Joe Osborne reflects on his decades-long involvement with Godolphin

by Emma Berry, TDN Europe

Cover image courtesy of Tattersalls

The announcement that Joe Osborne is to step down from his role as managing director after more than three decades with Godolphin Ireland brings to a close a significant chapter, both for that operation and in Irish bloodstock more generally.

“This is my 32nd year with the firm, whether as Darley or Godolphin. I'm 62 now and I suppose I have got to a point in my career where I feel I've got more to give but I'd like to just pivot to do something different,” he says.

“I just want to pursue other opportunities, which I know can be a bit of a euphemism, but in my case that is the genuine truth. I feel I've got plenty of energy and enthusiasm and I can do some good, but just maybe it's time to do it outside of Godolphin.”

Osborne's background

Doing some good has been a mantra not just for Osborne himself but for his wider family. His father Michael, who died almost 20 years ago, was renowned as a founder of a number of important seats of learning within the industry, including the Irish National Stud's famed Thoroughbred breeding management course and Kildare's Racing Academy & Centre of Education (RACE), along with his work for Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum in developing Godolphin and the Dubai World Cup.

A former manager of the Irish National Stud and equine vet, Osborne Sr was followed in these interests by three of his five children. Joe's sister Meta, a vet who specialises in equine reproduction, became the first female senior steward of the Irish Turf Club, a position her father also held. She has also developed a podcast series called Changing The Rein which deals with many important topics around the racing industry and equine welfare. Brother John, also a vet, was chief executive of the Irish National Stud between 2009 and 2017 before joining Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) as director of equine welfare and bloodstock.

A charmed run

“I'd be the first to acknowledge that I've had a charmed run,” Osborne says. “Over those 32 years, I've been given some fantastic opportunities in terms of international involvement, in terms of specific projects – Flying Start being one – but even just setting up Godolphin in Australia, myself and Olly Tait got that going from the ground up, and I was involved in the early stages in Japan and in America, in France.

“Godolphin is at a different stage of its evolution now. The time is right to try something different rather than just saying I'll wait out my last four years. It's an amicable situation.”

The breeding wing of Godolphin was originally known as Darley – a name still used for the stallion operation which has spread from Newmarket and the initial purchase of Dalham Hall Stud by Sheikh Mohammed in 1981, to Ireland, France, America, Australia and Japan. Some 40 years after that acquisition, Dubawi, a son of the sheikh's outstanding but ill-fated homebred Dubai Millennium, became the champion sire of Britain and Ireland in 2022. Dubawi's son Night Of Thunder is currently leading this year's sires' championship.

Osborne says, “We went from passive to commercial literally like flicking a very powerful light switch. Cape Cross was the first stallion that we had (in Ireland), and we gave him a very strong commercial push right from the start. He got the support, and was champion first-season sire, and then to do what very few sires do, to build on that, to become a breed-shaper, there was gratification in that.”

He continues, “When you have a stallion, every single runner of his means something to you when you pick up the paper. So whether it's Space Blues this year, whether it's Night of Thunder, what he's achieved, you know, a great sense of satisfaction comes from that.

“I'd like to think that down the years we've been good at nurturing those clients and making sure that they can continue to access the horses. That's down to the level of cooperation between the Newmarket and the Irish office, France included, it's the same team, even though the stallions are in different physical locations.”

Flying Start satisfaction

Satisfaction, too, is drawn from the nurturing of the two-legged members of the bloodstock industry. During Osborne's time with Godolphin he has been heavily involved with the Flying Start training programme, which is now in its 22nd year and has already been a launchpad for a number of people now in key positions within the business, including the current champion trainer-elect in France, Francis Graffard, a graduate of the inaugural course along with his wife, Lisa-Jane.

“It all came together very quickly back in 2002,” Osborne recalls. “The conversations with Sheikh Mohammed were to develop the next cohort of industry leaders. People need a wider skill-set than just bloodstock knowledge, so that's what Flying Start did, and the genesis of that was about giving a good and holistic education in terms of not just bloodstock, but entrepreneurship, leadership, HR management, finance, marketing, all of the different skills that they get along the way, and learning best practise, not just within Godolphin, but in the wider industry as well.

“It's been incredible. Up to this date, there have been 248 graduates of 21 nationalities and 90 per cent retention in the industry. For any graduate programme, to say they've got 90 per cent within their sector is unique. Then just seeing how graduates employ graduates, how graduates mentor current trainees, how graduates interact with each other in terms of different synergies, that's been great.”

He adds, “Within Flying Start itself, it's something that we stress with the trainees and the graduates, that you've got to be giving something back. It's not that take, take, take mentality.”

The training element is not just reserved for those on the Flying Start course, but is rolled out across Godolphin Ireland through an in-house programme called Race for Excellence.

“We take people from all different departments and, over a six-month period, upskill them and help them to understand the company better, but also give them a sense of their own capabilities,” Osborne explains. “We've got a long track record of people who have worked for us in Ireland and have gone on to other employers, to successful careers, and that's something we'd all encourage.”

For Osborne, the development of young talent has been a theme running through much of his life, as exemplified by his late father's exploits.

“We grew up as teenagers, living on the Irish National Stud when he was the manager there, and he got that trainee management programme up and running, and so that was our foundation – the three of us who got into the industry. In my case, that was ten years, from age nine to 19, formative years. It was just inspirational for us all,” he says.

And, joking that he is merely rewiring rather than retiring, Osborne adds, “The next step for me, I would see it as probably being a portfolio of involvements. I'm not going to rush into anything. I'll talk to people and just see what's there. But I'm leaving on good terms, not just with colleagues in Godolphin, but also with friends, so it's a nice situation to be in.”