Going - Good to Yielding, Yielding in places - changed to Good to Yielding after R4. Overcast
Jackpot Pool - 726.28 Dividend - 508.40 Winning Units - .19. Partial Carry Over of 588.34 to Ballinrobe on Tuesday 3rd May. Placepot Pool - 22,398.84 Dividend - 297.70 Winning Units - 52.67. Days Aggregate - 149,130.05 Last Year 77,721.00
Ryan picks up where he left off
He's a funny horse, difficult to train,. He's free and hard on himself. He wouldn't be a horse you would punt on. He is going to be a lovely horse over a fence, he schools brilliantly. He'll go over fences now. He's a half-brother to a French Champion hurdle winner. Probably the ground today suited him. Being by Arcadio the ground was key today. Young Niall Prendergast gave the horse a cracking ride. He's a brilliant schooler and a brilliant cross-country rider. He didn't get that many opportunities and that is only his second ever winner. I quickly saw that this guy can ride. He's a good lad and a nice lad.
Martin credits his son for settling Drumbaragh
In one way it is a shock and in another way I'm not surprised because she does show ability at home. Her biggest problem is that she didn't know how to relax. My son Jack has done a great job in that end of it. He deserves the credit. We thought we would grab the bull by the horns and try and be handy today. They went harder and she settled. The one fell over the far side and she got a handy lead then but she jumped particularly well. He gave her a young man's ride. Paddy has ridden her a fair few times and would be good friends with the owners. Before she came to me, he would have ridden her a lot of times. I'd say better ground is a help to her but just getting her to relax was probably the secret to her. We'll see what we go, we'll give her a couple of weeks to get over this. The country tracks will suit her well where she can bowl along. Jim (Carolan, owner) owns a stud in Drumbaragh beside Kells. He has bred a couple of nice horses (Aussie Valentine and Double Talkin Jive).
Future looks bright for Chinx Of Light
He's a funny sort of a horse, he's very relaxed in the stable yard. The minute he gets to hear noise he gets quite worked up. He wasn't too bad today but he still has a lot left to develop mentally, I think. If we can keep a lid on him, he showed there he has a lot of ability. He quickened up and from three out to two out was very impressive. We kind of went out on a limb to buy him and kind of had a disaster on his first day. We were patient with him to get him back. We bought him after he won his maiden hurdle and we loved him at home. We went to a Grade 3 and he never ran his race for whatever reason. We just took our time getting him right and this is a stepping stone in the right direction because he could be very good. He is well bred and has a lot of ability I'd say. He's not a very big, heavy horse so he probably goes on most ground. I'd say he had never gone as fast in his life down to two out and couldn't get his legs sorted out. We'll keep him going now and obviously he might make a lovely chaser.
Orr makes most of his opportunity on Gallyhill
We are delighted with that, he is a galloper and a big chaser. I'd imagine he will go on his holidays. It would be nice to get another one (to get to 2000 winners in Ireland and Britain).
Diggin Deep does just that for Cullinan
We said we would come up and if the ground wasn't suitable, we were going to bring him back home. I walked the track and I was happy with the ground. He just wants it as quick as you can get it. The race went all against plan because the young lad lost his iron and when he went to go get his Iron back, the horse grabbed the bit. We were absolutely convinced he would never get home from where he took off. He said he travelled the whole way with him and stayed on to the line. He had to go to plan B and be cool and he didn't panic. He jumped one fence there without an iron I think so he did well to get it all together in the end. He comes in and rides out for me. He's an old horse, he's 12 now so it is great. We are totally dependent on a few tracks and the ground for him. If the ground is right, he'll go. We haven't ruled out a trip across the water with him, we might go across to Perth with him for a bit of fun.
Christie wins Down Royal hunter chase
He jumped super. He delighted me because we have sort of got the key to him the last while. He was very unfortunate to be beaten a short head in Downpatrick. The day he ran at Castletown-Geoghegan it was a 130-horse (that beat him) that had form at Galway last year. The ground was very quick and he felt it and he kept jumping out right. I put bonded shoes on him today to ease that but he jumped super today. Ben said it was very straightforward. To be honest with the weekend (Vaucelet's close second to Billaway at Punchestown on Friday) and everything else, I was half expecting to get caught up the run-in! I have no Willie (Mullins) today!
First winner under rules for Carl Millar