Aubrey Brabazon was born on January 7, 1920, at the Curragh, gaining his early riding experience with his father, Cecil. He lived at Ardeen, The Curragh, Co Kildare.
Cecil ran a successful mixed training stable. 15-year-old Aubrey’s first win came on Queen Christina at Phoenix Park.
Aubrey served his apprenticeship with J. T. Rogers.
Aubrey Brabazon will forever be associated with two horses, Cottage Rake and Hatton's Grace, both trained by the legendary Vincent O'Brien and for whom Aubrey first rode for in January 1944.
Cottage Rake, a nine-year-old, came to Cheltenham in 1948 with just one previous win over fences behind him. He had, in fact, fallen in his last race – not the ideal preparation for an attempt on the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Brabazon was so nervous that, having weighed out, he had a large port and brandy at the bar before mounting.
Cottage Rake, starting at 10/1, jumped the last in front but the better-fancied Happy Home outjumped him and took the lead.
The Rake, as he became known, refused to be beaten and, head down, overtook Happy Home on the stiff uphill run-in to win by a length and a half.
Trainer Vincent O’Brien missed the finish: having seen Happy Home’s prodigious leap at the last he trundled back to the unsaddling enclosure assuming that Cottage Rake had been beaten.
Further glories awaited. They triumphed in the Emblem Chase at Manchester before going on to win Kempton Park’s prestigious
King George Vl chase, Boxing Day, 1948. In 1950 the pair won the same race for the third time, coming home ten lengths clear.
Hatton’s Grace had been bought for just 18 guineas and was not an imposing-looking animal, but that did not stop him winning three Champion Hurdles on the trot.
Aubrey was not just a good national hunt jockey; in 1948 he captured the Irish Oaks for the Aga Khan and took the 1950 Irish 2,000 Guineas on Mighty Ocean. In 1946, he had shared the Irish jockeys’ championship with his friend Martin Molony with 30 wins apiece.
His last win came on Flame Gun at Stratford on March 17, 1960.
He began training in 1961 and, with his best horse, My Kuda, won the 1966 Ulster Harp Derby.
Apart from his training career, he was also a former director of the Curragh Bloodstock Agency and, in 1983, was made an honorary member of the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee.
Aubrey Brabazon, remembered by his friends as a perfect gentleman, died on Monday, September 30, 1996, aged 76.
His father Cecil had died previously in August 1972 aged 89.
On March 30, 1948, Aubrey married Ethne Mary Dwyer. She gave him two sons, Richard & Peter, and three daughters, Sarah,
Gabriel and Mary.
His biggest wins were:
1946: Stanley Chase - Luan Casca
1948: Cheltenham Gold Cup - Cottage Rake
1948: Emblem Chase - Cottage Rake
1949: Champion Hurdle - Hatton's Grace
1949: Cheltenham Gold Cup - Cottage Rake
1950: Cheltenham Gold Cup - Cottage Rake
