O'Sullivan geared up for the week in Prestbury Park

Ross O’Sullivan and his wife Katie Walsh have two runners in Cheltenham this week and the Naas based trainer sat down with the Kildare Nationalist to discuss the chances of Slurricane on Tuesday and Ryehill on Friday.

Pat Costello: This time last year, Ross, I spoke to you after Eagles Reign finished second in Cheltenham. How do you reflect on that race now?

Ross O’Sullivan: Eagles Reign was the start of a great year really, Pat. It gathered a bit of momentum for the summer and we had a great summer on the back of that. His owner also had a great luck on the back of it. He was on such a high that he bought another horse that turned out to win two races and he also went on and won in Galway and in Listowel. So, it was a magical year from the start of Eagles Reign in in March.

PC: This year you're going with decent chances in Slurricane and Ryehill?

RO’S: Slurricane goes on Tuesday in the same Hurdle that Eagles Reign ran in last year, the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle. He's a horse that's been really consistent all year. He was placed a good few times and he won on his last start in Punchestown. He has a similar sort of profile to Eagles Reign. Tom Harney, who rode Eagles Reign, rides him. He's a nice weight; he has 10-12 on his back. back. It's an ultra-competitive race but you’re hoping that if everything went well, he’d definitely put up a really good show.

PC: Who are the owners?

RO’S: Eleanora Kennedy, an American woman based in New York. She has about ten horses in training in Ireland and lucky enough she has two with us. She comes over to Ireland every year, a very interesting woman. She loves her racing, loves her horses, mainly flat more so than Jumps. This horse was her first Jumps horse and he's turned out to be a horse for Cheltenham. She's flying from New York to Cheltenham with her daughter and she's mad excited.

PC: Then you have Ryehill in the Hunter’s Chase on Friday.

RO’S: Ryehill is a lovely horse to have. He started off at Point of Point and he was a late developer. Last year he won a Point to Point, then he won a winner's race and then he won a Hunter’s Chase in Cork and was impressive. The dream at the start of this year was that God it would be great if we could qualify him for the Fox Hunters in Cheltenham. He did that and he ended up winning impressively the last day in Naas by 12 lengths. He beat the favourite for The Foxhunters. He's owned by five friends, all from different parts of the country and they've been dreaming about him since Naas.

PC: What are the logistics of getting horses over to Cheltenham?

RO’S: The Tuesday runner will go on Sunday and the Friday runner on Wednesday as you don't want to take them out of their routine. I usually give them two days to adjust. We’ll go Sunday morning and be there Sunday evening (with Slurricane). Every horse is different. For some it’s a breeze to them, so easy, and others then, like people, are stressy and worried about the change of routine so you have to try and keep them happy, make sure that they're well hydrated and hopefully that will keep eating. You bring their own food and some people bring their own water. You try and keep them as happy as you can with a change of scenery.

Ryehill will travel over on Wednesday afternoon and then have all day Thursday to relax, maybe bring him out for picks of grass and a few little walks and a good walk then on Friday morning as well and he runs Friday afternoon. He's a horse that likes his own routine.

PC: What sort of a team would you have to use for the two horses going over?

RO’S: Chloe Byrne, a Naas girl, does all our traveling and racing. She's very experienced; she's been to Australia and she's been to England on numerous occasions for us. She's also been to Bahrain for a stint with us as well when we sent two horses out there one winter.

She will travel on Sunday and the previous day she'll have the lorry all packed up with all the exercise gear for riding out, the racing bridles, the tack and the feed. Then there’s the rugs and what the horse is going to wear at night and what he wears during the day, all kinds of eventualities that she's trying to account for, even down to bringing a big bag of grass that might keep them happy.

Sarah Gould will travel over on Wednesday with Ryehill. She rides out with him every day and has been riding him out since the start of his career; she's mad about him, absolutely mad about him.

PC: Have you decided on the jockey for Ryehill?

RO’S: Ryehill is going to be ridden by Lee Shanahan. He’s been with me for the last six year and he won on him in Naas and he’s won on him on a couple of occasions. He won the Hunters Chase on him last year in Cork and he knows him inside out. He trusts Ryehill and Ryehill trusts him so we're not going to change that partnership at all.

PC: Is it down to that when you're selecting the jockey, the trust between the horse and the jockey?

RO’S: Definitely, if the rider gets on well the horse and he knows his horse really well. Obviously, he's less experienced than one of the top jockeys like a Derek O'Connor or a Barry O'Neill or one of the senior amateurs. He has had a spin around Cheltenham for us when we had a runner there in October in an amateur race. He got on great and finished sixth so he's had a spin around the track which is a big help. Hopefully the occasion won't get to him. He knows the horse really well so you’re really siding with that factor more so than anything else.

PC: What does it mean to you, Ross, to have two horses in Cheltenham and two horses with very decent chances?

RO’S: Ah it’s very exciting. It's something that you're aiming for throughout the year. You're hoping that you might come across a horse that's good enough to go. As you start getting into the season and that the horses start running, you know what level of ability they're at or whether they're good enough to compete there. We had thought that maybe it might be a plan to go with these two horses but they still had to go and prove that they were good enough. These two have.

It's lovely to be part of the big occasion, it’s ultra-competitive, but it's the big stage and it's like a rugby player getting to play or as soccer player playing football or a chap getting to play in an All-Ireland Final. It's the pinnacle of the National Hunt season. It's a good for the profile of the yard but it's also very exciting for us and everyone is competing every day and hoping to be able to go. There are loads of good stories of individual trainers going over with their one or two horses and they're all dreaming and hoping it can happen. It has happened before and it'll happen again and you're just hoping that it happens to you.

PC: What's it like at the dinner table in the O’Sullivan/Walsh household?

RO’S: Pretty much it’s all horses talk. I'm sure if it’s a racing family it’s that way or if it’s a football family or a rugby family or other sports, it must be the same way. Apart from general stuff the main topic of conversation is probably always horses. I suppose that’s what brings everyone together and it's a great. That's what sport does, no matter who you meet and you share a passion for a sport it's a great conversation opener.

PC: Is there plenty of rivalry with the father-in-law?

RO’S: Ah no, he’d be delighted with loads of words of wisdom. He would be only hoping that it would go well and he'd be cheering them on. The horses from the two yards are trained off the same Gallops every day He's as much watching my runners as I'd be watching the few horses that he has. It would be a shared interest and a team because we're based the same place.

PC: Finally, Ross, what do you and the family do for time off?

RO’S: We have both Flat and Jump horses so it's pretty much 365, seven days a week. It's a bit like farming; it's a passion and it doesn't feel like work. For myself and Katie there isn't a lot of time for off time. We’d consider going racing even if we don’t have a runner. It's just a way of life that you get used to. I wouldn't change it; it's something that we love and we're passionate about. It's seven days a week but it's something that we love.