Born in pre-gold rush Melbourne to Irish immigrants Dennis and Ann O’Brien, Dan grew up among horses. From birth to seven years old, this renowned jockey, trainer, owner, breeder and publican, the son of a drover, lived less than 100 metres from Kirk’s Bazaar, Melbourne’s famous horse market. On his mother’s death in 1854, Dan was sent to Springvale Farm at Merriang, in the City of Whittlesea and by his tenth birthday was rounding up cattle on his own pony. At 14 he was working in racing stables and by the time he celebrated his twenty-first birthday, he was living in New Zealand and had ridden winners in Melbourne, Sydney and Christchurch.
It was at David Gorman’s Springvale Farm (now known as Camoola) that Dan learnt to ride, his earliest lessons in equestrianship having been on a goat. At 14, his riding began to attract attention and someone suggested he would make a good jockey. After a short time with trainers near his home (possibly the Abbott family of Donnybrook or Simson and Row’s Bournefield Stud at Woodstock) Dan rode his first winner at the Whittlesea Races in 1863 on Gorman’s Warrior. Soon after he worked for two Melbourne trainers, James Kelly and Billy Tracey, before joining the famous Maribyrnong stud and stables owned by Hurtle Fisher.
While working at Maribyrnong from 1864-67, Dan looked after Fishhook (Fisherman-Marchioness), riding him at training and in his autumn 1866 victories in the Victoria Racing Club Flemington Stakes and the Australian Jockey Club’s Two-Year-Old Stakes and Champagne Stakes. After three years at Maribyrnong, Dan left to try his luck in New Zealand, where in a very colourful and successful career he rode, trained, owned or bred many famous horses. Among those he owned were Tambourini, Fishhook, Tasman, Rubina, Trenton, Sextant, Gipsy King, Carbine, Florrie, Loyalty, Multifid and Maranui, the last of whom was the first New Zealand bred horse to win a Caulfield Cup.
The most famous of Dan O’Brien’s horses was Carbine, purchased as a highly bred but unattractive yearling at Auckland in January 1887 for 620 guineas. As a two-year-old he was undefeated in five races in New Zealand. In September 1888, O’Brien shipped Carbine to Australia, where after winning two more races, he was sold for 3,000 guineas to Donald Wallace, for whom he went on to win a further 26 races, including the 1890 Melbourne Cup.
In his outstanding Melbourne Cup win, Carbine carried the greatest ever winning weight (66.5 kg) and set a record time of 3 minutes 28¼ seconds that lasted 15 years. He also ran in the largest field ever – 39. Yet today, when people argue about the greatest horse ever to race in Australia, most overlook Carbine for two later Melbourne Cup legends – Phar Lap and Makybe Diva. Unfortunately, Carbine raced before the era of film and television, so to most people today he simply never existed. Each of these horses has dominated their respective centuries, but to now exclude Carbine from the debate is to have forgotten probably the greatest of them all.
Carbine’s best Australian son – Wallace – stood at stud at Bundoora Park for many years and sired the winners of at least 949 races, valued at £246,145. Wallace also sired the winners of two Melbourne Cups – Kingsburgh and Patrobas. Carbine is the ancestor of over 50 subsequent Melbourne Cup winners, including Phar Lap.
Robert Wuchatsch January 2009
Image: Illustration purposes only via Pixabay
