The legend that is AP O'Brien

The man is an absolute genius!

strangely unloved tho for some reason!!

The man is a genius and comes across as a genuine nice guy.

He's in his mid forties,is teetotal and religious.
I suppose in this modern world being teetotal is a bad thing,being religious is even worse ( unless its the religion of peace ) so there will be a certain amount of sneering.

I never thought I would see a better trainer than Vincent OBrien but I have.
As the Americans say look at the numbers,they are incredible.
He's breaking records that are hundreds of years old.

You think there are no more records to break and he saddles the 1,2,3 in the 1000 Guineas.

Appreciate this genius now.
Glory in the fact that the greatest trainer in the world is a Yellow Belly from a small farm that came up the hard way.

There's probably not a single other person on this planet that would have lasted as long in that pressure cooker.
So fair play to Aidan. We all have a bit of a sneer now and again but he deserves respect. Sure, he has the ammo and a lot of top trainers would probably have done as well but it's hard to see any of them having the same stamina. If he ever decided to leave the coolmore operation would have a major headache.

i  also think hes also the greatest trainer this country has ever produced. hes courteous,mannerly and talks logically every time hes interviewed..he seems to have a lovely normal decent  family...but a lot of people dont like him for some reason...i find it strange really.

When he first went to Ballydoyle he couldn't train ivy up a wall. He trained 2 year olds the same way he had previously trained 3 mile chasers. It was Tommy Murphy who instructed him on how to train flat horses. To suggest that he is a genius and genuine nice guy is a bit misconceived.
In my view he is waffler and a spoofer who happens to train some of the most exceptional bred thoroughbreds.

So what your saying Gotchee is that he learned lessons as he went along and improved his methods by taking good advice.  It takes a humble man to accept anothers advice in an effort to improve.

I think gotchees quote really shows his knowldege of the game , 250 g1s and counting but still a waffler and spoofer employed by the most powerful organisation in hose racing

stats are everything in racing and aidan has them all. compare what aidan does with a top class two year old V someone like dermot weld. dermot will let it win its maiden, then give it a 2 mth break, win a group 3 and lo and behold might not run it again untill next year. it might run in a group 1 at 2. mr obrien on the other hand will run it about 5 times in at least 2 group 1's. he is very agressive. he runs his horses. hes not afraid to run a three year old in 6 group 1's from my to october.........the others will be very very careful.

No one asked you to sum yourself up in one sentence gobshee, but fair play you nailed it! Waffler and spoofer!

I was at Lingfield on Saturday and when Seventh Heaven returned to the winners enclosure one of the  course vets carried a bucket of water to the filly, she had two or three gulps before the lad noticed what was going on, he probably thought she was going to throw the water over the horse. He said to her "please don't give her water we have brought our own".

Maybe it is the little things that make the difference.

Humphrey Bogart was allowed to drink the Lingfield water after his win in the Derby trial!

He is humble also imo,brought my mum racing to Newmarket one summer day in 2004 i think and aidan regonised her as we looked at horses in the parade ring,he came over and chatted as mum had a grocery shop in wexford town near where aidan went to school and he remembered her and was interested in why/how we were there etc,he has come a long way since a student at the tech in Wexford,funnily he said one of his horses would win the days big race ,he had 3runners in it and his outsider at 16/1 won it ,mum had £5 on tote on his 3 and it paid 25/1 win on tote

no one could or should, knock the success of the man.

He's a great trainer that's for certain but no matter what he has achieved or will do in the future, he can never compare with MVOB. Without Vincent there would be no Ballydoyle or no Coolmore. Lots of trainers could have dominated the game from where Vincent left off.
I never thought any trainer could compare to MVOB but I think there is now a credible candidate,though he is still predominantly a jumps trainer.

The only trainer who can be compared with MVOB trains in France.

Yes Clerkmore, he would be closer than any other flat trainer

He is a great trainer now.  In the early days, the late 1990s, Ballydoyle ran a few good horses where they should not have run them.
I know I need to give an example, so King Of Kings in the Epsom Derby was a fish out of water. (and the old excuse that he injured himself to cover up the mistake.)
Perhaps Coolmore were putting pressure on, or it was inexperience.   The aim is much better now.

for a man that"couldnt train ivy up a wall"( i guess the previous 20 grade 1 nh races including 1/2s in ch hurd.galway plates leopardstown hurdles galway hurdles were an accident?!!?!?) when he started training flat horses hes done ok!!  the stupidity of some posters is incredible at times..

Best to ignore anything one so stupid says Kav.

Humble, modest, brilliant, and his children are a credit to him and his wife Ann- marie.

No one can deny APOB is a great trainer , the figures back that up daily . And as a family they are exceptional .

The difference between APOB and MVOB is that when MVOB's charges were primed and ready to rumble , they invariably won , and we were all on . Cant say the same for APOB / Coolmore as presently operating , and occasionally their lesser "fancied" horses pop up at the expense of short priced ones . You regular punters must have gritted your teeth betimes .

I don't like comparing greats.  I'm thankful we have had them.
Another thing I like about Vincent O'Brien was his last runner was a winner, 17 September 1994, Mysterious Ways, at The Curragh.
What a great name for his last runner.  It sums up Vincent's career.
In that race in 4th place was a horse, Wandering Thoughts, trained by Aidan O'Brien.
On 26th June 1993 the previous year I needed Wandering Thoughts to place in the last of six races for the placepot.  He won the 16 runner race (the 23 year old Aidan O'Brien almost unknown then).

I got Vincent O'Brien's autograph at The Curragh once, the day he unveiled the Nijinsky statue with Lester Piggott.
He was signing autographs and you could feel the love from the crowd for the great man.
The only thing I had was a small card advertising "The Racing Lodges of The Curragh", a book I bought and still have.
What intrigued me was Vincent turned the card over, read the ad for the book, then turned it over and signed the back.  I have the card in the book.

Nice post Kincsem.

Nice compliment frank60.

Nice complimentry compliment vubiant

Ap was interviewed after the dante today..........he was very subdued........not his usual self.......anyone else notice?

I think he was worried about Tommy Murphy nicking his job.

How's it hanging, Pecker?

Very good Peckerdunne .

Thought Donnacha is coming on leaps and bounds lately.

THE GURKHA COULD bE ANOTHER BALLYDOYLE LEGEND

I'm fine OZ, thanks. Hope you are also.

Did They fall out with the War Front guys in America?

naples.........where did u hear that?

FFS donnacha double and treble and single done in the 1st there the fe cking joys

Bad ride ,should have won .

Was on watchmans there aswell just not my night

He must be tougher than he looks Aidan because reading that recent Coolmore book it does seem safe to assume he stood up to the lads over Joesph riding, bcasically knowing they now need him as much as he needs them. It must be incredible pressure to deal with Magnier's expectations and knowing Tabor/McManus are possibly betting 6 figures on some runners.