8 of the Best Current Horse Racing Trainers in Ireland

One of Ireland's greatest ever trainers, Weld has tasted success in all five Irish classics and has saddled big race winners on four different continents. He holds the record for the most winners trained in Ireland and is also a qualified veterinarian.
He has won the Irish 1,000 Guineas four times, with a 28-year gap between his first success (Princes Polly, 1982) and his most recent (Bethrah, 2010). He also won four consecutive Irish St Legers from 2001 to 2004 with Vinnie Roe. His principal jockeys include Pat Shanahan and Pat Smullen.
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Ted is the father of renowned jockeys Ruby and Katie Walsh, whose success on top of their father's has made them one of horse racing's most decorated families.
Walsh had a fortnight to remember in 2000 when he trained Papillon to victory at the Aintree Grand National and Commanche Court to success in the Irish equivalent. Remarkably, his son Ruby was in the saddle for both of those triumphs.
Walsh has also trained prominent horses such as Rince Ri, True Blue Victory, Seabass and Colbert Station.
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Oxx started training in 1979 and has become one of Ireland’s most respected and successful trainers. He is well known in horse racing circles for his unrivalled patience and for a tendency not to over face his horses.
In 2000, he trained Sinndar for the Aga Khan to become the first horse to win the Epsom Derby, the Budweiser Irish Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same year.
He also guided Sea The Stars during a magical 2009, with wins including the Epsom Derby, English 2,000 Guineas and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
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As a trainer, Mullins has won almost every major prize in Ireland and the UK, and he has been Champion National Hunt trainer for each of the past eight years.
He trained Hedgehunter to win the 2005 Aintree Grand National and his place in modern racing folklore has been firmly sealed by the extraordinary success of Hurricane Fly, who won the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham twice in the space of three years.
In 2012/13, Mullins set a new record for number of winners trained in a National Hunt season with 155 and later secured a record 13 winners at the Punchestown Festival. Another record arrived for the trainer when, in 2015, he racked up an unprecedented eight winners at the Cheltenham Festival.
In 2014 he won the Nakayama Grand Jump in Japan with Blackstairmountain and in November 2015 he came within inches of winning the Melbourne Cup with Max Dynamite.
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When it comes to the top dual-purpose trainers in Ireland, Harrington is undoubtedly up there. She has tasted a remarkable amount of success across both National Hunt and flat racing.
Her most famous horse was the iconic Moscow Flyer, a two-time winner of the Champion Chase at Cheltenham. The horse retired with 13 Grade 1 wins to its name and almost €1.75 million in prize money.
Harrington has also achieved success as the trainer of horses such as Jezki, Mac's Joy, Roberto Goldback, Jazz Princess, Boston's Angel, Pathfork, Curtain Call and Dragon Pulse.
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Bolger has enjoyed tremendous success as a trainer since taking out his licence in the late 1970s and is renowned for getting the very best out of his horses. He has built up a fine training establishment from his base in Coolcullen, Co. Carlow, as well as a breeding operation that has helped him capture many big races around the world.
He enjoyed particularly great success with Alexander Goldrun in the mid-2000s, the horse winning five Grade 1 races across four different countries. Bolger had a year to remember in 2008, with Lush Lashes winning three Grade 1's and New Approach memorably triumphing at the Epsom Derby. More recent success has come courtesy of the famed Dawn Approach, winner of the 2013 English 2,000 Guineas.
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Backed by John Magnier and the Coolmore operation, O'Brien has 11 Irish Derby wins to his name and has trained some of the most successful horses in modern racing.
He was the trainer of the great Istabraq, winner of the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham for three years in succession, and also trained Rock of Gibraltar to seven consecutive Grade 1 victories between 2001 and 2002. Another of O'Brien's horses, High Chaparral, won both the English and Irish Derbies in 2002.
After some leaner years, he came roaring back in 2008 with no fewer than 23 Grade 1 winners in a single season, while Henrythenavigator took first place in both the Irish and English 2,000 Guineas. O'Brien also has the honour of training the winner of the Irish Derby for seven years in a row between 2006 and 2012.
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Meade's name is synonymous with success in Irish racing. He has been crowned Champion Trainer eight times and his horses have been consistently successful at the highest level for many years.
His training career started in 1971, although he had to be patient for true success to arrive. He also endured the deaths of two of his greatest horses, Johnny Setaside and Cardinal Hill, in the late 1990s.
The turn of the century brought Meade the success his efforts deserved, with The Bunny Boiler winning the 2002 Irish Grand National, while Harchibald scored a number of wins for the trainer later in the decade.
Although the biggest prizes in racing have so far eluded him, Meade has been Champion Trainer in Ireland seven times, and he has worked with renowned jockeys such as Paul Carberry, Nina Carberry, Davy Condon and Niall 'Slippers' Madden.
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