Doug O’Neill Horse Betting Profile

Doug O’Neill has had some luck in his career, as you would expect from a hard-working Irishman, but he made his own breaks and horse bettors that look for his best patterns and trends can get paid because he sends horses out in numbers and is usually not overbet.

Consider the fact that he won with 3 of his first 14 starters this year at Del Mar, but the average win price was a flat $14. Pretty solid for a trainer that is in the top 15 in earnings won in the United States this year.

He has been in this business for a relative short time of just over 20 years and like some of the greats including Bobby Frankel and Jack Van Berg, he started as a hot walker.

His first employer at the track is a long-time friend of mine, Jude Feld. Jude himself worked hard and did then and does now wear a number of different hats around the track including call taker, assistant trainer to Julio Canani and finally a successful trainer in his own right, saddling a number of stakes winners.

After getting his feet wet with Feld, O’Neill worked for a short time with Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, now deceased Doug Peterson, who once trained Seattle Slew and Hector Palma – who back in the day was one of the best claiming trainers in California.

Horse bettors know immediately that O’Neill has the pedigree to thrive.

After the education took hold, O’Neill used it to saddle Stevie Wonderboy in his Breeders’ Cup Juvenile win and also took the BC Sprint with Thor’s Echo in 1986.

The legend of O’Neill goes hand in hand with Lava Man. He claimed the runner for $50,000 from good trainer Lonnie Arturburn and as they say on the courts, the rest is history. ‘Da Man’ has won over $5 million, has turned the very hard triple of the Pacific Classic, a feat that had never been done.

The way O’Neill handled this star gives him some leeway with some of his cheaper stock, but he has proven he knows what to do with a good horse.

So what can horse bettors look for to get an edge with O’Neill stock?

Well, you want to stay away from his firsters; he’s only 10% with debuters in the last 3 years. Just like a lot of horsemen, when he drops a runner from a maiden special weight race to a maiden claimer he is super potent.

O’Neill doesn’t ask for speed from his horses in the mornings and tends to give them long galloping works which ensures that they will be fit. When he takes the blinkers off, that usually means his runners are set for a huge effort and should be closing stoutly.

And when he cuts back in distance from a route to a sprint, his stock is a bit more effective than on the stretch out.

The main things horse bettors should have in mind with O’Neill’s horses is that he has learned to be patient, he has learned to let his horses tell him where they want to be placed and he generally is super live in the second start after claiming a horse.

Because the form is not obvious with his horses, there will be very few bullet works to peruse. Those horse bettors who go beyond scratching the surface will find prices with this conditioner.

Check the BetUS Belmont Stakes