Live

Highlights on Off The Ball

10:00 AM-01:00 PM

Highlights on Off The Ball
Advertisement
Racing

Watch | Friday Night Racing | Ross O'Sullivan

Former amateur jockey turned trainer Ross O'Sullivan joined Ger and Johnny for this week's episod...



Racing

Watch | Friday Night Racing | Ross O'Sullivan

Former amateur jockey turned trainer Ross O'Sullivan joined Ger and Johnny for this week's episode of Friday Night Racing.

O'Sullivan has been involved in the racing industry almost from day one having grown up near the Curragh and then following his parents into racing.

He rode as an amateur with success on the track and in the point-to-point field, mainly for Jessica Harrington, and partnered 31 winners including notable performers Macs Joy and the Colm Murphy-trained Feathard Lady.

He has been a trainer since 2011, and has some great stable stars at the moment in Baie Des Iles and Call it Magic.

Asked if he ever considered breeding his own horses, O'Sullivan told Ger: "Not for me - some trainers do do it but they have plenty of land. For me, I never did a national stud course which is something that would have been no harm to do but it's popular and it's a thing you'd recommend to a lot of people. It's only a six month course and a lot of trainers have done it.

I love looking at pedigrees and going to the sales and seeing different sires...but going down breeding - no, not for me."

O'Sullivan went on to outline the challenges he'd face breeding, telling Johnny: "I don't have the land for it - it's a totally different discipline. It's a long game and I don't know enough about it. And really, looking in from outside, it looks like that you want to have a very good pedigree with everything going for it to be breeding.

"The problem for Ireland at the minute is that if I have a filly for a man and I'm training her and I say 'She doesn't have much of a pedigree, she's a bit small and she's not much good' and I say 'This filly is going to struggle, take her home' - he sticks her in the fold and that's the problem," he added.

 

 

 

 

 

Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!

Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.


Read more about

Friday Night Racing Horse Horse Racing Ross O'sullivan