The Highway Rat sticks his nose out

It is good to see him back. He was off and missed all the early season with a splint. He had a run back at Tipperary which wasn't of much value to him, he got knocked about at the start and didn't get a blow. Then soft ground at the Curragh which isn't his gig. We were hoping that it brought him on enough. It looked like a tidy, wee contest. Those are fast horses on this surface. We hope we are still on the upward, we hope there is still a bit of improvement. He did it well and got to the front and was lucky enough to repel a late charge. I've had four or five consecutive seconds, so I thought this was going to be another. We are relieved it has broken that trend. It is a good performance and I'm pleased with him and we will go on from here. The plan is to come back for the Group 3 here next month. Last year he was a very young three-year-old and we deliberately resisted going anywhere and travelling just to let him mature. Then it was bad timing that he got a splint just when he was ready to go and he missed the whole spring/summer campaign. He's a fresh horse and the idea was that he has strengthened, hopefully he has and he looks well. We are going to see our options now regarding maybe travelling. He needs fast ground, I've no problem with him handling grass. We'll look at that as that looks like he is back to somewhere near his best.

Funny Money Honey off the mark in Listed company

Jockey Shane Foley said, .She has a lot of pace. I rode her for the first time in Salisbury (in a Group 3 over 6f) and I . She just loves to jump and travel and a bend really helped her today just to get the five furlongs. A good performance. She did stay going, I was trying to nurse her but I wanted to keep the momentum going forward at the same time.

Zabeir a first for the Kinsella/Manning combination

He had difficulty in making a position in Clonmel, however, he stuck it well until 150 metres out. Today, he had a bad draw and got an excellent ride. He (Kevin Manning) got him out and got a position on him early which was very, very good. He's a long, long time riding now and I'm a long, long time trying to get him a winner! That's the first one for me. That's what makes the whole thing so enjoyable. Now we will come back, we are only up the road.

Foley & Harrington double up

Spirit Gal has Star Appeal

It was (a helluva performance). We never had a runner in a Listed race before tonight so I didn't really know what was needed. We thought a lot of her and we think a lot of her. I don't know how good she is, but she is very decent anyway. She would (love the surface) as she is a very light mover. She wouldn't want soft ground. She seemed to get the trip very well, she did it the hard way and made all. Dream stuff for an oul lad like me!. She's not for sale, the owner (Charles Fipke) is a Canadian man who races for fun and he won't be selling her. We might consider going to France and I think the owner might be considering the Breeders' Cup - I don't know if she qualifies or how you could qualify for it. She has a bright future and we are very excited.

'Dusty' Foley completes 779/1 treble

He stuck at it (last week,), he was just about ready to start off last week. He was very green last week. He's fully genuine but I don't know how far he will go. He's hardy. He's done a job off a mark of 60. That was the mark he was entitled to off last week but I would have been disappointed if he wasn't a little bit better than 60. It was whether in his first run in a handicap he would know enough to jump and run. Shane said he got an easy lead, it was only the intention to try and be handy. To end up in front and be able to stack them like that, it suited him. He could kick off the front then. We'll keep him going, I'm not sure he'll be sound enough to rattle away like some of ours. He'll be regularly frequent but he just won't be banging away like some of the others up here every week.

Halford's filly gets off the mark

Her run the last day was full of promise and it is nice to see them deliver off it.

No Say Ever pops up at 50/1

I'd say he hasn't been right for the last three runs. All I can say is thank God he won, or I would have been scratching my head where to go!. He has been working well again. He is so lightly raced because of the ground being so fast this summer. I would never have had him kept going through the winter but he is probably going to do a mixture of here and hurdling. He has jumped at home. His head wasn't in the right place before where it is now, I think. We'll see where we go next. Nathan has ridden him a lot at home and he knew where the winning post was! He needed the run a bit as well. For sure there is improvement to come. The owner is Noel Reynolds, my partner.