The numbers around his key partnerships raise an eyebrow. His most frequently used jockey, Danny Mullins, has yet to deliver a winner for the yard across 10 rides together. Likewise, the horse Tuba has run 12 times for O'Brien without making it to the winner's enclosure. Twelve races is a long time to wait. Whether that changes soon is the question anyone connected to that partnership will be asking.
There is one small but genuine bright spot in the data. On normal ground conditions, O'Brien's runners win 2 in every 13 races — that's a 15% win rate, more than double his overall average. It's a modest sample, but it suggests his horses perform noticeably better when the ground isn't testing them. In a sport where conditions can make or break a race plan, that kind of pattern is worth knowing.
Four years in, 27 winners on the board — O'Brien is still building. The foundations are there, but the last 12 months suggest a yard searching for momentum rather than one hitting its stride.
| Course | Races | Wins | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dundalk | 13 | 2 | 15.4% |
| Limerick | 7 | 0 | 0% |
| Killarney | 6 | 2 | 33.3% |
| Ballinrobe | 6 | 0 | 0% |
| The Curragh | 6 | 0 | 0% |
| Cork | 6 | 0 | 0% |
| Listowel | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Galway | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Roscommon | 3 | 1 | 33.3% |
| Tipperary | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Leopardstown | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Fairyhouse | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Navan | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Gowran Park | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Down Royal | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Downpatrick | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Newton Abbot | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| rosehill | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Sligo | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Wexford | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Naas | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Thurles | 1 | 0 | 0% |