Joseph Cyril O'Brien (June 25, 1917 – September 29, 1984) was a

Harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Austral ...

driver, trainer and owner who won the U.S. Trotting Triple Crown in 1955 and would be inducted into both the U.S. Harness Racing Hall of Fame and the

Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 to honour those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and Thoroughbred horse racing in Canada. It is located at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. The ...

,Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame bio for Joe O'Brien
Retrieved November 14, 2016 as well as

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

.Canada's Sports Hall of Fame bio for Joe O'Brien
Retrieved November 10, 2016 Noted for his quiet dignity and diplomacy, he is considered one of the greatest harness horsemen in history.

Racing highlights

The early years

Joe O'Brien was the son of a successful

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

farmer. His father was involved in the breeding and racing of Standardbreds and it would become part of Joe's life at an early age. He was just 16 years old when he won his first harness race at a Summerside track. After finishing school, instead of going to

veterinary college Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

as his mother wanted, in the fall of 1935 he chose to go to work as a trainer at the farm of William Latta in River Hebert, Nova Scotia. Within a few years Joe O'Brien had become a dominant force in racing in the Maritime Provinces.Reprint of the February 1955 ''Hoof Beats'' magazine story by Jim Harrison titled "Little Joe Is Big Joe Now! And the Name O'Brien, Has Become A Permanent Entry On The Roster OF All-Time Harness Racing Greats"
Retrieved November 12, 2016 He led all drivers in wins for five straight years from 1943 through 1947 and at

Truro Raceway Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

won a record-shattering 11 races on a single racecard. In 1947 he led all drivers in North America with 128 wins but the

United States Trotting Association The United States Trotting Association (USTA), headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, is the governing body for the sport of harness racing in the United States. It licenses drivers and trainers; trains racing officials; makes the rules of racing; mainta ...

did not recognize the 44 races he won in the Maritime Provinces and gave him a National ranking of 7th in the USTA standings.

California bound

During 1947 Joe O'Brien headed to

Del Mar, California Del Mar (; Spanish for "Of the Sea") is a beach town in San Diego County, California, located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1885 as a seaside resort, the city incorporated in 1959. The Del Mar Horse Races are hosted on the ...

where before long he would be hired to drive and train for the West Coast division of Castleton Farms racing stable owned by

Frances Dodge Frances Dodge (November 27, 1914 – January 24, 1971) was an internationally known horsewoman. She was the eldest of the three children of John Francis Dodge (co-founder of Dodge Motor Company) and his third wife Matilda Rausch Dodge (Wilson ...

, daughter of John Dodge automobile manufacturing pioneer and co-founder of

Dodge Brothers Company Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above ...

. O'Brien would soon gain national recognition when he drove and trained the Castleton pacer Indian Land to victory in the then rich $50,000

Golden West Pace The Golden West Pace is a defunct three-race series in harness racing for Standardbred pacers aged three and older. It was first run in 1946 with a purse of $50,000 which at the time was the richest offered in the sport. The race final was hosted ...

Hollywood Park Racetrack Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to t ...

. In 1951 O'Brien accepted an offer to take over as head trainer and driver for the

S. A. Camp Farms, Inc. S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...

Shafter, California Shafter is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is located west-northwest of Bakersfield. The population was 16,988 at the 2010 census, up from 12,736 at the 2000 census. The city is located along State Route 43. Suburbs of Sha ...

, a small city he would call home for the rest of his life. After just four years with owner Sol Camp, Joe O'Brien had won numerous major races and in 1954 he drove

Scott Frost Scott Andrew Frost (born January 4, 1975) is a former American football coach and player. He was the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 2018 to 2022. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Frost played college football as a q ...

to victory in a time of two minutes flat making him the first two-year-old in the world achieve such a winning time. In 1955 O'Brien and Scott Frost won the

Hambletonian Stakes The Hambletonian Stakes is a major American harness race for three-year-old trotting horses, named in honor of Hambletonian 10, a foundation sire of the Standardbred horse breed, also known as the "Father of the American Trotter." The first ...

, the Yonkers Trot and the

Kentucky Futurity The Kentucky Futurity is a stakes race for three-year-old trotters, held annually at The Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky since 1893. It is part of the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Trotters. In the 2007 race, Donato Hanover's winning time ...

giving him the United States Trotting Triple Crown. In a remarkable three years of racing, Scott Frost would be voted the 1954 United States Two-Year-Old Trotter of the Year and the 1955 and 1956 United States Harness Horse of the Year. In 1958, again for Sol Camp, O'Brien won the Little Brown Jug with Shadow Wave. He would win that most prestigious race for pacers again in 1973 with Thurman Downing's Melvin's Woe to go along with another Hambletonian in 1960 with Sol Camp's

Blaze Hanover Blaze may refer to: People * Blaze (given name), a list of people with the name * Blaze (surname), a list of people with the name * Blaze Bayley, stage name of English singer and former Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden vocalist Bayley Alexander Cooke ...

, making it his second win in the most prestigious race for trotters. In 1969, Joe O'Brien became the first driver in history to have won the Hambletonian and Sweden's

Elitloppet Elitloppet (literally: "The Elite Race") or Solvallas Internationella Elitlopp is an annual, invitational Group One harness event that has taken place at Solvalla Racetrack in Stockholm, Sweden, since 1952. The competition is regarded as one ...

. Through 2016, only John Campbell has matched that feat, doing it with Mack Lobell in 1988. In 1963, Sol Camp retired from racing and sold his stable. Joe O'Brien was hired by

J. Elgin Armstrong ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...

of the Armstrong Brothers breeding and racing operations near

Brampton, Ontario Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it th ...

for whom he notably developed the great

Armbro Flight Armbro Flight (1962–1995) was a champion trotting The trot is a ten-beat diagonal horse gait where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time with a moment of suspension between each beat. It has a wide variation in possible ...

Armbro Nesbit Armbro Nesbit (1970–1977) was a champion Standardbred pacing horse, raised in Ontario, Canada. He raced for three years, earning $625,964 and retired with 35 wins, 12 seconds and 11 thirds in 76 starts. Armbro Nesbit was inducted into the Cana ...

and Armbro Ranger.

Breaking the two-minute barrier worldwide

Competing in the 1960s and 1970s, when a winning time of less two minutes was the paragon of excellence, on October 1, 1971 Joe O'Brien drove

Steady Star Steady may refer to: *Steady state In systems theory, a system or a process is in a steady state if the variables (called state variables) which define the behavior of the system or the process are unchanging in time. In continuous time, t ...

to a World Record of 1:52 in a

time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

The Red Mile The Red Mile is a horse racing track located in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. The track hosts harness racing, a type of horse racing in which the horses must pull two-wheeled carts called sulkies while racing. It is one of harness racing's ...

. On May 27, 1973 at Solvalla Racetrack in Sweden, O'Brien produced the first ever sub two-minute mile in the history of European harness racing when he won the second heat of the world-famous

with

Flower Child Flower child originated as a synonym for hippie, especially among the idealistic young people who gathered in San Francisco and the surrounding area during the Summer of Love in 1967. It was the custom of "flower children" to wear and distribute ...

. Over a period of nine days at the October 1970 annual Grand Circuit meeting at Lexington, Kentucky's Red Mile, O'Brien beat the two-minute mile clocking a total of 10 times. Even more remarkable, in 1975 he set a World Record by winning 44 sub-two-minute mile races and 32 two-minute mile races.

Fresh Yankee

During his career Joe O'Brien trained and/or drove numerous North American Champions and Hall of Fame Standardbreds. Among them he trained and drove Triple Crown winner Scott Frost, as well as

to three straight

Canadian Harness Horse of the Year Canadian Harness Horse of the Year is an annual award in the sport of harness racing in Canada. It is the most prestigious Canadian award among those given to a Standardbred horse. Part of the O'Brien Award program, named in honour of legendary C ...

honors. However, it would be Fresh Yankee that brought him the most worldwide publicity. A $900 yearling purchase, the brilliant mare became the first North American-bred trotter to earn $1 million. During the four years O'Brien trained Fresh Yankee for owner Duncan MacDonald she was voted the U.S. Harness Horse of the Year in 1970, the U.S. Champion Trotting Mare of the Year four times and the Canadian Horse of the Year in 1970 plus the Canadian Champion Aged Trotter a record setting six times. While regularly racing against male trotters, Fresh Yankee broke track and World Records and in 1967 became the fastest trotting mare in history with a time trial clocking of 1:57.1. Her many wins included the American Trotting Classic twice, the International Trot, the United Nations Trot, Germany's Grand Prix of Bavaria and in Sweden the

and the International Elite Trot.

Industry executive & O'Brien Awards program

Joe O'Brien was a member of the board of directors of the

and served as president of the California Breeder's Association. Joe O'Brien died of cancer at his home in

. A few years after his passing

Standardbred Canada The Standardbred is an American horse breed best known for its ability in harness racing, where members of the breed compete at either a trot or pace. Developed in North America, the Standardbred is recognized worldwide, and the breed can trace ...

announced they were considering a new national harness racing award program. Established in 1989, it was named the O'Brien Awards in his honor.''Transcontinental Media Journal Pioneer'' January 28, 2014 article titled "Harness racing's O'Brien Awards coming to P.E.I."
Retrieved September 9, 2016

References

External links

YouTube video of Scott Frost winning the 1955 HambletonianYouTube video - profile of Fresh Yankee's career and the 1970 International Trot
{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Joe Canadian military personnel of World War II Canadian harness racing drivers Canadian harness racing trainers Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductees Canadian emigrants to the United States American harness racing drivers American harness racing trainers United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Prince Edward Island Sportspeople from California People from Kern County, California 1917 births 1984 deaths Deaths from cancer in California