David O’Brien ‘3?

that day well and recollected. "l was dri— ving my father‘s horse. .lli'mmt'cbz’fumes and I finished second. In my next race. I drove the same horse and we had the rail and won paying $99.90 on the nose." David accumulated over 917 victories and over 81.458272 in purse earnings. In 2001 alone. he had 103 wins and 8100.572 in total purse earnings. These impressive statistics indicated that David O‘Brien had matured as a major player in harness racing in the Atlantic provinces. Incidentally. his fastest win ever was in 156.2 with A// Talks Bro/her for Joe ;\IacRae at the GDP.

David had experiences with some memo— rahle horses. lie descrihed these horses with fond memories. He drove 1311/) when he worked for Rollie Larkin and won in 1237.2 with this free legged pacer who was a nice little horse and a good race horse. Joe MacRae's All 'l'a/Azs [fro/bar was a great horse to drive who always gave him 100 per cent and Rollie Larkin‘s Remzies li'e/lu was a good horse, David drove Gram/{1's .‘lcco/(Idc for Ron MacDonald when he worked for liarl Smith. He finished second with him in the Barrieau—Mclsaac Stake. l’or Dale and Ronnie Rennie. he drove 134mm Jim/(log who was a nice horse. (ilark Smith asked David to drive \Valter Simmonds joe .S‘Ilv l’uc/J and he won in 1239.2 which was David‘s first suh two minute mile. This teamster was involved with some other fine horses hut the ahove five may have topped his list.

140

Behind the Gate

\V'hen asked to select his favorite horse. David hesitated and responded. “.-1// 72/1/35 Bro/bar because you dont often get to drive a horse like him for a person like

‘Ioe .\lacRae."

David received his drivers licence in 1986 hut most of his drives were in the last 11 years since he opened his own stahle. He had some big races but three stood out. "I finished second in the 530.000 Dairy Queen to SellzerBlue with TBeurl’rH/e." he proudly stated. Another acc<)mplishment was winning the loe MacRae Memorial with Big O and that was quite a race for him to win because of his association with joe MacRae. His most memorahle race was finishing sec- ond in the Barrieau—Mclsaac Stake with Gram/{1's Acco/m/e after heing parked the whole mile.

There have been positive changes in standardhred racing and we in the Atlantic provinces have not been immune to these changes. David helieved that hreeding has improved hecause this region has heen importing quality mares and quality stallions. For example. Uri/«om lzlvyncss hy .llu/ler(g/'.ll()11({t' out of Lisa [full/es won five consecutive races at the famed Meadowlands and then was charted in 150 and change against their top class. Island hreeders ()wen .\lacl.ean and (ialvin \lacQuarrie could take a how for this fellow along with his

trainer. former Islander. jackie .\lacl.eod.