Ross O'Sullivan

I was born and bred on the Curragh and my parents were involved in racing all their lives. My father rode as a jockey and then worked for Mick O'Toole and also Con Collins before going to Kildangan Stud. My dad rode Height O'Fashion - she was second to Arkle in a photo finish in the Leopardstown Chase (in 1966). She had 9st 7lb and Arkle had 12st 7lb and that picture is still on the wall at home. My mother also worked for Mick O'Toole back in the heyday when he was having plenty of Cheltenham winners in the 1970s into the 80s. I suppose that is where the interest in racing probably started off. There were always ponies around at home.

When I got to 16, we were lucky enough to get a racehorse and I took out the amateur licence. I would have ridden out for Jim Kavanagh who was across the road from me. That was the first time I got to ride a racehorse. He was a small trainer just on the edge of the Curragh. I also rode out for Frank Berry, when he was training, when I was in school. I rode my first winner in school when I was 17, a mare that we had at home called Commedia (trained by Kavanagh). She won a bumper in Roscommon, a four-year-old only bumper (in 1999). I probably thought it was easy, but then I didn't ride another winner for another two years! I rode in Jessica Harrington's for five years. I would have ridden on the track in bumpers and in point-to-points up until the age of 29 or 30 when I started with a few horses to train.

I won the banks race on Wedger Pardy for Ted (Walsh at Punchestown in 2008) and it was great to ride a winner at the Punchestown Festival. It was a great thrill over the banks. That was a big highlight. I had a couple of near misses in Cheltenham - I was second in the Kim Muir on Openide (in 2008). It was brilliant to get to ride at Cheltenham. The main thing about being an amateur was that you got to meet loads of people and you made loads of connections. We all rode as amateurs and probably a lot of the lads are now training or working in different aspects of racing. I rode in Jessica Harrington's for five years. I would have ridden on the track in bumpers and in point-to-points up until the age of 29 or 30 when I started with a few horses to train.

I had a restricted licence around 2010 with a few horses, but we were probably fully into training in 2014/2015. I rented two yards actually. One yard had 10-15 boxes and then I rented another yard off Denis Cullen that had 30 boxes. I suppose it gradually grew and then we were lucky enough when Ted gave Katie (wife) and myself a site to build a yard in Greenhills, Kill, Co Kildare. The gallops were already there and all we had to do was build the barn. We wouldn't have been in a position to do that unless Ted had done that for us. It is at the opposite end of Ted's farm. We are there five years now. At all times, we would have 45-50 horses as we do a mix of Flat and jumping. It works well as you are able to keep your staff all year round. It's great to be able to have a crew all year round. We are very lucky with the staff we have. We have people that have been with me from the time we moved to Kill. It has been a very slow process mixing Flat and jumps, but it seems to be working well. We have a nice bunch of horses and we seem to be getting a better type of horse.

We were very lucky the first year in Kill we had Baie Des Iles who was a standout filly. We had great days with her - we won the Conyngham Cup (at Punchestown in 2016) and the Grand National Trial (at Punchestown in 2017) and then she won the big Grade 2 race at Auteuil in France in 2018. That was probably our training highlight so far. If Carlsberg did weekends, it was that weekend in France for me. It was magical. We had a couple of friends over in France and we stayed the weekend. She was a real flag-bearer for the stable. We haven't had one with as high a rating since. It was great to have her and you would love to have another one like her. You were going to all the big days (sixth in an Irish National in 2016 and fifth in a Welsh National the same year) and it was exciting having her. She was a staying mare and a great jumper.

Katie was brilliant all the way through, she rode plenty of winners for us. She knew the horses well from riding them work and there was definitely no need for me to hold an amateur licence. I gave that up very quickly! Call It Magic was going to run in his bumper in Cork (in April 2015) and he was entered both days on the Sunday and the Monday. Originally, the plan was to run on the Monday and Katie would ride him. She turned down a ride in the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on the Monday on a previous winner Lion Na Bearnai and, on declaration morning on Friday, I changed my mind and decided to run Call It Magic on the Sunday. I rang her back to tell her he wouldn't be running on Monday and she wasn't too kind in her choice of words in telling me she had passed up a ride in the Irish Grand National! She rang Tom Gibney to try and get the ride on the horse and he said he was already sorted. About 15 minutes later, Sandra Hughes rang her and asked her would she ride Thunder And Roses. So, Call It Magic goes and wins the bumper on the Sunday and the next day Katies goes and wins the Irish Grand National on Thunder And Roses! Sometimes those things happen for a reason.

Katie is very busy with her own breeze-up business at the minute, it has been her main focus since she retired from riding and it is going well. By the end of May it finishes, so she gets a break through the summer. Then it starts up again in August/September time. She would often ride work for us still.

We have been very lucky with owners. I think a couple of men stand out who came to us when we only had five horses and are still there now, John Bowden and Tommy Ward. They have been very loyal. We have a good team of owners who enjoy being involved in the yard, and they meet each other at the races and enjoy watching each other's horses. It gives them an interest in each race.

We are always open (for more horses). I enjoy training both Flat and jumps horses, it is a challenge on both sides. It is a challenge getting the horse and working out how good he is, and what is the best opportunity for him to win a race. We have good facilities here and we are directly across from Goffs and only 15 minutes from the Curragh. The main thing is to try and keep improving all the time, keep stepping it up and be lucky along the way to find a good horse. We are always trying to find new little ways of improving things - for example, on diet we have a nutritionist who comes in and specifies different diets for different horses. The weighing of horses is a big thing as well.

We are lucky that we have two different gallops which suit both different types of horses, Flat and jumps. The main goal would be to find a good horse, we are probably a little bit short of a top horse that climbs up the ladder. Every horse that comes in, you are hoping that is the next one that could get to the top. You need an investor for that and I suppose you need lots of luck. We are very hungry for winners and keen to keep stepping up.

I find the racing community a great community. Everyone is striving for the one thing, success, but everyone is looking out for each other. I think it is a great industry to be involved with and I wouldn't swap it for anything.