Switch From Diesel gives Ross O’Sullivan plenty to cheer about

He may have finished second with his filly, Switch From Diesel but local trainer, Ross O’Sullivan, was very pleased with the performance of his horse under Ray Barron in Grade 1 Race And Stay At Punchestown Champion INH Flat Race on Wednesday, Day 2 of the 2025 Punchestown Festival.

The filly finished a gallant second to the Willie Mullins trained Bambino Fever under Jodie Townend something which went down with the Naas based trainer and connections as he told Pat Costello for the Kildare Nationalist after the race.

Pat Costello: You may have been second in that race but I think that was a popular second?

Ross O’Sullivan: Yeah, she's a good filly. She got well beaten by her (Bambino Fever) in the Dublin Racing Festival but we got within a length and a half of her today. We’re just unlucky to run into a mare like her but we'll dream all summer long now looking forward to her. She'll go out for grass, shoes off and she's already schooled over hurdles. She's great jumper and she'd be filly that you can't wait for the summer to be over to get her back in to go for next season jumping.

She's a good filly to have, the best I've ever had. She has a big engine and she looks like a real exciting prospect. We’ll probably be running into this lady (Bambino Fever) in those races anyway but what about it? We’ll look forward to her and it's just all about trying to find a horse like her and it's great to have her.

PC: Take us through the race, did it go to plan?

RO’S: Yeah, perfectly to plan. Ray gave her a dream ride. He rides her real well and he was very relaxed on her. She has loads of speed so she just needs to follow, follow, switch off. Likes a little bit of room, doesn't like a smack of a stick, hands and heels. Ray, I suppose, from the start of the year onwards, he was getting even more and more used to her. She's a tough filly. She likes being the boss, likes a bit of room. I couldn't have been happier with the way the race turned out through the whole race; travelled really well. We had our opportunity two down and we got close to her. Nothing more you can say.

PC: We have talked before about being at Punchestown, how does it feel to be in the winner’s enclosure in a Grade 1 at Punchestown? What does that mean to you?

RO’S: It’s magic. To get back into that first four it's very same as Cheltenham. Big crowds and the second and third and fourth get as much of a cheer as the winner. It's very special to get in here. For the owners as well it's one of the highlights of the year, Punchestown. To get back into that winning area, like you said, it means a lot.

PC: What can you expect from you for the rest of the week?

RO’S: We're very quiet for the rest week. We've two tomorrow. Harry's Legacy in the Handicap Hurdle has been knocking on the door. I hope he has a chance, but it's so tough and so hard and so competitive but I hope he runs a good race. He's owned by a man from Canada and he was mad keen to have a runner in Punchestown. Again, like all our owners this week, whether it's coming up to Punchestown, they want to go to Punchestown and then you hit the summer, they want to go to Galway. So hopefully he runs his race. After that then it's quiet then pretty much for the rest of the week.

PC: But no rest for Ross O’Sullivan?

RO’S: No, seven days a week, keep it going and I was saying, the pedal to the metal, yeah.