Joseph O'Brien looking to take on the best of the Irish trainers at Leopardstown Christmas Festival

Which UK trainers could we see coming over to Ireland more in the future?

I have huge respect for all trainers in the UK and Ireland, because we all know how hard it is to find good horses and then enable them to perform, keeping consistency throughout their careers.

We’re very lucky in Ireland to have the likes of Henry De Bromhead, Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins who have some of the best National Hunt horses in training and ensure that Irish racing is competitive every day.

Have you ever wanted to challenge Willie Mullins in the Jumps game?

We just do all the best with the horses that we have, and wherever that leaves us. We’re satisfied with that.

National Hunt is thriving in Ireland isn’t it 

It really does stay in the blood. You only have to spend a day at Leopardstown over Christmas to see the passion that’s there for National Hunt racing, and racing in general.

However, it’s not just Irish people, there’ll be a lot of people at Leopardstown, it’ll be people from the UK as well and it really is just a fantastic festival of racing.

Where do you rank Leopardstown as being one of the best racecourses in the world?

There’s absolutely no doubt that Leopardstown is one of the best racecourses around. That goes for the National Hunt, but also the Flat side of things and we’re very lucky to have it in Ireland but also in the heart of Dublin.

How excited are you for Leopardstown?

I am looking forward to it, absolutely. It’s one of the big meetings of the year, especially in Ireland. It will be a fantastic few days of racing and I’m really looking forward to it.

O'Brien was speaking to BoyleSports, who will be offering the latest Leopardstown Christmas Festival betting