Jockey Joseph O'Brien has taken out a license to trainer point-to-pointers, and could have his first runner as early as Sunday. Point-to-point is a form of jumps racing open to amateur riders as well as licensed trainers, and while O'Brien does not have a license to saddle runners in rules races, he confirmed via a Twitter statement his plans to saddle point-to-pointers.
“I have been looking after the jumpers and some flat horses for dad [trainer Aidan O'Brien] in Owning Hill [the O'Brien family's yard] for the past number of months and have really enjoyed it,” the statement read. “I ride work in Ballydoyle every morning and that is something which I will continue doing long term. I don't intend to race ride as much next year but I will combine riding work in Ballydoyle and looking after the horses in Owning Hill. I am also looking forward to having some point-to-point runners in the future. We have a nice team of horses under all codes at Owning Hill, both our own and for outside owners. I'm looking forward to the coming seasons.”
Nallen had horses under the care of O'Brien's father, Aidan O'Brien, in the early to mid 1990s, and his Minella For Me (Ire) (King's Theatre {Ire}) is entered at a Galway point-to-point meeting Sunday with Joseph O'Brien named as the handler.
“Basically, the operation isn't changing,” Nallen said. “I'm just going from being a permit holder to being an owner and the horses will run in Joseph's name. There's around 10 point-to-pointers to run during the autumn and spring and they're all horses that will hopefully be sold at some stage.”
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