Gems from left field with O’Sullivan’s yearlings

If buyers are looking to find a two-year-old harness racing winner, they should take a close look at the six yearlings being prepared by Frank O’Sullivan for the APG Sydney Yearling Sale on February 25. 

O’Sullivan’s strike rate with horses he has bred and prepared for sale making it to the racetrack and winning races is up there with the best in the business. 

Frank confesses that he is a little ‘left field’ in his selection of stallions to mate his mares with but will back his record any day of the week.  

“We have had some wonderful horses come from our property over the years,” said O’Sullivan.  

“Some we take to sale and sell, some we keep to race and some we are forced to bring home to break in because they did not fetch enough. But whichever way it pans out I have been enormously proud of our progeny over the years.”  

“I do look a little bit outside of the square with the stallions that I choose to put my mares to, or those that I suggest to my clients. I am a huge believer in giving Australian racehorses that retire to the breeding barn a chance to prove themselves as stallions and that has paid dividends for us over the years.”  

O’Sullivan and his clients have bred and sold a host of top juveniles in recent years, including star filly Madrid (1,51.8, $387K), Girl From Oz (1.52.7, $175K), Miss Ex (1.53.8, $124K) and Apollo Greed (1.59.3, $223K). 

Madrid won the 2YO and 3YO NSW Breeders Challenge finals (G1), Girl From Oz won the NSW Pink Bonnet (G2) and Miss Ex won a heat of the Breeders Challenge and finished runner-up in the APG Gold Bullion (G1). 

Apollo Greed won seven two-year-old races, including the Edgar Tatlow Memorial, and finished second in the NSW Sires Stakes final. 

O’Sullivan is preparing three of his own lots (Lot 348, Lot 352, Lot 359), two youngsters for Stan and Duane O’Hare (Lot 311, Lot 389) and one yearling for John Pritchard (Lot 327). 

The O’Hares and Pritchard are long-time clients and all the yearlings in this year’s sale were born and raised on O’Sullivan’s 200-acre property, 20km out of Canberra. 

He said the program was designed to ensure graduates were ready for the rigors of early racing.  

“Most of our horses win as two-year-olds,” O’Sullivan said. 

“We do a lot of work with them as foals. They have plenty of room and run all the time. We keep moving them, like the brumbies, they are always on the move and the foals gallop with their mothers. 

“We make sure they are nice and fit, not too fat, and they get fed all year round. With good feed and plenty of exercise, they are half-way to the races.” 

O’Sullivan said all six yearlings were quality types but he singled out (Lot 389), the filly by Renaissance Man from outstanding young mare Tingiringi, who won three times as a juvenile. 

“If I was going to buy one, it would be the Tingiringi filly,” he said. “We broke Tingiringi in and she won by 30m first up at Menangle as a two-year-old in 1.53.9. She finished second in the (G2) APG Fillies final at her next start.” 

The family produces early speed. Tingiringi’s half-sister Most Triumphant (1.53.7, $75K) finished third in the $150,000 APG 2YO fillies final in 2022 and her dam has three winners from three foals of racing age. 

Lot 327, a filly by Rock N Roll Heaven from Girls Go Racing, is a half-sister to Girl From Oz and Miss Ex. Another half-sister, Aella By, won a heat of the sales classic last year but was injured in a training incident on the eve of the final. This is the family of $500,000 earners Esprit De Kayjay and Sir Galvinator. 

O’Sullivan’s filly (Lot 348) by Captain Crunch out of Lillylane is a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Madrid from the family of NSW Sires Stakes winning filly Catchme and outstanding free-for-all performer Jailbird – all bred by the O’Sullivan family. 

“Overall, I am really excited with all the horses we are taking to the sales. There is a good mix of stallions and bloodlines that have strong pedigrees, producing some lovely horses in the past.”  

Frank has thrown out an invitation to any potential buyers to come to his property and inspect all the yearlings in the lead up to the sale.  

For full details and catalogued yearlings in the 2024 Australian Pacing Gold Yearling Sales please visit our Online Sales Catalogue or Register as a Buyer now.

From APG Ltd