By Duane Ranger (sponsored by Fletcher Racing)
Australasian harness racing legend, Jim O’Sullivan, has reached the pinnacle of his sport, but never forgets the stellar days when he used to train and drive out of Branch Street in Redcliffe.
“I loved those days. They feel just like yesterday. I won the Redcliffe Driving Premiership there two to three times when I worked for Sam Zammit.
“He was the top Queensland trainer for several years. I say I would have been there from the early 1960s to the 80s. They were great days. That’s when there were 200 to 300 horses being worked at Redcliffe,” said O’Sullivan who still trains and drives out of Victoria.
“Fantastic memories,” the 73-year-old added.
These days O’Sullivan is based at Heathcote, just out of Bendigo. He’s been in Victoria since his move from Queensland.
O’Sullivan has trained and driven more than 2,000 winners in a career spanning more than half a century. He won the Australian Trainers’ Premiership in 1979 and 1980, and was the country’s top driver in 1979.
However, O’Sullivan will always be known as the horseman that trained and drove My Lightning Blue to win the 1987 Interdominion Grand Final at Addington Raceway. The son of Lonero and Lightning (by Holy Hal) had a one-and-a-half lengths to spare from Paleface Bubble and Sunset Candios.
That was on March 14 that year. Eight months later the duo dealt to Luxury Liner and Skipper Dale by a similar margin in the 1987 New Zealand Trotting Cup.
“I’ll never forget 1987 in a hurry. It seems just like yesterday. ‘Blue’ was the outsider in the Interdom Final and favourite in the Cup. I have driven at a lot of tracks in New Zealand and enjoy their racing. I was actually going to move to Christchurch after my stint in Queensland, but opted for Victoria instead.
“Actually, my first New Zealand winner was behind an Able Bye Bye (1975) mare named Shareena. That was at Alexandra Park in August 1979. Colin Le Long trained her at the time and I bought her back to Australia to race where she won another four races here.
“It’s a funny story really, because she was an old plough horse who worked in the market gardens over there. That was a trial drive for me to see whether she would measure up.
“I remember I was in the one-one and then she broke and went back to last. Then I pulled her out down the back straight and she zoomed around them and won by more than five lengths,” O’Sullivan said.
But he insisted there was no horse like My Lightning Blue.
“He was an absolute amazing pacer, probably the best I have driven. He could really go through the gears. Not many Australian pacers can go to New Zealand and beat their best. Those two wins were my career highlight, but I also won the 1989 Interdominion Trotters Grand Final at Moonee Valley with Yankee Loch.
“That square gaiter also won New Zealand’s big trotting race over there – also in 1989. Jack Carmichael trained him at the time,” Lismore-born O’Sullivan said.
My Lightning Blue (1:54.9) finished his career at Mildura on March 31, 1989, the winner of 33 of his 85 starts. He also placed on 29 occasions and won $823,692 in purses.
He also went on to produce 82 foals as a stallion, 35 of which went to the races, and produced 16 winners and $277,342.
“He was definitely the horse that put me on the map, but I’ve had so many other great moments in the sport – too many to mention.
“For example, Margaret Shannon was another highlight, but not on the same scale. She was a bush horse that I bought and went to win 44 races with her including the Ladyship Cup,” he said.
You can blame O’Sullivan’s rise to fame on his father Bill, and older brother (by seven years), Mick.
“I was actually born in a tent the day Dad was racing at the Lismore Show, so I’ve been around horses from day one. Dad raced horses at Harold Park and had a bit of success in the 1940s and they left the ‘O’ off his surname and trained under ‘Bill Sullivan’.
“He told me when he was 19 in 1926, he won the Kedron 1000 at Kedron Park in Brisbane behind a horse named Lash,” said O’Sullivan.
“He started from 72 yards behind that day and still did enough to get up and win. That was a big run in a huge race. A $1,000 purse back in the mid-1920s was a hell of a lot of money back then,” O’Sullivan said.
But it was big bro, Mick, that ensured a career change for O’Sullivan at the age of 24.
“After I left Marylands High School in Sydney, where I was a foundation student, I helped Dad on our farm and then went and worked for Bonds Cotton Mill in Guildford.
“I was 24 at the time (1963) and Mick asked me to go with him and help out in Queensland for three months.
“That three months turned into 24 years. I loved Queensland and was in no hurry to leave,” O’Sullivan said.
“I was Sam’s (Zammit) foreman for several years. I remember my first winning drive was behind a horse named George’s Reject at Rocklea in 1964. He was trained by the late Chica Charlwood.
“I moved to Victoria in the early 1980s. We’ve moved to Queensland twice. We came down to Victoria then in the 2000s and then we moved back up to Queensland (Gold Coast for another five or so years before we went back to Victoria in 2011.
“I like Victoria despite the current circumstances. We are coping with Covid19 okay. The only hassle is wearing a mask. They are still racing here which is the main thing,” O’Sullivan said.
O’Sullivan is married to Terresa, who manages Garrards Horse and Hound at Bendigo, and they have two ‘harness racing’ children.
O’Sullivan also has an older daughter named Tracey (54).
“Tracey was a very good horsewoman in her own right. She won the Hunter Cup in 1989 with Our Brenray, and I filled the quinella with Motor Power. She lives in Queensland now.
“Shannon (21) pictured, is a very good driver here in Victoria, and Sean (18) calls at the Trials and has also got a Trials licence to drive.
“I guess you could say harness racing is in our blood. The sport has been very kind to me,” O’Sullivan said.
