AFTER the glory, Maxine O’Sullivan could not take up the flight she had booked to Dublin that evening. It didn’t feel right.

It Came To Pass had carried her to a storybook triumph in the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham, and was returning to Lombardstown by ferry with her father Eugene, the trainer, and cousins Michael (himself an amateur jockey) and Alan.

“I just wanted to be with them. We were back in our yard at eight o’clock Saturday morning. It was grand. We were so high the journey was fine.”

You wish those peddling lazy tropes about racing would bother to understand the people that populate the industry. The greatest day in their lives and there were no boisterous celebrations, apart from the balloons in the yard and a meal in the house that evening.

The current climate precludes it but even if it had not, the O’Sullivans would have been on the road all night.

Not that it was a chore. In contrast, it was precious.

“Dad’s phone was constantly ringing. Alan was doing secretary for him, answering one call, telling him who it was, putting it on speaker. Ending it and accepting the next call. It was very funny.

“I go a lot with Dad to the sales and if we are racing in England and he is really bad for getting tired when we are driving. I would be half-asleep myself and I would say, ‘Dad are you okay?’ He’s usually, eyes rolling, ‘I might need you to drive in a minute.’

“This time, the whole way over from Cheltenham I would ask him, ‘Are you okay Dad?’

“’Never better!’

“Eyes on the road. He was as high as a kite. He always gets tired but ‘Never better!’”

Cherish

It is a memory to cherish, just as much as clearing the last and bounding away from a field that included two Gold Cup-placed horses (Minella Rocco and Don Poli) and a heavily-punted Willie Mullins hotpot (Billaway), crossing the most famous finishing line in jump racing a clear victor.

This is a family operation, as it always has been. In 1991, Eugene saddled Lovely Citizen – bred and owned by his late father Owen – to take the Foxhunter spoils, with his younger brother William in the plate. William now runs the farm and Michael and Alan are his sons, vital elements of the racing operation.

Maxine’s two brothers are in college but muck in at the weekend. Eoin was a talented pilot but much like Eugene himself, grew too tall. He still rides work when at home while David attends to the feeding and other necessary chores on terra firma.

Maxine herself won her third Lady Rider Championship through the flags last year, despite missing the first four months of the campaign with a broken leg.

Lovely Citizen is local history but 29 years is a long time and Maxine, who was born a few months later, admits that it began to grate in a strange way, given her father had also won a Midlands National with Another Excuse and produced horses of the calibre of Galway Plate victor Shanahans Turn and Scorpiancer, a triple Grade 1 winner in America who never finished outside the first five in 16 races in Ireland, England and the US.

“That 1991 thing just lived on for so long. It is unbelievable really. If we had a winner there in Mallow (Cork) in the last few years, it would always start with ‘Eugene O’Sullivan, trainer of the Foxhunter’s winner in 1991.’ I would be like, ‘Why are they saying that? It is 30 years ago!’

“It is because it was so special here at the time.

The O'Sullivan clan in the winner's enclosure with Lovely Citizen after the Foxhunters in 1991 \ Healy Racing

“There weren’t that many winners from Ireland (two) and that is why it lasted so long. But they are not going to be like ‘Willie Mullins, who had a winner in 1994!’

“But it was brilliant and very much family then with Grandad the owner and he bred the horse and William rode it and Dad training. It was very special for them.”

The landscape has changed entirely since, however.

Competitive

“The point-to-points are just gone extremely competitive. It is very tough now. When Dad won it the last time it was so different. Amateur, true point-to-point horses. So much has changed.

“It is so hard to win your point-to-points to try get your four-year-olds sold and then you have to worry about the vetting and then is anyone even going to show up to buy the horse. Every part of it is so competitive and tough.

“We have about 40 horses. Mostly point-to-pointers. It varies. We would have about 30 point-to-pointers and 10 track horses, flat horses, hurdlers, chasers. We do have a lot of owners. Even a lot of our point-to-pointers we wouldn’t own them.

“They are owners who want to invest to sell them on and make money. We would have five or six ourselves every year. You are hoping that would be your bread and butter to make some money for you.”

She dabbled in breezers for a couple of years but found that they required too much attention and time. It might be an avenue she returns to and she is well attuned to sales and yearling work, having regularly helped her aunt Marie McCartan (and uncle-in-law Paul) with the Ballyphilip Stud consignments over the years but right now, the focus is on the point-to-points.

There is an itch to scratch though.

When Eugene was interviewed in the ring eight days ago, he emphasised how pleased he was for his daughter, because she could be hard on herself. Certainly, she is not one for self-praise or chasing the limelight.

It is only because Eugene had given out to her earlier in the morning for her tendency to let the phone ring out that she answers to The Irish Field.

It isn’t that she can’t talk – she is well able – but when her post-race interview comes on after the latest review of the Foxhunter, “I cringe. I break out in a cold sweat and I run out of the room. I have to leave and block my ears.”

There is an ambition to ride more however and the nascent Ladies National Hunt Series on the track might provide more opportunities. It is obvious though, that O’Sullivan’s greatest battle is with herself.

Getting going

“I would like to keep riding. I am not even that good but I feel like I am only starting to really enjoy it the last two or three years. I feel like I am only getting going even though I am 28 years of age. I really love it and I just would like to keep riding as long as I physically can.

“I love working here with Dad. I love the horses, the horse side of it, and the working side of it. Dad is very good with the owners and the people. I am not a great people person myself. I don’t answer the phone very much. But Dad is great at that. I love the work and the people and the staff.

“I always got rides because I am so lucky to have my dad. I am in a very lucky position. It’s a funny thing. I never really had confidence in myself. I do when I am on the horse. I change when I am on the horse. But beforehand I would never ring for rides or put myself forward for anything or believe I should have a chance of doing something.

“It is just the last few years I feel so much more confident in being racing and I really enjoy going. The girls are great in the weigh room. They are a lovely bunch. I love going racing and meeting them and the lads as well. I am just more confident. I am just happy.

“I am my own worst enemy. I just love point-to-pointing. People have said to me before, ‘You are not going to get seen going point-to-pointing.’ But it is just what I love. I would love to be a really good point-to-point rider. Everyone is different. I don’t see why that is a bad thing if that is my game.

“I would love more rides on the track but I would definitely have no intention of going professional. I just love point-to-points. I want to put my head down at that.”

Well-judged

A Cheltenham Festival success as a result of a cool and well-judged ride on It Came To Pass shone a light on O’Sullivan’s clear ability in the saddle. She had ridden in the Gold Cup for amateur riders once before in 2015 on Cork Citizen but derived no satisfaction from that debut on a 125/1 shot, owned like It Came To Pass, by the unrelated Alurie and Gerald O’Sullivan.

It Came To Pass went off at 66/1 but he was no long shot in the eyes of connections, having shown a liking for Cheltenham when falling three out as a six-year-old trained then by Jim Culloty in 2016.

He was coming off two apparently uninspiring efforts, after winning on debut on home turf at Cork.

“We were really happy with him that day because we didn’t think he was tuned up enough. We went to Down Royal at Christmas, he hated the ground, got no run around; was disappointed with my ride and our run. Just a bad day but we didn’t mind. That happens.

“Then he was very, very sick the days after Kilfeacle (when he was pulled up). He didn’t raise a gallop or jump a fence. That’s not him. Thankfully it became clear very quick that he was sick. We left him out on the field and didn’t do anything with him. It was getting tight for Cheltenham then. We were only six weeks away. We were worried would we get him back fit, would he be recovered.

“He really came to himself the week before Cheltenham, thank God. I rode him on the Monday morning here at home. He just felt amazing. He was amazing over there. He felt great.

“He is the opposite to me. He loves the big stage. He seems to light up on the big day. I don’t really like the big day but he seems to love it. He likes the racetrack and people looking at him.

“His thing really is that he doesn’t travel very well. He always comes home well. He will fly home from four or three out. But he doesn’t tend to lie up very well. But in Cheltenham he just travelled so well.

“Throughout the race it gave me great confidence. I was very happy with where we were. I just didn’t want to dishearten him because he was jumping so well and loving it. So I let him stride on. I knew in my heart and soul he would come up that hill as long as I didn’t do something ridiculous.

“Afterwards, I was just dying to see my family. I just was so happy for them and for me. I knew they would be so happy. My two little cousins were leading him up and when they came running over that was a great moment.

“I call them little because they are younger than me but they are not! It was just great to see them. They were so happy. So was Dad.

“It was really special.”

It was.