Going - Good to Yielding, yielding in places (Yielding after R3) (Yielding to Soft after R6) X-country - Good, good to firm in places. Overcast and showery
Jackpot Pool - 3,799.27 Dividend - 780.30 Winning Units - 3.41. Placepot Pool - 65,399.44 Dividend - 100.30 Winning Units - 456.35. Days Aggregate - 493,672.03 Last Year 197,888.00
Hurricane Darwin blows away rivals
What a fun horse he is. We bought him immediately after his last run and this was the plan for a long time. We knew he was in good form coming here,. I've only two or three for the track and two of them ran this week, we mostly train point-to-pointers and breeze-up horses. It's a big team effort and I have to say thanks to all the team at home. Benny was brilliant on him and to get two in the week is brilliant for him.
Peaches And Cream gets his just desserts
He ran a cracker in the Ulster National (third) and I left him a little bit short for that race, to be honest. I probably should have given him a run over hurdles before it. I was confident that he’d run a big race here today. We’ll see what the handicapper does but I suppose the Midlands National at Kilbeggan would be an obvious race to look at. He’s kept improving a bit and has youth on his side. He’s not that big and was a 1200 quid August Sale horse. He’s been a good servant. He might improve enough to be an Irish National horse, you never know.
Marie's Rock wins Mares' Champion Hurdle
We love coming here, we had to throw two at it to win it and Stormy Ireland looked like she had got away. She's funny but she's tough and she's done it all year to be fair, so has Epatante. They've both had fantastic seasons. She is hardy and she's found her feet this year in no uncertain terms. I thought she was very good two years ago, where she got to last year I've no idea. I lost her completely but luckily she's come back to talk to me. She's got plenty of pace and she stays obviously. Put those two together, and a lot of ability, and you are in quite a strong place. It was a good solid gallop and I thought they set out to test Epatante's stamina and that probably helped her because she does stay really well. Epatante has been on the go for a long time, since the Fighting Fifth, and she's had a great season, she's won three Grade 1s. This filly has now won two. It was a smaller team than we tend to be here with. We would have loved to have brought Constitution Hill but it wasn't the right thing to do. Maybe we'll all meet up again next year and sort it all out then.
Easier ground not a problem for Donkey Years
That was nice, he's been placed on his last three runs and he's been very consistent,. I thought Mark (Walsh) was superb on him today. They went very quick early on, he kept travelling well and jumping well. When you go down to the last upsides one of Willie Mullins' you always think you are in trouble but thanks be to God he came out on top. I wouldn't mind having a few more like him, he's the best I have and a lovely horse. It's a great thrill to train a winner for the great JP McManus as well.
Silky smooth Vauban wins final Grade 1 of season
He did very well and Paul said he's only learning, he has very few races under his belt,. Paul said he's starting to get down and hurdle properly now. He settled in and changed gear when he wanted to. It was an automatic change of gear and he looks hugely exciting. He has serious gears and he's only learning to race. He only had a few races on the Flat and he's getting it together over hurdles now. We bought him before he won the Listed race in France, it's a thing we never do but we spotted him and asked the price and they gave it to us. They wanted to run him in the Listed race, we said okay and kept our fingers crossed. He got into awful trouble on the race and there was huge interest after that, I'm sure Rich could have turned over a neat profit. The Australians wanted him and he looked ideal for down there, maybe he'll end up down there some day. Maybe we'll have a tilt at the Melbourne Cup, not this year. He's got a nice rating on the Flat and I think he has got lots of room to improve on the Flat as well.
Camprond a first Irish winner for Aidan Coleman
We were a little bit unlucky at Cheltenham because we had a lot of rain on the day and it was heavy ground. It wasn't as bad here by any means and he wants better ground really. He didn't jump quite as well today as he can but he didn't lose much momentum doing it. He's done really well.
Path D'oroux completes a double for Cromwell
He's a nice horse. I'm delighted with that, we really liked him at home and I'd say it was a good bumper. He was a little bit keen and it didn't exactly go to plan. We intended to ride him with a little bit of cover, we couldn't get it but he still won it and that's always the sign of a good one.
Camilla Sharples wins charity race on Amir Kabir