Going - Yielding to Soft, Yielding In Places. Changed to Soft, Yielding to Soft in places after race 4. Overcast
Jackpot Pool - 3,000.00 Dividend - 388.80 Winning Units - 5.4. Placepot Pool - 19,890.80 Dividend - 10.70 Winning Units - 1298.08. Pick Six Pool - 5,000.00 Dividend - 514.70 Winning Units - 6.8. Days Aggregate - 102,639.00 Last Year 121,002.00
A good start to a big weekend for Donoghue
A big couple of days for Keith Donoghue and he showed there that if he has the ammunition he is good enough, . He's a great man over a jump and always was. We thought he was a machine in his bumpers but we had to give him an operation. I'd say a trip looks very good for him. He looked comfortable the whole way. He could go for a three miler over Christmas and could drop back to two and a half. He's a good horse.
Daylight Katie picks up again to prevail
We got a bit of a fright, . At the third last she stopped to a standstill and she definitely lost three or four lengths. To be fair, if she had winged that she probably wouldn't have come off the bridle - he could have sat on her and filled her. That's jump racing, you have to jump it and she didn't jump it. Thankfully she is okay. She'll go for all those mares' races now.
Coeur Sublime trounces rivals in Grade Two hurdle
He was second in a Triumph Hurdle so he was entitled to do that, . He's a horse that will probably stay further in time. Davy said he is a different horse this year - he looked a different horse, he's a lot stronger. He jumped and he did everything right. They went a fair gallop and I knew he would come on a bit. We will have plenty of fun with him this year.
Askann a winner for the Torrens family
On her chase form she had to have a chance, . She had been running well in fairness to her. That's always the way she sort of runs - she finishes off her races well. In Ballinrobe where she was second in a beginners' chase she finished like a train. We brought her back for a wee confidence booster and she schooled well, so we thought she would run well. I had her in blinkers before and I thought she was maybe too keen. We put the cheekpieces on, dropped her out the back and let her creep away. It takes a bit of getting around here. A big, galloping track suits her.
Samcro makes a winning start over fences
There is (relief) to be honest as we had a long, hard year with him last year,
Mark Enright back amongst the winners on Casey's mare
Elliott takes the bumper to make it a five-timer
We knew coming up here it was a big day. It could be one of those days where we could have five winners or one winner - thankfully everything worked out great, we had five winners and two seconds. Simon McGonagle, my head man, owns the last horse (Pencilfulloflead) so it is very important for him. He gave a good few quid for him a year and a half ago/two years ago at the Sales. He pulled muscles last year and we didn't get to run him. He's a nice horse. The plan was to come here and go to Cheltenham Sales next week with him. He's a horse I would be fairly keen to keep in the yard, so I'm going to try and get someone to buy him as I think he has a big engine. I was glad the rain came last night, Jamie (Codd) said he would even like softer ground. He's bred to stay. He stayed well and there was five winner in it so it was a good performance. We thought he was very, very smart last year. He pulled a muscle at the wrong time so we just pulled the plug with him. It's great as Simon is probably with me since the second year I started training. He's a big part of the team and he is one of my best friends. We've been hanging around since we were 12 or 13 years of age and it is nice for him to get a winner like that. He's a staying chaser, he's really a horse for next year to go hurdling. Anything else is a bonus with him.