John Barbour

Introducing John Barbour, a striking 5-year-old gelding, now in training with Fergal O’Brien. He stood out to Highflyer Bloodstock at the Goffs UK Spring sale 2024, who bought him on behalf of Old Gold Racing.

John Barbour is a proper National Hunt type; he’s very nicely put together, moves beautifully and has the pedigree to back it up.

He has only had one run to date, which saw him finish 3rd in a bumper around Huntingdon. Having been travelling the best of the field when turning for home, he was badly hampered and taken out wide by a rival. Although initially green under pressure, the penny dropped late on and he made significant headway in the closing stages.

He was clearly learning on the job that day and looks considerably better than the bare result. The trip, the track and the ground will have been plenty sharp enough for him on this occasion, suggesting there should be a great deal of improvement to be had in more suitable conditions.

John Barbour is a son of Yeats, who was unbeaten as a two-year old for Aidan O’Brien. He scored in a total of 15 races, including seven at Group 1 level. The highlight of his career was four consecutive victories in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. He even has a statue in the parade ring to honour his victories.

At stud he has been crowned Champion Sire twice. Top performers include Flooring Porter, Chantry House and Conflated, to name a few. He also sired 2022 Grand National winner Noble Yeats. His progeny have won over £13 million in prize money and almost 1,000 races between them.

John Barbour’s bloodline is only made stronger by his dam, Lindeman, a dual winner from only five starts. She has produced two winners, who have won seven races between them. John Barbour is a half-brother to Gidleigh Park, who won the Grade 2 Classic Novice Hurdle and only lost his unbeaten streak when defeated in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

He goes into training with Cheltenham-based trainer, Fergal O'Brien. Fergal had a stellar 2023/24 season, achieving a 20% strike rate, 107 winners and over £1M in prize money. At the time of writing, 36% of his runners have placed this season!

Fergal already loves this horse, noting that John Barbour is a “lovely model, he looks very straightforward, very sound, everything’s in proportion, so yeah, we’re very, very pleased to have him”.

John Barbour has been introduced to training at his new yard and is currently having a break before being brought back in and prepped him for a busy 2024/25 season. With a pleasing debut behind him and under the tutelage of an ever-improving trainer, he looks an exciting horse for the future.

Fergal was born in Ireland and made the move to England in 1989 to complete a course at the British Racing School before going to work for Captain Tim Forster. He then made the move to Nigel Twiston-Davies, where he stayed for 19 years and finished as Assistant Trainer.

Fergal started training in 2011, following a brief spell as a successful Point-to-Point trainer. He moved to the state-of-the-art Ravenswell Farm (ner Cheltenham) in 2019 and has since had multiple Graded successes with the likes of Poetic Rhythm scoring in the Grade 1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle.