Dave O’Sullivan, one of New Zealand’s greatest trainers, has passed away. He was 91.

O’Sullivan trained nearly 2000 winners during his stellar career and won 12 New Zealand training premierships – 11 in partnership with his son, Paul, who now trains successfully in Hong Kong.

A member of the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame, O’Sullivan started his career in the racing industry as a jockey and rode 125 winners including the 1953 Railway Stakes – a Group 1 sprint he was to win six times as a trainer.

O’Sullivan became a licensed trainer in 1961 and trained many champions, most notably the mighty mare Horlicks, describing her win in the 1989 Japan Cup in the then world record time of 2m 22.2s for the 2400m as his greatest achievement in racing.

Dave O’Sullivan.

“It is difficult to put into words, in a race like that all you’re doing is hoping for the best and that doesn’t always occur. She just kept going, she was a very, very tough horse, never had a brilliant action or anything like that, she was just tough,” O’Sullivan once said of Horlicks’s Japan Cup win.

O’Sullivan also prepared the likes of 1991 Cox Plate winner Surfers Paradise, Shivaree, Mr Tiz, Snap, Miltak, La Souvronne, Oopik and Golden Rhapsody.

He also trained Our Waverley Star who went head-to-head with another Kiwi, Bonecrusher, in the famous 1986 Cox Plate which became known as the “race of the century”.

O’Sullivan’s other son, Lance, is regarded as one of New Zealand’s greatest-ever jockeys and has also been inducted into the Hall of Fame.