O'Sullivan looking to follow up last year's dream week in Galway

The problem with a near perfect week at last year’s Galway Races in Ballybrit is trying to emulate that again the following year but that is a problem that Kildare trainer Ross O’Sullivan is relishing.

It’s impossible to think about O’Sullivan’s charges this week without the memory drifting back to that amazing three day spell last year that yielded four winners.

First up there was a quickfire 87/1 double on Galway Plate day with Darragh O’Keefe riding both Talk In The Park and Champella. The following day, Tom Harney was on board 10/1 shot Donnie Devito and then Keith O’Donoghue on Volantis rounded off the dream week on Volantis. The four winners were all the more incredible when you consider that O’Sullivan only sent six horses to the Festival.

“We had an amazing year last year, the four winners were fantastic,” said O’Sullivan last week as he threw open the gates of the gallops that he shares with father-in-law Ted Walsh just off the M7 in Kill last week.

It says much about the increased profile that O’Sullivan has enjoyed since that week that he travels this year with a stronger squad, with three of last year’s winners trying to match their achievements.

“We go with a good team this year. Some of the winners from last year - Talk In The Park, Donnie Devito, Volantis – they’ll have another go. It will be tough and hard and very competitive.

“We have a couple of young horses then as well, the up and coming ones. A horse called Strong Link won a bumper and maiden hurdle recently, he’ll go for the Novices’ Hurdle on the Thursday. There’s a couple more along with that as well, so it’s very exciting,” he said.

Another horse with good form in the book in the travelling squad is Chally Chute. He finished second there last year under trainer Mick Halford and drew national headlines when he won at odds of 125/1 at the start of this month in Roscommon in his first race since switching to O’Sullivan’s yard.

“That was great, owned by local people there in Kilcullen, Julie White and Dominic O’Neill, Julie used to work for the Aga Khan. They bred him and he’s treated like a member of the family. He was second at Galway on the Friday last year and he goes back for that race again. He obviously won at 125/1 the last day out so the handicapper wasn’t that easy on us and he carries a bit more weight going into the race but he loves Galway so we’re excited for that,” he said.

O’Sullivan’s admits that last year’s success does add a little pressure ahead of this year’s festival but he’s looking forward rather than back.

“What happened last year was amazing when it all came together. Galway is so hard to get one winner, never mind four. You’re probably going down this with the attitude if we can get one winner then that would be brilliant,” he said.

Even before those unforgettable few days last year, the Galway Races always had a place close to O’Sullivan’s heart, and that of his wife Katie.

“It’s a highlight of the summer, I suppose from the springtime you’re thinking a little bit about what could go there this year. We’ve been planning back from there.

“We’ve been going there for the last 20 years, myself and Katie. First of all as amateurs jockeys, hoping to pick up a couple of spins in the amateur races and then more recently as trainers hoping to go there with a couple of runners. It gives you a great profile, so many people go to Galway, so many go on their holidays to Galway, so many owners plan around it, it’s on television so it gets a lot of coverage. A winner there is as good as five or six somewhere else,” he said.

Watching O’Sullivan put his horses through their paces, it’s impossible not to draw comparisons with a GAA coach. He sees his horses the same way that a GAA manager would see his players, elite athletes who have to coaxed into peaking at the right time of year.

“Fitness is key, helping them stay fit and avoiding injuries,” said O’Sullivan.

“It’s a lot like training footballers, staying in one piece is essential. We try to have a balance of building them up. The pre-training is as important as the real training. The body has to be conditioned, the very same as a footballer. It’s a steady, steady build and you have your targets then for the races, the same as a footballer would have their matches. You’re constantly building them up towards their targets, hopefully keeping clear of any injuries, pre-empting anything that could happen. If there is a little niggle there you might give them a slightly easier week because you don’t want that niggle to turn into something bigger.

“We do a lot of stamina work and also interval training, short and sharp stuff. Little short sprints work very well, again the same as with footballers. Little sharp stuff that gets the heart rate up and then let that come back down again.

“A lot of it crosses over, you see Willie McCreery there, he would have said they were trained hard in the Micko days but that made them fit, and he’s doing very well again in the Curragh,” he added.

Of course the major difference between a GAA coach and a horse trainer is the lack of verbal communication. A footballer can describe how he is feeling and whether he’s having a good or bad day, a horse trainer doesn’t have that luxury of hearing that and what separates the good ones from the great ones is how they understand the messages that are coming from the horses.

“That’s the main job of the trainer, to try and understand what they are telling you. If you are with them every day and you’re feeding them and working with them, you do kind of get to know their habits and their personalities. You have lazy ones, energetic ones, happy ones, grumpy ones. You have to work out what is the best route to train them. The lazy lad you always have to keep him up to his work, the energetic lad you have to make sure he doesn’t try too hard in training. It’s a balance that you have to work out,” he said.

The setting at his Greenhills Stables couldn’t be any better as he tries to work all that out and O’Sullivan says he is the perfect location.

“We were very lucky, Ted gave us the site maybe eight years ago and we built on a greenfield site on the farm. Ted has been here in Kildare since the 60’s and his mother and father were here beforehand. Katie is very much part of the whole operation and it’s lovely here.

“There’s two yards that are separate but the gallops are in the middle and it works well. We are right beside the motorway and Kildare is such a central location, we are so close to the airport and there’s so many racecourses within a few minutes of us – Punchestown, Naas, Curragh, and then there’s Fairyhouse up the road as well and really we can go out on the motorway and be within two hours of anywhere. It’s a good place, the horses are healthy and fit and long may it last,” he said.