Edward O’Rourke making a name for himself as a trainer in Australia after trading steeplechasers in Ireland

Murwillumbah trainer Edward O’Rourke cut his teeth trading jumps horses in Ireland, now he is looking to strike a blow with a 100-1 chance in the Doomben 10,000.

The Irishman worked under his father buying, training and then selling young jumpers before making the move to Australia where he worked under the likes of Gai Waterhouse, John Thompson, David Hayes and Michael Freedman before going out on his own.

O’Rourke will saddle up Embrace Me in the $1 million sprint feature on Saturday – a far cry from his days back in Ireland but he says he is loving life in the Northern Rivers, working with a team of around 14 horses.

“I was back in Ireland training jumpers with my dad – we were trading a lot of horses to England – steeplechase horses and those kind of things,” he said.

“We would get the young horses, break them in and send them off to trainers.

“Now I am up here training at Murwillumbah and I am really enjoying it. I am getting back into it and I am enjoying the racing in Brisbane especially.

“It is really exciting for everybody to have a runner in a Group 1 and having horses of that caliber – it makes for a fun few days.”

Embrace Me winning at The Valley in 2018. Picture: AAPSource:AAP

Embrace Me will be his third Group 1 runner, and while bookmakers may rate her a 100-1 chance, O’Rourke is adamant the mare represents value in the market.

While he had thought about running her in the Listed Bright Shadow Stakes (1200m), on the same day, a horror barrier draw made up his mind for him.

“With the barrier draw dishing up one in the car park for the Bright Shadow, we will go on to the Group 1 and have a crack,” he said.

“It is a big step up but I believe she ran well last start and she is a mare on the improve.

“You have to respect the market but she has taken major improvement out of that second-up run so we thought we would nominate for the Bright Shadow as well but when the barriers came out it made that decision easier.

“She has got decent form around horses like Hey Doc and that so it is not like she has never performed around Group 1 horses before. She is probably a better chance than what her odds would suggest.”

Group 1 success in Brisbane is not foreign to O’Rourke however, with the Irishman saddling up the Gai Waterhouse-trained Pornichet in the Doomben Cup in 2015.

Originally published asFormer jumps trader aims to land 10,000 blow

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