graeme McPherson

O’Brien is heading into his second season following a successful merger with fellow Cotswold trainer Graeme McPherson in October 2021, with the move coming on the back of record campaigns for both teams.

That decision proved to be a fruitful one, with the newly formed O’Brien-McPherson Racing recording 128 winners and passing the £1 million prize mark for the first time in the 2021/22 campaign - and doing so comfortably for good measure.

It was certainly a bold move considering that O’Brien’s Ravenswell operation is 16 miles away from McPherson and his team on Martins Hill. Any kinks were quickly ironed out however and O’Brien, who acts as the face for the operation, revealed to The Jockey Club that together the pair aspire to reach the very top of the training ranks.

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O’Brien said: “I’ve always got on with Graeme, but before this we’d have just been friendly rivals for sure. I knew him from the time he moved to the Cotswolds really, I saw him hunting and at point to points originally and he represented us once in a legal case and we’ve just got very similar values.

“He’s very much a family man and he’s a very good KC and he’s been brilliant. He’s let us get on and do what we do and he’s very important, we still touch base on who is riding what and things like that. It’s worked well.

“It was very difficult to start with and it didn’t help I suppose with the fact that Graeme was very busy, as he was away in the Caribbean. It sort of exasperated any problems we did have because we were so far apart but on the whole it’s worked very well for everyone. There are some great facilities at Martins Hill and it compliments Ravenswell really well as they’re very different in a lot of ways.

“We’ve got a great team of people there and for us it was just a case of trying to integrate all of our staff together. We’ve got a set number of horses there now and it’s got its own team of people, Dave Killahena runs the place over there and we leave it to him really. He’s done a great job and I can’t fault him.”

At first glance it may appear to be a demotion of sorts for McPherson, who himself enjoyed a record campaign in the 2020-21 season, training 25 winners and hitting £200,000 in prize money for the first time – as well as having his first ever runner in the Randox Grand National with Ami Desbois.

However, McPherson is a practising KC by trade, meaning that his time is stretched to the limit at the best of times. And he explained that the move allowed him to find a healthier work-life balance, while still holding those aspirations to succeed in racing.

He said: “I prefer the backroom! I’m very happy and I’m still based at Martins Hill, so I’ve really enjoyed my role and just taking a step back. Ferg does an amazing job as the trainer and being the front of the business.

“The honest answer is probably yes, that I have a better work-life balance now. It got to the stage when I was training myself that I was struggling to do everything to the level that I wanted to do it and now it does mean that I can take more of a backseat on the horses, I can carry on doing the legal work and my family is all growing up as well – I don’t want to miss out on that!

“We had an amazing year in 2020-21 and we got to a point where we were regularly banging out 20-30 winners a year, which for a medium-sized yard we were delighted with. Our prize money levels were good and the quality of horses was going up and up. I’m delighted that it’s not just been maintained, but we’ve progressed and we’ve had plenty of winners out of Martins Hill through the year.

“The transition was strange and it wasn’t easy, we were the first people ever to try something like this and the first couple of months were just a case of working everything through. By the spring everything had fallen into place and both teams were working amazingly across the two yards and the last six months in particular have been superb.

“My role essentially means I would do anything and everything! I’ll talk to the owners, I’ll go racing and I’ll be here at Martins Hill and I’ll turn my hand to anything that needs doing. I’ve very much taken a step back now, so Ferg and Sally are the talent!"

It’s impressive that O’Brien was able to post a career-best tally when you consider the teething problems in the background that come hand-in-hand with such a massive move – and McPherson is hoping that it is just the start for the team.

He said: “The really nice thing is that we’re improving our winners while maintaining the same sort of strike rate. It’s not like we’re sending out far more runners but the same number of winners, the percentage is as good if not better than ever and that’s a tribute to the hard work that goes on in the team.

“We were talking about progress recently actually and we’ve noted that we got to that half century of winners quicker than last year. If we can still be top of the charts further into the season than we were last year it would be fantastic and I know Ferg has a target of getting as close to 150 winners as possible. If we could do that it would be amazing.

“I genuinely hope that in the near future that Ferg is champion trainer. Considering the dedication, the professionalism and the effort he puts in, nobody would deserve it more.”

O’Brien has enjoyed another stunning start to this season over the summer, having already surpassed his total for the entirety of the 2019-20 season. And while he’s keen to talk down any ambitions of becoming champion trainer, O’Brien has plenty of confidence that he and his team are heading in the right direction.

He said: “Paddy Brennan has always said about me being champion trainer and I genuinely mean it when I say it isn’t on my radar. It certainly isn’t something I would ever think about because we just want to train as many winners as we can with the horses that we’ve got.

“The good horses will come along, if you stay doing what you’re doing regularly enough it will follow and that consistency is something I crave and I’d rather have that over a Cheltenham Festival winner.

“I know it’s easy to say when you haven’t had one, but I genuinely look at the Cheltenham Festival and think that it isn’t the be all and end all. If you gave me 80-100 winners every season for the next 10-15 years and not a single Festival winner in that time, I would take that and quite happily think that was a successful career.

“There are plenty of good trainers that haven’t had a Festival winner and plenty of ordinary ones that have, so it is what it is and if it comes it comes. Training over 100 winners for the first time was a huge thing for us, I’d spent 18 years at a yard in Nigel Twiston-Davies that had won Gold Cups and Grand Nationals but had never hit the three figure mark for winners, so to hit 104 and then back it up with 128 was massive and I’d take that over Festival winners.

“You don’t need unlimited resources to make an impact, Harry Fry had a Festival winner with a horse that cost £35,000 last year with Love Envoi, so it’s an old drum that people like to bang. If you do your homework and work hard you’ll find the right horses for you.

“Two years ago we’d have been talking about four or five horses but the fact we can talk about 10+ is a sign of progress for sure."

As inferred above, the Cheltenham-based O’Brien is still searching for his first Cheltenham Festival winner, but he twice came close this year, finishing second with Alaphilippe in the Pertemps Final and Imperial Alcazar in the Festival Plate respectively.

Both horses couldn’t have come much closer to breaking O’Brien’s duck so to speak, but he explained that he was delighted with both runs – particularly in the case of Alaphilippe.

He continued: “If you mention having winners at the Festival, he’s as close as we’ve come. People we’re saying to me after that I must have been gutted but I wasn’t, because we never missed a day with that horse. Every day we wanted to work or school him we did and we didn’t have a single hold-up and he never had a sick or sorry day and we went there in the best shape we could be in. We got beat and that’s sport.

“He’s actually picked up a niggle and is having a scan, so we will see after that. We may be without him this season.”

Meanwhile, he revealed that Imperial Alcazar had also picked up a small setback and he would be patient with his charge. He said: “In hindsight, he went up 10lbs for winning on Festival Trials Day and you could say that has cost us a Festival winner, but I wouldn’t change a thing. That winner was our 100th and it was for Ian Robinson and Imperial Racing, so it was special in its own right.

“He’s been a great servant to me. We went to Cheltenham as favourite for the Pertemps and it didn’t happen for him as he had an over-reach and then he came back last year and he was great over fences and Paddy was phenomenal on him.

“Like Alaphilippe he’s picked up a niggle, so we’ll have to see where we go with him. We haven’t got any plans for him just yet but he’s a nice horse who will be contesting nice races when he’s ready.”

One horse who O’Brien is itching to get back onto a racecourse however is the hugely exciting Hullnback, who was last seen finishing a fine second in a Grade Two bumper at the Randox Grand National Festival at Aintree in April.

The son of Schiaparelli is likely to make his hurdling bow at Cheltenham at the Showcase Meeting later this month and O’Brien revealed that he feels Hullnback ought to have plenty to offer this season.

He said: “We went to Chepstow for his first start having not really done a great deal at home. He’s owned by a great bunch of lads from Hull and they were really keen to back him and I was trying to calm them down!

“Evan Williams had a couple of runners and he doesn’t have many in bumpers so I was thinking that a top six finish would be a great result and I was telling them that. We rode him like that and Paddy said once he gave him a squeeze turning into the straight he just took off.

“It does happen sometimes that horses that show very little at home just light up at the track. For a bumper horse he absolutely galloped through the line and I was just thinking ‘jeez’.

“We then went to Newbury for a Listed bumper and it just didn’t work as well for us dropping him in that day. The owners took it on the chin and we went to Aintree after that as he’s a big raw horse and he ran a screamer.

“He’s been schooling great and he’ll probably go to Cheltenham for a maiden hurdle at the Showcase Meeting. Two miles won’t be his trip but that’s where we’ll start him off because he’s a big strong lad and he’ll want to get on with it. If he wins that’s great but if he doesn’t it’s not the end of the world.”

O’Brien also provided updates on his plans for some of his other hopes for the winter:

Captain Cattistock (Nic Brereton)

“He could still be on a good mark and he’ll start either at the Showcase Meeting or the November Meeting at Cheltenham and his first target will be the Edinburgh National once again. We’ll see how we go there and I’d love to get him into the Grand National, Nic Brereton who owns him and sponsors me has always dreamed of having a runner in that race, so it would be lovely if we could do that.”

Paint The Dream (David Brace)

“He was smashing last year and we’ve got a bit of a divided camp on whether he’ll stay or he won’t stay, our only way to find out is hopefully aiming him for the Hennessy (Coral Gold Cup) at Newbury and then we’ll see where we go from there.”

Poetic Music (Ismail El Magdoub)

“She was sixth in the Champion Bumper when it went very heavy, she wants a bit of soft ground but it was very soft that day. She travelled really well down the hill and didn’t quite come back up it, but she’s only a four year old and she ran a blinder. She’s come back in looking a monster and hopefully we can move forward with her this season, she’ll go over hurdles.”

Punctuation (Grant Leon)

“He’s a lovely horse and he’s from a nice jumping family. Charlie (Longsdon) was just a bit unfortunate with him and it didn’t happen for him there and when we got him we were able to give him a break because that’s what he needed.

“Paddy was very good at him at Warwick the first time and I thought he was very good at Newbury last time. I thought going to the last there that we’d be second, but he absolutely winged it and put his head down and really tried. He wants a bit of cut in the ground and two and a half miles minimum, but hopefully there’s a nice race in him somewhere.”

Bonttay (C B Brookes & Fergal O'Brien)

“She was great for us last year and she’s three from three, she got a heart murmur but if we can get that right she’s got a massive engine. She’s got a great temperament and does everything you’d want her to do, we just need to get over that heart murmur. She literally lives with an ECG machine on her and it’s so far so good.”

Silver Hallmark (Mr & Mrs William Rucker)

“Nothing went right for him last year, he was either right and then the ground was wrong or the ground was right and he wasn’t. He’s a lovely horse and he’s got a huge engine in him, he beat McFabulous on his first hurdle run at Chepstow and I probably haven’t placed him the best since, but he’s won a Grade Two Chase for us (Altcar Novices’ Chase) at Haydock Park.

“On his day he’s very good and I think he’s got stronger this year. I think if we can get a few more runs into him, there’s a good race in him.”

Hurricane Harvey (Walid Marzouk & Richard Rowland)

“He’s really struggled since he’s won his Grade Two, he was very high in the handicap and then he ran a blinder in the Badger Beer at Wincanton last year. We struggled from then on in, but he’s going to start off over hurdles in the next two to three weeks and we’ll see how we go.”

Pull Again Green (Roy & Sally Green Tony & Karen Exall)

“He was a superstar for us last season and he’ll go novice chasing this term. Paddy wanted to stick over hurdles with him but he’s such a good jumper that I just felt that handicap hurdles might be a bit tough for him. He’s a big beautiful horse so fingers crossed he makes up into a nice chaser.”

Mortlach (Doug Pocock)

“We call him the cash cow, because he’s won six for us and he’s been placed in all of his other races! He’s been a great horse for us this summer, but I can’t see him going too much further into the season. He might go to Wincanton at the end of October but he’s done a lot of miles and has been a busy horse. He’s very straightforward though and a pleasure to train.”

Shallow River (Mick Fitzgerald Racing Club)

“He’ll want further in time and I think he showed that in his bumper win at Wincanton. He was very good in his hurdle race at Huntingdon, so he’s a lovely horse.”

Crambo (Sullivan Bloodstock Ltd & Chris Giles)

“We went to Huntingdon in March having already won a bumper and I said the owners that this was a nice bumper and they had backed the Olly Murphy horse (Butch). They don’t normally miss the target when they back one but Connor Brace said he still wanted to ride him the same and drop him in, because he can be quite keen in his races.

“When they turned for home it looked like he was going to be second, Adrian (Heskin) looked to be travelling really well, and he just took off under Connor. He said he was never going to get beat that day, so he’s really exciting. He jumps really well and I’m looking forward to him."

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