Trainer Open Morning

Ross O’Sullivan is excited to show off his yard to the public for the first time as he becomes the latest trainer to host an open morning, writes Tom Masters. 

Locals, owners and prospective syndicates alike will descend on the picturesque yard in Kill, County Kildare, on Saturday 26th August, with O’Sullivan opening his gates from 10am. 

And as the dual-purpose trainer prepares for his first open morning, he is pulling out all the stops for the 100-150 expected guests. 

He said: “I have never done one before but it is always nice to show off the yard.

“We are getting stuck into keeping it tidy and cleaning and all that craic at the minute but we are looking forward to it, it should be fun. 

“We will bring a good bunch of horses out for the start, so people can see the yard, see the schooling, we just built a new gallop, so we can show that off too. 

“We’ll have a couple of jockeys in so we’ll chat with them, walk around the yard, see the place, there will be a farrier and a vet on show to do demonstrations, the farrier will be doing demonstrations with different types of shoes, just to show the things that go on. 

“There will also be coffee, teas and pastries, there will be interviews with Katie [Walsh], myself and the jockeys and a general walk around. 

“We are hoping for a good turn out and that the weather is ok. We are in a good location, across from Goffs and there is racing at the Curragh on the same afternoon, so maybe people would come to us in the morning then go racing in the afternoon and get a nice day altogether.” 

The main attraction will be the horses themselves and O’Sullivan will have all of his stable present, which will allow visitors to catch two of his flat stars in the flesh.

“There have been two horses that stand out really,” he added.

“Longbourn won a big handicap at Dundalk recently and Warrior Brave has been exceptional this year. We brought him to Bahrain during the winter and he went ok without troubling the judge. 

“He has won three on the bounce this year, is now back up to a rating of 101, he went off a career high mark in Naas, he looks like a really exciting horse.

“He is a sprinter, he is best over six furlongs but he has won over seven and five, so he is exciting and he is entered in a listed race in Sweden in September. 

“The jumps season has got so competitive over here but we have a nice bunch for the winter, a couple of nice horses from last year that were a bit unlucky and then there are a couple of bumper horses as well. 

“We are lucky that we have a good bunch all year round, it suits us, having around 50 horses, middle of the road in terms of yard size.”