Brian O'Rourke starts new Lambourn training venture with backing of big owners

Lambourn is to welcome a new but familiar name to its training ranks after Brian O'Rourke was granted a licence to have runners.

For the last six years, O'Rourke has operated a pre-training business in the village from Old Manor Stables – where Kim Bailey sent out the winners of the Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle in the 1990s.

A native of County Tyrone, O'Rourke spent time in Australia in his youth before a spell working for US Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.

He then became an influential part of Highclere Stud, helping prepare youngsters before their racing careers, including three-time Classic hero Camelot and multiple Group 1 winner Postponed.

He said: "We're lucky to have been pre-training for some well-established clients including Rockcliffe Stud, Al Shaqab, Highclere, David and Sue Ward and Bjorn Nielsen, while bloodstock agent Ed Sackville has been a huge supporter of mine as well.

"He was instrumental in getting me to train and everything has been great with the pre-training, but some of these people asked if we could think about training for them.

"Ed said he'd guarantee sending me horses and my other owners have as well.

"We've set up the yard for training and the rest of it will be for pre-training. We've 12 boxes licensed by the BHA with a view to have another 20 if we can fill the stables.

"We've a dozen horses in and we're looking to hit the ground in early May, and we've probably four lined up with races picked for them."

Bjorn Nielsen: one of the prominent owners supporting Brian O'Rourke's new set-upCredit: Edward Whitaker

O'Rourke, who also bred 2,000 Guineas winner Galileo Gold, added: "We've been thinking about training for the last few years and two years ago I paid for the diploma to get my training licence, but never got round to doing it because the timing wasn't right.

"I wanted some two-year-olds to help get us along and there's a horse called Banshee, who is a nice early juvenile owned by Bjorn Nielsen, while Delahoussaye is a smart Footstepsinthesand colt I bought last year. I named him after the American jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, who was a pretty nice guy and top rider when I was in the States."

The 49-year-old is open-minded about how his pre-training and rehabilitation business will continue and went on: "The people we pre-train for are predominantly my supporters starting off.

"We've basically been getting horses ready to run here for the last few years and sending them to trainers for the finishing touches, while our pre-training has had a reputation for patience and letting horses come good."

Read more:

First runner for Classic hero Galileo Gold as Robbie Roger heads to Southwell

'I've enjoyed every minute of it' – Lambourn's Mark Grant retires from race-riding

'My heart was going 100mph four furlongs out' – Haynes celebrates first winner

'It happened by accident' – Brian Harding thrilled at saddling first runner

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