Donnacha O'Brien: 'I've become very used to the expectation - thankfully it doesn't bother me anymore'

When Donnacha O’Brien secured a breakthrough European Classic success a week after sending out his first winner on turf as a trainer in 2020, it was only natural to wonder if we were on the verge of witnessing another ambitious young heir seize his entitlement from the family’s sprawling dominion.

Fancy Blue’s narrow triumph in the Prix de Diane at Chantilly on July 5, 2020 came just 24 hours after the then 21-year-old trainer’s father Aidan had saddled Love and Serpentine to plunder a famous double in the Epsom Classics during a campaign that Covid-19 had turned upside down. Donnacha's older brother Joseph was already conquering the world in the few short years since he switched from riding to training, so there was a sense that Donnacha's immediate impact from Longfield Stables might see him launch his own bid for supremacy.

In reality, the 24-year-old's progress has turned out to be more steady than stratospheric. His father and brother whipped up whirlwinds when they set out but the training trajectory of O’Brien 3.0 is more, well, normal. That feels apt because his charismatic personality has always hinted at something slightly less homogenised.