Going - Round course - Yielding, Yielding to Soft in places; Straight track - Yielding, Good to Yielding in places; changed to Soft on all tracks after race 3. Bright and breezy
Jackpot Pool - 3,000.00 Dividend - 698.50 Winning Units - 2.9. Placepot Pool - 18,638.40 Dividend - 15.30 Winning Units - 848.6. Pick Six Pool - 638.39 Not Won. Carried forward to Cork on Sunday 1st September. Days Aggregate - 147,036.00 (8 races). Last Year 122,063.00 (7 races).
O'Brien brothers get pacey Lady off mark on 3rd start
Ryan back at the number one after lengthy break
It was great. Five furlongs wouldn't be his trip, he would be a six or seven furlong horse so he did well to do as well as he did,. We were expecting a good run, he ran great last week (in the Curragh) on his first run back for a long time. He was going to improve a bit from last week and that's what he did. If he's in good form he'll be out again soon, he will probably go back up in trip now. Today was the day!
Natural Power comes through after lightning storm at Down Royal
Closer to home and Simply True sheds maiden tag
We just spoke to Ronan (Whelan) beforehand and said to keep it simple. The rain getting into it meant that it is hard for a horse to come from behind. Ronan gave it a great ride - he hasn't ridden for me much before but he is a very, very good rider and it just worked out today he has a couple of rides for me. May this be the start of a good association!. He didn't win his maiden and we were slightly disappointed because we always liked him - a nice, easy-moving horse. He could be one that has just taken time to string things together. Hopefully he will start to improve and we will take it day by day. He has done that and stuck to his task well. I'm delighted and the chap we train for, J P Ledwidge, is a good supporter of mine so it is nice to get things rolling for him. He handled soft ground but he is such a good mover that I wouldn't have been seeking it out. We declared on good to yielding ground. That (soft ground) came and it didn't inconvenience him. It could open up possibilities that I am not ground dependent.
Spruce Meadows back to winning ways
A little bit of soft ground helped him because he is getting a little bit older,. He was entitled to win down in that grade. He ran well in Leopardstown. We'll see what the handicapper does.
Bowden and O'Sullivan well pleased with Universal Focus and Lee
Maunganui could be sales bound after Down Royal win
We sort of half thought he would go through the ground as he ran well here on it as a two-year-old,. We were just concerned with him carrying top weight but Shane (Foley) said he travelled well through the soft ground and loved it. Shane said he was loving that ground today and was always travelling the best for him. He had shown some snippets of form on heavy ground as I was saying. When he asked him to find a bit he found plenty for him. He has been running on a bit quicker surface - he won on good to firm over a mile and a quarter in Sligo. It was good to see him carrying top weight and surely he's going to make a nice hurdler down the line. He will probably be going to the Sales as the owners are breeders and not really into hurdling. I'd say more than likely he will end up in the Sales somewhere.
A plan comes together for Rose in the Ulster Cesarewitch
She has a very good pedigree, Nina (Carberry) bought her to sell and she didn't grow,. I'd imagine if she gets into the Cesarewitch she'll probably run in it and if the ground was soft it would be a help because it slows the others down and she does go through it. In Galway it was only a mile and six and they went too slow. It was only when I got back and Nina's Ted rang me and said she was still running and he didn't pull her up for three furlongs after the line. She just has one gear and the slow ground slows them up a little bit. She jumps well and I could well see her jumping, I'd say she will have her chance at that as well. The fact she goes on soft ground she will be ideal for it. He's a great kid (Andrew Slattery) and you are buying 5lb having him.