Meet champion amateur jockey Aileen O'Sullivan

A full-time job in the bank, football training, farming- and studying for her Green Cert – you’d think that Aileen O’Sullivan has more than enough on her plate.

Yet the 25-year-old from Walterstown, Co Meath, was recently crowned lady amateur champion rider at the end of the Point-to-Point season – which is rather remarkable considering that this time last year she had yet to ride her first winner.

Aileen – who tied for the title with four-time winner Liz Lalor and Sheila Ahern – is the face of the Dowth Point-To-Point and Country Fair, which takes place in Co Meath on Sunday 30 October.

The daughter of dairy farmers Denis and Frieda O’Sullivan, she was first introduced to horse riding by a friend, funding lessons by working in local yards, and at 16 she took a year out of school to train as a jockey at RACE (Racing Academy and Centre of Excellence) at the Curragh, before returning to complete her Leaving Cert and study for a degree in equine business at Maynooth.

It was during college that she got her first point-to-point ride on a horse called Tipo, thanks to local trainer Pat Downey, but her first winner only came on 1 November last at Rockfield, Co Roscommon, on a horse called An Tiora Dall for trainer Alison Murphy.

“My instructions were go out and enjoy yourself and sure pull up if he’s tired,” says Aileen. “Well, he just didn’t stop!”

Further success followed on her family’s horse Old Laxey on two separate occasions, as well as on her own mare Katie’s Oscar.

However, it was her link with trainer Sean Gallagher that helped her to seal the championship title – albeit in dramatic form when she got a late mount with Castletown Bridge about 30 minutes before the race.

“He was a surprise. I wasn’t even supposed to be riding him,” she says.

“The race couldn’t have gone better, to be honest. We nearly fell at the bend the last turn in because we were going that hard, and I won by half a head or something – a head, a nose, a whisker – literally by the skin of my teeth, but it was absolutely brilliant.”

While she is amateur, competing on the point-to-point circuit takes commitment, with Aileen often rising at 6am to ride out. She also has to fit her training around her shifts in the sales department of AIB, football matches with Walterstown GAA, riding out for local trainer Gavin Cromwell, as well as her own work on the farm where she’s fattening cattle to sell to the factory.

Her heroes include jockeys Jamie Codd and Derek O’Connor, as well as Nina Carberry.

“She has the path carved for the rest of us,” says Aileen. “She’s a fantastic rider. She’s one of a kind.”

As for the secret of her own success on the point-to-point scene, Aileen credits a “positive mental attitude” and teamwork.

“A good positive attitude,” she says. “Obviously the horse feels that. You give the horse confidence, the horse gives you confidence and it’s a team effort getting the horses there on the day, in the right shape, getting them spot on as well.

“It’s not just the jockey turning up on the day.”

>> Event info

To The Point At Dowth

A charity ball, Boyne Valley artisan food fair and, of course, great racing are among the highlights of the Point-to-Point and Country Fair taking place at Dowth, Co Meath, this October.

Hosted at the Old Racecourse at Dowth, where races were originally held in the 1700s, proceedings will kick off on Saturday 29 October with the Devenish Charity Ball in aid of Farm Africa, where 250 guests will enjoy a feast designed by Richard Corrigan while raising funds for agricultural development work in eastern Africa.

On Sunday 30 October, the first of six races will begin at 12.30pm, followed by the ever-popular pony club children’s races. Meanwhile, the Boyne Valley artisan food fair will highlight the wealth of local produce, while there will also be a shopping village with Irish country lifestyle brands, as well as a range of activities for kids.

For further information, visit www.dowthp2p.ie or follow at Facebook.com/dowthp2p and @dowthp2p