EUGENE (OWEN) O’SULLIVAN, LOMBARDSTOWN, MALLOW

THE late Owen O’Sullivan, who died recently, was a dairy farmer, breeder and owner.

Steeped in the agricultural traditions of his time, the love of horses and breeding was an integral part of his young life. He completed his education in Rockwell College before taking over the family farm in the late 1950s. Some of his happiest days were spent taking his children to gymkhanas, shows, pony club and hunting with the Duhallow foxhounds.

Owen was a keen racegoer and from a young age enjoyed many trips, taken by train, from Mallow to the Curragh or the Phoenix Park. As a racing enthusiast he frequented most of the racecourses throughout Ireland, his annual trip to the Galway Festival being uninterrupted in over 60 years.

Owen’s passionate interest in horses brought him great success as both a breeder and an owner. He loved nothing more than to see his gold and blue quartered colours worn by his son William and more recently by his granddaughter Maxine and grandsons Eoin and Michael.

His proudest moment came at Cheltenham when Lovely Citizen gave him his biggest thrill, winning the Christies Fox Hunters Chase in 1991. This was a unique achievement as he bred the horse, the trainer (Eugene) and the jockey (William)!

His involvement in horses started with his part ownership of Underway with Ian Williams, trained by the late Paddy O’Ryan. His first winning mare was Crafty Anne, ridden by the late Bobby Beasley. Subsequently Owen started his breeding endeavours with the mares Look up and Kelenem. His first homebred runner was Tape Mary, ridden to victory by Tom Busteed. This was the start of the ‘Citizen’ line, with such as Golden Citizen, Lovely Citizen and many more to follow.

In recent years his interest in flat racing revolved around the horses bred by his daughter Marie and son-in-law Paul McCartan at Ballyphilip Stud. He travelled to Newmarket to see Xtension perform admirably in the 2000 Guineas and keenly followed the exploits of champion two-year-old Tiggy Wiggy and Harry Angel among others.

Owen married Mary who was also an equestrian enthusiast. They have four sons, three daughters and 11 grandchildren – all of whom share Owen’s love of horses. Up until his illness in November, Owen continued to work on the farm and keenly followed the sporting exploits of his grandchildren with equal amounts of trepidation, expectation and pleasure. He will be sadly missed by his family and many friends. Gone, but will never be forgotten.

LP