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Horseracing

07th Mar 2016

Joseph O’Brien announces he will concentrate on new career as he quits race-riding

The Piltown Prodigy has called it a day

Kevin McGillicuddy

A surprise, but not a shock.

Josephs O’Brien has confirmed one of the worst secrets in racing this evening as it’s reported his career as a jockey is over.

The son of the legendary Aidan O’Brien rode some of the best horses from the famous Ballydoyle stable overt the last number of years.

However, he announced last year that he was stepping back from riding to concentrate on training horses in a yard near his home place of Piltown in Co.Kilkenny.

O’Brien confirmed last year that he would be applying for a trainer’s licence in 2016.

O’Brien has struggled with his weight for many years, and according to the Racing Post this evening, he has confirmed that his time in the saddle is over.

O’Brien has been helping his father prepare horses for the last number of months  including Ivanovich Gorbatov, on Owning Hill ahead of Cheltenham.

He told the Racing Post he is happy to be concentrating on just being a trainer.

“It’s hard enough to make a decent job of one thing never mind trying to juggle two things so I’ll be concentrating on training and won’t be riding any more.”