SUCH is the remarkable run of form he is on, it feels as though you could park up a run-down Fiat Punto in Ross O’Sullivan’s yard at the moment and come back to find it has turned into a souped-up BMW 7 Series by the time you’re heading for the gate. So much of what he has touched this summer has turned to gold.

There is no exact science to training racehorses - and there probably never will be - but the team at his impressively-built base in Kill, Co Kildare have clearly managed to get a handle on some of the key ingredients for success judged on a sensational spell this year. It has been the most purple of patches.

O’Sullivan has been training since 2011 (riding his first runner while still an amateur jockey at that year’s Punchestown Festival), and has been carving out a positive reputation in the interim as a handler capable of delivering the goods when dealing with the right stock.

Baie Des Iles, Rocky Sky and Sea Sessions have all contributed blacktype-level success for the yard since 2017, and momentum has gradually buillt on the numbers front too. From annual totals of 11 and seven domestic winners in 2019 and 2020, O’Sullivan has progressed to send out 24, 20 and 18 winners between both codes in 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively.

However, from essentially half the number of runners it took for him to reach his career-best total of 24, he has already reached that very same number by mid-August of this year. It will easily go down as his most successful campaign yet.

Consider this: having been training for 13 years, more than 17% of O’Sullivan’s entire career winners in Ireland have come in the last four months, including a glorious Galway Festival four-timer from his first four runners at this year’s meeting.

A whistlestop tour in the trainer’s jeep around his well-thought-out training premises at Greenhills shows why there should be no surprise a flurry of winners can emerge from here. Located close to the separate breeze-up operation of wife Katie Walsh and her father Ted’s Grand National-winning yard, it is a fine, centrally-located training centre that has apparently benefited massively from an upgraded straight gallop since the latter stages of 2023.

O’Sullivan views the redevelopment as one of a few key factors in his sublime 2024.

“The straight gallop was completely redone, built like a new gallop with fibre and sand,” he explains.

“The drains had gone old on it, and the whole thing was just tired. It had been there from just after Papillon and needed to be freshened up. After Katie sold a breezer last year, the money was there to be invested in it. In fairness to Ted too, we just decided to go at it.

Mutual benefit

“You could even see how good a season Ted has just had over jumps as well. It was a savage year, his strike rate was unreal and he had horses who won multiple races on the bounce, as well as Any Second Now finishing second in the Irish National at the age of 12. It’s definitely benefited both of us really well.”

Having the right personnel in the operation is cited as a critical element of the 23 winners he has sent out since the beginning of April. From those who have been involved at Greenhills for several years, like head lad and conditional rider Tom Harney, to relatively recent additions such as yard manager Sarah Gould, O’Sullivan has no trouble reeling off a long list of names who help to make the outfit tick each day.

One figure away from the yard, however, who is credited as being particularly influential in the 2024 surge is leading flat jockey Shane Foley. The experience and work ethic that the multiple classic-winning rider has brought to the table is viewed by O’Sullivan as a major part of his memorable summer.

“Shane said he’d be interested in riding work or coming in to us around February, and we just hit it off,” he says.

“God, he’s been a huge help. We’ve probably run less horses as a result of him, whereas before we were holding onto horses who we felt might find their level in a lower grade handicap after they get a mark. Shane might now ride them in a couple of bits of work and give us an honest assessment that the horse might struggle.

“Instead of running that horse in three maidens, and then hoping they’ll improve in handicaps, he’s probably calling it a bit earlier. Yes, he might be critical but owners are probably happier because you’re not wasting time or money. It’s a huge help. He’s a very good judge of work and has a work ethic like nobody else I’ve seen before.

“For example, he’d text me coming back from a race meeting at 9.30pm and ask what my plans are for the morning. He could meet me at 6.30am on the Curragh the next morning and ride a couple of bits of work, jump in the car, head down to Jessie [Harrington] for the morning, get back in the car to meet me or someone else on the Curragh again, and then on he goes to a race meeting.

“He’ll be back onto you that night again, and it could be 6.30am or 7.00am on a Sunday morning that he’s riding work for us. Until this year, I didn’t realise his work ethic. He deserves every winner he gets. He’s tactically switched on at the track and I think he’s been a massive asset with our flat horses.”

Important investment

The support of owners has also helped to deliver an upgrade in the quality of the stock at O’Sullivan’s disposal, though he is certainly still playing with lesser sums at the sales than the leading outfits in the game.

Amanda Torrens’ Follow Me was bought for €170,000 at Arqana last autumn and made an impact when winning on his first two starts at the Curragh this season. Quick ground was blamed for a blip at Royal Ascot last time, and O’Sullivan insists the three-year-old is “a listed-group horse” who is working well at present and has strengthened since the Royal Meeting.

Likewise, the yard’s most exciting juvenile to run this season, Indigo Dream, was a 140,000gns purchase for Eleanora Kennedy at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. A Leopardstown maiden later this month is on the agenda for the Havana Grey filly, who caught the eye when runner-up at the Curragh on Oaks weekend.

“We’ve probably got nicer horses in the last 12 months,” says O’Sullivan, who rode triple Grade 1 hero Macs Joy to win a Tralee bumper in June 2003 and notched back-to-back wins aboard the prolific Feathard Lady in 2004.

“There was a bit of investment from owners buying some nice horses, and you can’t do it without the horses. A few of the lesser ones were moved on, and it freshened the whole thing.

“There’s a combination of investment and new facilities. We have nice numbers too, 50 in with that split half and half between flat and National Hunt.”

Now training from his purpose-built yard for seven years, does he feel improvement in his own training abilities in recent times?

“100%. Winners give you a bit of confidence as well, and it helps you make a better decision. Obviously when you’re not having a flying time of it, you might panic a little bit and run a horse because you’re so hungry to try and get the winner. But with the confidence of this season, it definitely helps to make a better decision.

“I think that’s a big factor in any sport, and for trainers. If you’re a golfer and hitting good shots, you’ll feel more comfortable taking on the next one, and a footballer who has missed his last couple of penalties might be feeling it the next day he steps up for one.”

He suggests that giving more time to horses between runs has been a particular learning.

“Definitely. The four horses who won at Galway, previously you’d have looked immediately at the next race they could fit into. Whereas the plan was very much Galway with those horses and we worked back from there, putting them away beforehand. I suppose it was more mature to do that.

“Going to Galway, if you asked me at the start of the week what horse was our best chance, I’d have said [the fourth runner] Volantis because he was galloping all over the other three. When the first three won, I was never as nervous in my life heading into his race on the Friday. You’re thinking the horse will win but worrying he’ll probably be the one who gets beaten!

Follow Me was part of an Irish Guineas weekend double at the Curragh for Ross O'Sullivan \ Healy Racing

“It changes all the time. You have good runs and bad runs, and at the minute we’re on a good one. We all know it can change anytime. It’s a rollercoaster of a business and it’s probably been rocking and rolling really well for the last six or eight months.”

Given the exploits of Baie Des Iles came back in 2017, could O’Sullivan have expected success to have come quicker than it is now?

“You would, but it’s the sign of the times,” he says, matter of factly.

“Baie Des Iles was rated 146 and Call It Magic got up to 140. Those horses came at the same time. You thought you might be lucky enough to land on another one since, but while we’ve had jumpers rated in the 120s, Volantis hits the 130s after winning at Galway and I think he’s our first horse since to do that.

Competitive sector

“That middle bracket isn’t there. When you look at the big handicaps over jumps, the likes of a Troytown or Paddy Power, they seem to mostly be with Gordon [Elliott], Willie [Mullins], Henry [de Bromhead] or Gavin [Cromwell], and that 125-140-rated bracket is missing. You’d just wonder where the horses went?

“There are loads of people with 102s, 109s and 116s, but where have those slightly higher horses disappeared to? It feels like they have vanished but I don’t know for definite why.

“It’s a bit like the trainer bracket, though. Years ago, you might have had 20 trainers who were sending out a very solid number of winners a season, and they all had stable jockeys. That bracket seems to have dried up. It seems like you’re either up with the Willies and Gordons, or you’re not.”

If you’re expecting any doom and gloom over the training landscape on these shores, though, think again. That attitude does not seem to be found in one of the most outwardly positive figures you will find in Irish racing. If there is truth to the famous line from American automotive industry pioneer, Walter Chrysler, that enthusiasm is the real secret to success, Ross O’Sullivan ought to be in Group 1 company.

“I just love training horses,” he beams.

“Even if we had 10 horses, I’d be as happy as Larry. Obviously you want it to grow and be more successful, but I love the challenge of training horses. It’s strange, I’m doing this for the last 10 years and properly with bigger numbers the last seven years, but every year you see something new. You think you’re getting a handle on things and then something comes up that you’d never seen before, an ailment with a horse or whatever - I love the challenge of figuring it all out.

“And it’s not about the money. It’s the challenge I love. I’m not going to talk about it downbeat, but there isn’t loads of money in it. It’s a bit like farming, it’s a way of life we all love. Once you can pay your bills, pay your wages and carry some sort of wage out of it, it’s what we love to do.

Industry perspective

“Financially, it is tough but my feeling is that this mightn’t be a whole lot different to anything else. If we had the local shop down the road, I’m sure we’d probably be giving out about the big Tesco in competition with us. It’s the same thing. You can’t get caught up in that negativity. It’s a passion more than anything. You get stuck in, soldier away and take hope from other smaller trainers having good runs. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

The community of people invested in the industry is one of the most enjoyable elements of the sport, according to the son of parents who met while working for the legendary Mick O’Toole in the heyday of Maddenstown. His father, Johnny, notched several winners as a rider, including aboard the brilliant racemare Height O’Fashion, while his mother, Anne, partnered Arc En Ciel to win a Cork bumper in 1975.

“It’s a great game to be involved in, and myself and Katie have found great friends in racing,” says O’Sullivan.

“We all socialise together, go through everyone’s ups and downs together. As much as we’re competitors, wanting to beat each other and wanting to have more winners than whoever it might be, there’s a great respect there. If they have a winner, you’re genuinely happy for them and the same goes the other way.

“I’ll give you another example that came to mind after reading Paul Flynn’s interview in The Irish Field last week. Gordon Elliott had a golf do on for his owners about a month ago and invited me over to the afters of it, he said: ‘Why don’t you come over, there’ll be plenty of lads there and you never know, you could meet someone who might want to have a horse with you who already has one with me.’ In what other sport would you hear of that happening?

“Paul referenced that Gordon had been a help to him too, and I think that sort of support for each other is what the game is all about. It’s a cut-throat game and we all have to survive by trying to beat each other, but it’s a small game and the friendships make it so enjoyable. Everyone has an appreciation for how hard it is to have success.”

The impact of O’Sullivan’s Ballybrit four-timer in a major shop window for Irish racing does not appear to have gone unnoticed by possible owners. While remaining measured about any potential expansion in numbers, the desire is there to use Galway as a launchpad to take another step up the ranks.

“Funnily enough, we’d been having a great year before Galway but the phone didn’t really ring,” he says. “But it did after Galway. There have been a couple of inquiries this week again. It’s definitely been a big help.

“It’s a high-profile week and I think it gives confidence to everyone, including the existing owners in the yard. You put pressure on yourself. It might be all going rosy at the minute, but I’m well aware there were times when it wasn’t that way and you come back home in the evening frustrated, wondering what you can do.

“To be fair to Katie, she’s seen it with her dad and is great to bounce ideas off as someone who has seen all the ups and downs before. She knows what living with a trainer is like and it’s great to have her in your corner.

He adds: “Trying to get your hands on a nice horse is the big thing. There are loads of lads in the same position as me, in that they can do the job when they get their hands on a nice horse. You just keep your head down trying to find a nice one, and when you do land on one, hope he doesn’t get sold out of the yard. If we get the ammo, the facilities are here to do it.”

Galway gold might yet be the catalyst to group and graded race riches for the O’Sullivan team. Long may this rich run of form last.