Therefore, it was fitting that on the final day of the season at Naas that the two would meet in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden. O’Brien was racing on Nobel Prize and Keane on Chiricahua with both horses priced at 6-4 joint-favourites. Just like the championship, O’Brien claimed the race and the title by just a head.
A victory that emulated the achievements of his older brother Joseph, who won back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. After being crowned champion jockey, O’Brien admitted that it is tough mentally to compete for the top honour and praised the longevity of some of the sport’s most successful riders, saying;
It’s a relief to win it and to have it over and done. It’s head-frying, and I don’t know how lads like AP (McCoy) and Pat (Smullen) kept going for so many years. It drains you doing it one or two years, so I can only imagine what they went through.– Donnacha O’Brien, Champion jockey
Realistically, O’Brien was never going to have a long riding career. At six feet tall, which is exceptionally tall for a jockey, keeping his weight down was a constant battle.
Announcing his decision to retire on Twitter, O’Brien said it was a decision he had been considering for a long time; however, he felt it was the right time to concentrate on a training career. Donnacha said racing had been very good to him and that he owed everything to the people around him.
While not confirming directly in his Tweer, O’Brien is likely to join his father Aidan Patrick O’Brien at Ballydoyle Stables near Cashel in County Tipperary. Aidan has enjoyed incredible success, trainng 118 winners and claiming the title of Ireland’s champion Flat trainer an incredible 22 times.
