O’Rourke embraces challenge

MURWILLUMBAH trainer Edward O’Rourke cut his teeth trading jumps horses in Ireland, now he is looking to strike a blow with a 100-1 chance in the Doomben 10,000 on Saturday.

The Irishman worked under his father buying, training and then selling young jumpers before making the move to Australia where he worked for the likes of Gai Waterhouse, John Thompson, David Hayes and Michael Freedman before going out on his own.

O’Rourke (pictured) will saddle up Embrace Me in the $1 million sprint feature.

“It is really exciting for everybody to have a runner in a Group 1, and having horses of that calibre it makes for a fun few days,” he said.

“It is a big step up but I believe she ran well last start.

“She has got decent form around horses like Hey Doc and that, so it is not like she has never performed around Group 1 horses before.”