Has Aidan O’Brien ever won the British jump trainers’ title?

In short, Aidan O’Brien has never won the British jump trainers’ title, but it would be fair to say that is the only accolade missing from his enviable training CV. Born and raised in County Wexford, O’Brien, 55, took over the licence at the family yard in Piltown, County Kilkenny from his wife, Anne-Marie (née Crowley), in 1993 and went on to win the Irish jump trainers’ title five years running between 1993/94 and 1997/98. On the opposite side of the Irish Sea, he became best known for his handling of Istabraq, owned by J.P. McManus, who won the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival three years running, in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

In 1996, O’Brien was approached by John Magnier, founder of Coolmore Stud, with a view to replacing his unrelated namesake Vincent O’Brien as his private trainer as Ballydoyle Racing Stable in County Tipperary. At the helm of what is widely considered to to be the finest training establishment in the world, O’Brien won the Irish flat trainers’ title for the first time in 1997 and, while he ceded the crown to Dermot Weld in 1998, regained it the following year and has remained the perennial champion ever since.

In Britain, O’Brien became champion trainer for the first time in 2001, making him the first Irishman since Vincent O’Brien, 30 years earlier, to do so. He has since won the British flat trainers’ championship five more times, in 2002, 2007, 2008, 2016 and 2017, placing him joint-sixth, alongside Fred Darling, on the all-time list.