Edward O'Grady

Edward O'Grady (27 September 1949 – 27 July 2025) was an Irish National Hunt racehorse trainer. In the 1980s and 1990s, O'Grady was the second best of the Irish trainers at Cheltenham in number of winning horses, after Vincent O'Brien.

Early life O'Grady was born on 27 September 1949. His father, Willie, was a top jump jockey and twice Irish Champion Jockey, in 1934 and 1935. The younger O'Grady trained his first winner when his first cousin Timmy Hyde rode Vibrax in a handicap hurdle at Gowran Park on 27 January 1972. Following this success a virus struck all of his 18 horses causing many owners to leave him.

1970s and 1980s In March 1974, O'Grady's debut Cheltenham Festival winner occurred when Mr. Midland was ridden to victory by Mouse Morris. The next August, another of his horses, Gay Future, was involved in an attempted coup by an Irish betting syndicate. He was one of the four people who were arrested during the following police investigation, however, all charges laid against him were then dropped. That same year, Back in Front came in first place at Cheltenham's Supreme Novices' Hurdle and the Evening Herald Novice Hurdle at Punchestown. Another victory came in 2009, when Tranquil Sea, ridden by Andrew McNamara, became the second Irish-trained runner to claim victory in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham, only after Bright Highway in 1980.

Personal life and death O'Grady married his first wife, Judy Mullins, in January 1972, she died as Judy Sweeney in October 2009. He married his second wife, Maria Anderton, in 1999. She was killed in November 2017 after a fall during a hunting session with the Tipperary Foxhounds. He later married his third wife, Kay Russell.