Cheltenham dream for Aintree winner Sea Sessions

Keith Hamer
December 8, 2021 4:19 pm

Ross O’Sullivan hoping filly can sneak into the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.

Ross O’Sullivan is dreaming of running Sea Sessions in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival following her victory at Aintree on Saturday.

The three-year-old opened her account over jumps in a Listed contest at the third attempt, with a game display in difficult weather conditions.

O’Sullivan will probably give her one more run in the New Year before heading back across the Irish Sea for Cheltenham.

“We’d love to go to Cheltenham for the Fred Winter, the Boodles as they call it now, in March. That would be the dream,” said the County Kildare handler.

A first Aintree winner for @rosullivan82 as Sea Sessions stays on strongly. First four all Irish-trained. “We came thinking we might nick third,” said O’Sullivan. pic.twitter.com/Qie6FDHId1
— Nick Robson (@ValueRacingPlus) December 4, 2021

“The owner (John Robinson) is from Manchester. He goes to Cheltenham every year, apart from last year, and he would love to get a trip there. It depends on what mark she gets and if she can get in at the bottom. That would be ‘Plan A’, to head for Cheltenham.

“She will probably have a run after Christmas. We won’t go at Christmas because she’ll want a bit of recovery time after Saturday. She won’t run until the new year and if she has a run before (Cheltenham) it will just be one run.”

Reflecting on her Aintree success, O’Sullivan added: “It was great to get the black type for her. She came home well and was bucking and squealing around the paddock when she got back on Sunday morning.

“She handled conditions that day really well – the strong wind, the strong rain. She toughed it out well.”