'I've always said I don't want to train 200 horses' - Fergal O'Brien talks targets as he goes it alone again

A new but familiar chapter in Fergal O'Brien's career began on Monday after he parted ways with Graeme McPherson.

The pair linked up in 2021 when O'Brien took over McPherson's stables near Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire, but the demands of managing two yards half an hour apart led to an amicable split in the spring.

That officially came through on Monday, when O'Brien, flying high at the top of the trainers' championship, said: "The first thing to do is wish Dave [Killahena, who managed the second yard] and Graeme well. It was an exercise we tried and it didn't quite work out because of logistics. We'll kick on and hopefully we can continue to go from strength to strength."

Based around nine miles from Cheltenham, O'Brien, who started training in 2011, has made impressive strides, saddling 100-plus winners in the last three seasons and breaking through the £1 million prize-money barrier on two occasions in that period.

"We're a bit down on numbers than we were this time last year purely because we knew this de-merge was imminent, but things have gone well," added the trainer, who has recorded 27 winners this term.

Dysart Enos: romped clear in a Grade 2 mares' bumper at Aintree for Fergal O'Brien last seasonCredit: John Grossick

"We had a great May with 20 winners, which is the most we've had in a month, but we've slowed down in June and July.

"We're in the process of getting planning for a new barn here and that would take us up to 106 horses, but I've always said I don't want to train 200 horses.

"We had the capacity to train more when we had Graeme's yard and probably had over 130 at our peak, but 106 is a good number and we've good pre-training yards around, including Jason Maguire's."

O'Brien, successful in Aintree's Grade 2 mares' bumper in April with the exciting Dysart Enos, finished fifth in the trainers' title race last season, but he is not taking his position at the head of the table for granted.

"I think Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Dan Skelton are all very safe," he said. "The target for this season is to get one more winner than we had last season, so that would be 142, and we'll try to increase the prize-money.

"We've won £200,000 already and we're only two and a half months into the season. People can go on about prize-money, but it's there if you want to go and get it."

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