Joseph O'Brien: leading hopes for the 2026 Cheltenham Festival

Joseph O’Brien has spoken of his love for the Cheltenham Festival, ranking it alongside with the top racing events in the world.

The 32-year-old trainer sends out runners on the Flat and over jumps and has already won some of the most prestigious Group One contests including the Melbourne Cup – twice - Irish Derby and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mares Turf and Grade One contests over obstacles like the Irish Gold Cup, King George VI Chase and Arkle Novices’ Chase.

Speaking at a media event hosted by The Jockey Club, O’Brien said: “Cheltenham is undoubtedly one of the biggest racing festivals anywhere in the world, Flat or National Hunt. You have people who come from all over the world to enjoy the racing and enjoy the best National Hunt horses taking each other on, on the world stage, and it’s a real privilege for us to be in the position to be able to go there every year.

“We have one gallop and a broad spectrum of horses. We love the variety of it and so does our team because we have action all year round and luckily we have horses that are good enough to go to a lot of the big festivals, National Hunt and Flat and race internationally as well.

“I love the challenge and I love the variety of it. We’re privileged that we have the support of people. Really the fundamentals of training a racehorse is the same whatever their discipline is. Fitness, health and having the willingness to compete. At the end of the day you then get a feel for what their best conditions are and you place them in the races accordingly.

“Both of my parents came up through National Hunt racing before converting to the Flat, so I love Jump racing and try to keep a level of National Hunt horses, albeit it’s fair to say Flat is our main focus, numerically anyhow as we have a lot more Flat horses. But there’s nothing like being able to go Leopardstown or Cheltenham or Punchestown or Aintree – it’s special going to those festivals and that’s what racing is all about.”

O’Brien ran the rule over his main Cheltenham Festival contenders:

“As well as the Gold Cup and the Ryanair he’s in at Aintree too. We’ve discussed it with Ronnie (Bartlett, owner) and he’ll be left in all the races. It would be fair to say he’ll probably end up at Aintree. We will have a good look at the Ryanair and the Gold Cup but I’d say the ground would need to be particularly dry for him to run there.

“The King George was a great race wasn’t it? One of the best King Georges I can remember in a good while. It was great to be competing in it. You get beaten in a head bob but that’s racing. He turned up and ran right to his best, if not maybe even a clear best to be honest.

“He won the Martin Pipe and he won a Novice Chase there (at Cheltenham) as well. I think the track is fine but he does want that better ground.”

“We’ll probably have three in it. Glen To Glen – he won in Cork. Then we have Dignam – he won in the summer – and then we’ll have a horse called Kizlyar who hasn’t won yet.

“Probably the three of them will run. It looks a good race and it’s hard to win. You need luck in running and the three of them are experienced horses who have plenty on them on the Flat which is usually a help in that kind of race. They’ll all have an each way chance.”

“Yeah it was a good win the last time and gave weight to the horse that won at the weekend (Staffordshire Knot). On paper it was as good as he’s ever been. Whether he can win the Stayers’ Hurdle, that might a stretch, but there’s no reason why he couldn’t run well again.

“He’s a great horse, he’s been a great horse for the owners and the yard and he can run his race again hopefully.”

“He’s come out of it (Ladbrokes Dublin Chase at the Dublin Racing Festival) well. I guess we could wait for Aintree and go slightly up in trip. He still has the option of Cheltenham and maybe Barry Connell might run scared of us! I’m only joking, but we’ll see how he is and see what the ground’s like. Then we’ll see if he goes to Cheltenham or wait for Aintree.

“He likes to dominate his races but it’s hard to do that at Cheltenham and I don’t think Majborough is going to let us do that any time soon so we might look to avoid him.

“You’d have to say that Marine Nationale has been regularly good at Cheltenham hasn’t he, and we’ve been generally pretty good at Leopardstown, so it’s horses for courses.”

“He’s really exciting. He’s done nothing wrong this year, he’s unlucky not to be four (wins) from four (runs) and he goes to Cheltenham as a real obvious contender as one of the top novices around at the moment.

“I think it would be fair to say we’re leaning towards the Supreme (Novices’ Hurdle) and that’s the race I’ve had in mind and it’s probably the right race for his progression and for him at this stage. I think it might be fair to say that the Turners (Novices’ Hurdle) might end up a little bit softer on paper but we’re paid to put him in the right spot and we think that’s probably the Supreme. The final call will be made late but I’d say that’s the best spot for him.”

Asked what impressed him most about Talk The Talk’s victory at the Dublin Racing Festival, O’Brien said: “I suppose at the DRF he probably shouldn’t have been able to win from where he did off a really slow pace, running down two really good horses. I think Ballyfad and King Rasko Grey are high class horses and albeit we just got up on the line. I think it was a performance that you couldn’t mark up given the set-up of the race.

“We’ll probably take our time (at Cheltenham). He’s a horse that, at this stage of his life, that’s the right way to ride him.

“I’ve got no problem with him going further. I actually probably see him as a stayer in the long-term but I think we always keep our options open and we could have a change of heart late on, but I think the Supreme is the race we have in mind for him.

“He has kind of an aggressive nature and we feel that the tempo of the Supreme would suit him better. I know he’s won off a very slow pace at Leopardstown the last day but it’s fair to say that I was surprised that he was able to do that and I think the tempo of a Supreme, generally speaking might be run at a faster pace, would probably be more suitable for him.”

“He probably will run in one of the novice hurdles, probably the Turners is more likely. We might run in Ireland this weekend and then decide but it would be the plan for him to go in one of the novices I’d imagine. He’d be more of an each way chance but he’s a progressive horse.”

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