or 44—year—old David O‘Brien of St. 
     
    

    
     Marys, Ontario, a lot had happened 
     
    

    
     since he made his momentous deci— 
     
     sion to open a public stable at the 
     
     Charlottetown Driving Park. This deci— 
     
     sion was made only 11 years ago. In that 
     
     short time period, the GDP. and its 
     
     patrons witnessed the evolution of David 
     
     O’Brien from a minor to a major player 
     
     on the local harness racing scene. David 
     
     paid his dues and learned the industry as 
     
     it should be learned by starting at the bot— 
     
     tom and progressing to his present situa— 
     
     tion. He was a very capable trainer/dri— 
     
     ver in Ontario in 2008. 
     
    
   
   
    
     When David was 14. his father, Leonard 
     
     purchased 21 Pack ’l'rzp colt named Par/e 
     
     Exit at the annual Truro sale for David. 
     
     They broke it, trained it and raced it as a 
     
     boarder in the Donnie Hughes Stable. 
     
     This colt was David’s initiation. Shortly 
     
     after this purchase. his dad claimed Figgs 
     
     whom he raced in the Jack Bernard 
     
     Stable. It was through these two pur- 
     
     chases of his father that David was intro— 
     
     duced to the equine industry. Par? Exit 
     
     and Figgs were the first two horses that 
     
     he fondly remembered. 
     
    
   
   
    
     David received most of his early training 
     
     in harness racing from an astute and 
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
    
   
   
    
     Photo; Gail MacDonald 
     
     capable horseman by the name of Jack 
     
     Bernard. His father wisely chose Jack as 
     
     Figgs' trainer knowing that David would 
     
     then have the opportunity to learn from 
     
     a very knowledgeable and versatile 
     
     horseman who did his own training, 
     
     shoeing and driving. As a youngster, 
     
     David respected and appreciated jack 
     
     because he stated, "He was one of the 
     
     veterans that had been around for a good 
     
     number of years." 
     
    
   
   
    
     It wasn’t until 1997 that David began to 
     
     operate his own public stable. At that 
     
     time it was indeed a veiy humble begin— 
     
     ning because his entire stable totalled 
     
     three horses. For Fred Lamont, an 
     
     Islander living in Calgary. he had Cosmic 
     
     Chaos. Norman Hall purchased Hztssqy 
     
     Chaser at a sale for Davi l. The third 
     
     boarder Robin Mac for Bob 
     
     MacLeod. It was an inauspicious begin- 
     
     ning but his stable would soon grow into 
     
     a very tidy and well organized stable of 
     
     10 horses. At one time, he was going 
     
     with 10 two-year—olds. David and his 
     
     assistant, Lennie Myers were two of the 
     
    
   
   
    
     busiest trainers at the CDP. 
     
    
   
   
    
     VV LI 5 
     
    
   
   
    
     A veiy big day for any driver of race 
     
     horses is the day he makes his first offi— 
     
     cial pari mutuel start. David remembered 
     
    
   
   
    
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