A Rising Star of the Training Ranks

Back in January 2010, David O'Meara was in still in the process of applying for his trainer's license. He had retired from a respectable 10-year career as a jumps jockey two years before and had spent the interim buying and selling a few horses and even turned his hand to some property development. However, he needed something a bit more solid and the answer came when he successfully applied for a position as a trainer at Yorkshire businessman Roger Fell's stable in the remote village of Helmsley.

It wasn't until June of 2010 that O'Meara was granted his license and he didn't waste any time getting off the mark with Simple Jim (Fr) (Jimble {Fr}) providing the ambitious rookie with his first winner when scoring at Redcar later that month under similarly ambitious jockey Silvestre De Sousa. He ended his first season with 25 winners and subsequent seasonal tallies of 48, 69, 136, 112 and 122 suggest his ascent since beginning has been nothing short of meteoric.

In 2015, O'Meara showcased his training talents on the international stage and over one weekend in September, he won group races in three different countries with Mondialiste (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Custom Cut (Ire) (Notnowcato {GB}) and Move In Time (GB) (Monsieur Bond {GB}) winning in Canada, Ireland and France, respectively. Mondialiste's victory in the GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile S. was followed by a fast-finishing second to Tepin (Bernstein) in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland. It copper-fastened O'Meara's already well-established reputation as a trainer who can seemingly improve already high- class horses that have previously been under the care of some renowned trainers.

David O'Meara was born in Fermoy in Cork 38 years ago and both his parents had a keen in interest in racing and breeding; so too did the young O'Meara, but his mother obviously got her way initially, as he was dispatched to the University Of Limerick to pursue a degree in Equine Science upon finishing school.

A gap year spent working for jumps trainer Philip Hobbs turned into a one-way ticket to Britain and, suddenly, academia's loss was racing's gain. Riding as an amateur initially, one of O'Meara's highlights in the saddle was guiding Bells Life (Ire) (The Parson {GB}) to victory over the Grand National fences in the Foxhunter's Chase at Aintree in 2000. He later moved north to Yorkshire, riding mainly for trainers Tim Easterby and Sue Smith, and it is Yorkshire he now resides along with his wife Sarah and daughter Roisin.

So what has been the trainer's key to such rapid success? Sometimes observers are prone to cynicism when a contender appears from relative obscurity and gate-crashes the inner sanctum of Britain's top 10 flat trainers within a couple of years of launching their career. Martin Pipe was an innocent victim of it when he changed the landscape for jumps trainers back in the early '90s, with rivals questioning the morality of his training methods, especially when they heard of his on-site laboratory. O'Meara on the other hand relies on not much more than common sense and mother nature.

“I just try to keep things as simple as possible,” said the trainer without any hint of smugness. “I'm a big believer in routine and we also like to turn them out in paddocks as much as possible; basically we just aim to keep the horses fit and mentally happy.”

As mentioned earlier, O'Meara has displayed an uncanny knack of rejuvenating horses that he has either bought at horses-in-training sales or has inherited from other trainers.

G-Force (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) was bought by Nick Bradley at Tattersalls for 25,000gns as a once-raced maiden out of the Richard Hannon yard and sent to O'Meara, for whom he became a Group 1 winning sprinter. Custom Cut was a bought by O'Meara himself–also at Tattersalls–for 95,000gns as a 108 rated Group 3 winning 4-year-old that looked as good as he was going to be. Two years under his new trainer's tutelage and he has soared to a rating of 117, with wins in five group races and almost £400,000 in prize-money.

“He's back again and I don't think he's finished winning either,” said the trainer about the half brother to Free Eagle (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}).

Another high-profile example of O'Meara's magic touch is Amazing Maria (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}). A smart 2-year-old for Ed Dunlop when she won the G3 Prestige S. at Goodwood, her 3-year-old season was a write off and O'Meara inherited an almost blank canvas for her 4-year-old campaign. What a campaign it was. A Royal Ascot win in the G2 Duke Of Cambridge S. preceded Group 1 wins in the Falmouth S. at Newmarket and in the Prix Rothschild at Deauville.

“Maria is due back in early February and she'll follow a similar path to last year, she's one to look forward to and I'm very grateful to have her,” he enthused.

Mondialiste was formerly trained in France by Freddy Head, and O'Meara bought him at Arqana as a 4-year-old for €190,000 for Geoff Turnbull. He was given a rating of 105 in Britain for his first run and with a current rating of 118, this Grade I-winning (over a mile) son of Galileo (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) should be an exciting stallion prospect for Turnbull, who has already begun stocking up mares to send to the 6-year-old. He'll have to wait another year though, as his trainer is already looking forward to a spring campaign.

“Mondialiste could start off in the G1 Lockinge S. at Newbury. He had a busy and long year, as he obviously went to America and Hong Kong, so it wouldn't be fair to bring him back too soon,” O'Meara reasoned. “He has an excellent turn of foot as he showed in the Breeders' Cup Mile, even though he was beaten and it would be great if he could win a Group 1 in Europe.”

With such a powerful squad of older horses to represent him at the top level the trainer is also busy assembling the talent of the future.

“We have more 2-year-olds than ever this year, about 30 in total, so it would be nice to think that there could be a few good ones among them,” he commented. “Rabbah Bloodstock and Salem Rashid are getting more involved with us and have sent us five nice juveniles that came from Tattersalls Book 1. Steve Parkin of Clipper Logisitics has also sent us a few nice horses and Reg and Charlie Bond have increased their numbers with us. They own Move In Time, who has been a brilliant servant, having won a Group 1 in France, and we might bring him to Dubai for the G1 Al Quoz Sprint on World Cup night [Mar. 26]. Between these and the established older horses, we have a nice mix of horses for the season. The main thing is there is plenty of them, there'll upwards of 140 in total by the time the season kicks off.”

This growth both in numbers and quality has seen O'Meara recently complete the purchase of a new yard and farm located near York. Formerly the base of the late Mel Brittain, O'Meara is halfway through moving his string from Helmsley and expects to be fully bedded down in another week or so.

“It's a beautiful facility and while there is plenty of work to do to get it to the stage that I want it, it has all the facilities in place to enable us to kick on and train the horses,” the conditioner reported. “For this year, while it is very important to get a similar number of winners on board as recent seasons and also hopefully get another Group 1 somewhere, it's vital that we can make as seamless a transition as possible and get the horses settled into their new routine in good time.”

David O'Meara's training talents have obviously been well documented and his stellar results have led to him being the subject of some high-profile job offers from major players of the industry. He was not however approached by the one organization that led to people thinking that Aidan O'Brien's tenure at Ballydoyle was about to expire.

“No, there was no truth to any rumour about the Coolmore team offering me Aidan's job,” he assured. “Hopefully the fact that I have made a substantial investment to this new training facility will put a stop to that hearsay and I can continue developing my career here.”

Furthering an already burgeoning career is a scary thought for competing trainers given the progress O'Meara has made in just five years. But it's probably a very safe bet.

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