Sligo Wed, 15th May, 2024  Sheen Falls Time I was looking forward to the drying weather with her. It's testing up the Curragh straight, especially on heavy ground, so it was a big change here from that last run and it led to a big change in performance. I think Nathan was taking her back for at least half of the race. Drawn one made that, he was able to slot her in and he just waited to strike. She's a tenacious filly and rallied the whole way to the line. We were quietly confident, we had her in a weak race. She's a nice, big, strong filly and hopefully there's a nice summer ahead of her.

Ballinrobe Tue, 7th May, 2024  Monty's Way I train at the back of Fairyhouse racecourse - that's where my land is and I only have a couple of horses in training. It's a long time (2014) since my last winner and Portrade won three for me about ten years ago including a big handicap at Listowel. in fairness Monty's Way was running quite well when he unseated Keith (Donoghue) here the last day and during the last three weeks he's turned a corner. We've changed the way we train him and bring him to the beach in Mornington a couple of times a week and he loves that. Dropping back in trip was a worry but the fact that he had won on the Flat and that he likes better ground gave us hope that he'd run well, although he really wants further. Conor gave him a great ride. Fair play also to Joseph Smith who does a lot of work in the yard and he deserves a lot of the credit for this win. This will keep us going for a while and hopefully we'll have a bit of fun with him during the summer.

Cheltenham Fri, 15th Mar, 2024  Absurde I thought I’d have the pace of them all on his Flat form, but the ground was a big worry. Paul can’t have a warm bone in his body, he was so cold the whole way and delivered him at the right time. He just missed the last but everything else went right. I was very worried about the ground, that’s why I thought Risk Belle was the best of my squad, I’d more or less drawn a line through him. They went very slow and his Flat speed was a big factor at the end. When I saw where he was early on I thought it wasn’t the place to be, but they were doing 18-second furlongs so I thought he might have a chance. He had to find his way through and while he missed the last, it was one hell of a ride, it was the ride of the week for me. He’ll probably go to Punchestown and then back on the Flat I’d have thought. It might be hard to qualify for Melbourne – I’d like to go though.

Cheltenham Fri, 15th Mar, 2024  Absurde I thought I’d have the pace of them all on his Flat form, but the ground was a big worry. Paul can’t have a warm bone in his body, he was so cold the whole way and delivered him at the right time. He just missed the last but everything else went right. I was very worried about the ground, that’s why I thought Risk Belle was the best of my squad, I’d more or less drawn a line through him. They went very slow and his Flat speed was a big factor at the end. When I saw where he was early on I thought it wasn’t the place to be, but they were doing 18-second furlongs so I thought he might have a chance. He had to find his way through and while he missed the last, it was one hell of a ride, it was the ride of the week for me. He’ll probably go to Punchestown and then back on the Flat I’d have thought. It might be hard to qualify for Melbourne — I’d like to go though.