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Fergal O'Brien

Fergal O'Brien has been training racehorses for just four years, but he has already built the kind of record that most trainers spend a lifetime chasing. Since 2021, he has sent out 503 winners — a number that speaks to a yard running at full tilt from almost the moment it opened its doors.Based on TrackLab's AI analysis
Quick Facts
Role
Trainer
Based
Withington, Gloucs
Record
90 wins from 625 races
Win rate
14.4%
Top jockey
Best course
Ludlow (29.0% from 31 races)
Best going
Good to firm

📊 Key Numbers

A snapshot of this trainer's performance over the last 12 months
625
Races
90
Wins
14.4%
Win rate
avg ~10%
40.6%
Place rate (top 3)
avg ~30%

🔍 Full Analysis

TrackLab's AI-generated assessment based on career data and recent form
TrackLab's Trainer Breakdown
Auto-Generated

This season alone tells the same story. Ninety winners from 625 runners means O'Brien is winning roughly 1 in every 7 races he enters — a 14% win rate that holds up across a huge volume of runners, which is the part that really matters. It is easy to win 1 in 7 when you are picking your spots carefully. Doing it across 625 races means the quality runs deep through the whole operation.

The top-level results are what elevate O'Brien from busy and productive to genuinely elite. Twenty Class 1 wins — the highest grade of race in Britain — at venues including Cheltenham, Sandown Park and Newbury tells you this is not a yard that wins on the lesser stages and disappears when the lights get brighter. A Class 1 win at Market Rasen in January 2026 was followed within a fortnight by another success at Sandown Park, and a Class 1 at Newbury back in March 2025 showed the same pattern: O'Brien tends to show up at the big occasions and leave with the right result.

His most reliable alliance is with jockey Jonathan Burke. Thirty-eight wins from 271 rides together works out to 14% — winning roughly 1 in every 7, exactly matching the yard's overall rate. That kind of consistency across 271 rides is a proper long-term partnership, not a hot streak, and it suggests Burke knows exactly what O'Brien's horses need from him.

One detail worth picking out is O'Brien's record on fast, dry ground. Four wins from just 16 races in those conditions gives him a 25% win rate — winning 1 in 4 — which is significantly better than his already-solid overall numbers. Whether that reflects the horses he targets for those days or something about how the yard prepares them is hard to say, but it is a pattern sharp enough to pay attention to.

📈 Form Trend

How this trainer's win rate has changed month by month
Monthly win rate
2025–2026
15.9%
May
31.0%
Jun
6.9%
Jul
11.8%
Aug
8.8%
Sep
19.4%
Oct
11.8%
Nov
12.7%
Dec
17.3%
Jan
6.6%
Feb
12.8%
Mar
16.7%
Apr

🎯 Where This Trainer Thrives

Performance broken down by ground, class, and track type
🌧 Ground Conditions
Good to firm
Loves
Good (firm-ish)
Good to soft
Heavy (very wet)
Soft (muddy)
Ok
Standard (all-weather)
Ok
Standard to slow
Ok
Soft to heavy
Yielding
Avoids
🏅 Competition Level
Class 1
Avoids
Class 2
Class 3
Ok
Class 4
Ok
Class 5
Class 6
🏟 Track Shape
Left-handed, tight
Loves
Left-handed, tight turning
Right-handed, undulating
Right-handed, tight turning
Left-handed, wide and galloping
Ok
Right-handed, wide and galloping
Ok
Left-handed, undulating
Ok
Right-handed, tight
Wide and galloping
Avoids

🏇 Jockey Partnerships

The riders they work with most, sorted by rides together
Jonathan Burke First Choice
14.0%
Win rate
38/271
Won / Rode
Fern O'Brien
17.5%
Win rate
14/80
Won / Rode
6.3%
Win rate
4/63
Won / Rode
Tom Broughton
17.9%
Win rate
10/56
Won / Rode
22.2%
Win rate
6/27
Won / Rode
26.1%
Win rate
6/23
Won / Rode
33.3%
Win rate
5/15
Won / Rode
Mr Ben Sutton
16.7%
Win rate
2/12
Won / Rode
0%
Win rate
0/9
Won / Rode
12.5%
Win rate
1/8
Won / Rode
Nick Slatter
20%
Win rate
1/5
Won / Rode
20%
Win rate
1/5
Won / Rode
0%
Win rate
0/5
Won / Rode
0%
Win rate
0/4
Won / Rode
0%
Win rate
0/3
Won / Rode
0%
Win rate
0/3
Won / Rode
0%
Win rate
0/3
Won / Rode
0%
Win rate
0/2
Won / Rode
Mr Albi Tufnell(7)
0%
Win rate
0/2
Won / Rode
0%
Win rate
0/2
Won / Rode

Top Horses

The strongest horses currently associated with this trainer
Form: 4421-3
Form: 32-523
Form: 1-5312
Form: 11-412
Form: 2532
Form: /680-1
Form: 21
Form: 1-441P
Form: 2332
Form: 21-325

🏟 Course Record

Win rate at each course, sorted by number of races
CourseRacesWinsWin rate
Uttoxeter 52 9 17.3%
Market Rasen 40 10 25%
Huntingdon 35 8 22.9%
Southwell 33 4 12.1%
Ludlow 31 9 29.0%
Cheltenham 31 5 16.1%
Taunton 29 2 6.9%
Worcester 27 3 11.1%
Kempton Park 22 3 13.6%
hereford 22 1 4.5%
Wolverhampton 21 4 19.0%
Bangor-on-Dee 21 1 4.8%
Warwick 19 1 5.3%
Chepstow 17 2 11.8%
Newbury 16 1 6.2%
Lingfield Park 12 2 16.7%
Exeter 12 1 8.3%
Sandown Park 12 1 8.3%
Doncaster 12 0 0%
Stratford-on-Avon 11 3 27.3%
Ascot 11 0 0%
Leicester 10 1 10%
Plumpton 9 1 11.1%
Haydock Park 8 1 12.5%
Newton Abbot 8 1 12.5%
Ffos Las 8 1 12.5%
Fontwell Park 7 1 14.3%
Aintree 7 1 14.3%
Carlisle 7 0 0%
Wetherby 6 0 0%
Sedgefield 5 2 40%
Fakenham 5 1 20%
Windsor 5 1 20%
Catterick Bridge 5 1 20%
Wincanton 5 0 0%
Perth 5 0 0%
Punchestown 5 0 0%
Ayr 4 3 75%
Nottingham 4 1 25%
Newcastle 4 1 25%
Kelso 4 0 0%
Cartmel 3 2 66.7%
Pontefract 2 1 50%
Musselburgh 2 0 0%
Brighton 1 0 0%
York 1 0 0%
Galway 1 0 0%
Chester 1 0 0%
Newmarket 1 0 0%
Hexham 1 0 0%
Fairyhouse 1 0 0%
chelmsford 1 0 0%
Leopardstown 1 0 0%
Bath 1 0 0%
Great Yarmouth 1 0 0%

📅 Recent Results

The last 20 results, most recent first
4 Apr
Huntingdon · 1m6f – 2m · Good
2nd
4 Apr
Huntingdon · 1m6f – 2m · Good
Won
4 Apr
Haydock Park · 1m6f – 2m · Good
4th
4 Apr
Carlisle · Long Distance (2m+) · Good_To_Soft
3rd
1 Apr
Southwell · 1m6f – 2m · Good
6th
1 Apr
Southwell · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
3rd
31 Mar
Wolverhampton · 1m6f – 2m · Standard
Won
31 Mar
Bangor-on-Dee · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
5th
31 Mar
Bangor-on-Dee · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
31 Mar
Bangor-on-Dee · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
5th
31 Mar
Bangor-on-Dee · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
30 Mar
Ludlow · 1m6f – 2m · Good
Won
30 Mar
Ludlow · 1m6f – 2m · Good
28 Mar
Stratford-on-Avon · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
3rd
28 Mar
Uttoxeter · Long Distance (2m+) · Good_To_Soft
27 Mar
Fontwell Park · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
26 Mar
Warwick · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
6th
24 Mar
Southwell · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
4th
24 Mar
Taunton · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
2nd
24 Mar
Southwell · Long Distance (2m+) · Good
4th