FEATURE MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN
lengths on me off the bend. I wasn’t sure how much I’d find, but the horse just kicked into overdrive. “He was amazing that day and finished the season unbeaten, so hopefully, the best days are ahead of us. He’s a very special horse, but he needs to train on now and win this season and the next to be a great horse. “He’s French-bred and I suppose you’d have that small bit of worry that he might not train on, but there’s no reason why he won’t. He’s very sound and he’s a pleasure to do anything with. He’s out in the field as we chat, but he’s due in soon, and then the hard work starts again.” Any jockey would tell you that they would settle for just the one winner at the Festival, but things would get even better for O’Sullivan, who would strike again on the Gordon Elliott-trained Jazzy Matty in the penultimate Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle. Jazzy Matty was an 18-1 chance for one of the most competitive handicaps of the week, and O’Sullivan admits that he didn’t think he had any more than a puncher’s chance for the race. He says: “Jazzy Matty was a nice surprise really. I was riding him on a cloud and feeling no pressure.
I went out there just hoping to get a good spin on him. You could have given him a little chance, but I wouldn’t have said he had a serious chance. “We just got into a really good rhythm and he travelled and jumped and I felt like I was always going to win once I’d turned for home. “Even though it was such a tight finish, I always felt like I was going to win. Gordon had him perfect on the day, so it was a special moment.” O’Sullivan has since ridden out his claim, and looking forward, he reveals that he has his eye on more success at the Festival. He continues: “Now that I’ve lost my claim, I’ll have to really put my head down and keep connections and things like that. I won’t have the benefit of the claim now, but I hope that I can get the support of some of the bigger trainers. You also need the smaller trainers to keep you going. “It will be very hard to be a champion jockey unless I am the main jockey at one of the two stables, so I will focus on quality over quantity and try to win some more Grade One races and pick up some more Festival winners.”
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