Jockey Joseph O’Brien retires from riding

Irish jockey Joseph O’Brien will retire from riding to focus on a training career in 2016, it was reported Monday.

O’Brien, the son of famed trainer Aidan O’Brien, was easing out of his role as a prominent jockey for Ballydoyle last year, and though he is just 23, its remarkable O’Brien was able to ride Thoroughbreds for this long. O’Brien has long been unusually tall for a flat-racing jockey, and his size has forced him to work hard to make riding weight the last several years.

Still, O’Brien was entrusted to pilot some of the best horses in the world in some of the world’s best races. O’Brien went 5-1-0-2 with Breeders’ Cup mounts, winning the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Turf on St. Nicholas Abbey. O’Brien was twice the leading rider in Ireland and in 2013 he set a record for wins in a single season with 126.

O’Brien, according to published reports, is on target to receive his trainer’s license next month and already is set up with a large string of horses under his care in Ireland.