Going - Chase: Soft To Heavy Hurdle/Bumper: Soft. Fine and breezy
Jackpot Pool - 5,905.70 Not Won. Carried forward to Dundalk on Wednesday 18th April. Placepot Pool - 39,079.61 Dividend - 90.30 Winning Units - 302.91. Pick Six Pool - 9,552.70 Not Won. Carried forward to Dundalk on Wednesday 18th April. Days Aggregate - 134,270.00
Bookmakers get a Screamer in Fairyhouse opener
Saglawy lands gamble in Fairyhouse Grade 2
Gibney gains Graded glory at favoured Fairyhouse
it's unbelievable - I wish we could run all our horses here!. He's a good little horse this fella and I've run him in a few decent races and he wasn't a million miles away in a E100,000 race here at the beginning of the season. He's very quirky and twice he's been in a good position in a race but dropped himself out to an impossible position and came home like a freight train, so we've just been trying to figure him out. I think we are getting the hang of it and he was brilliant today. We tried these tactics the last day in Punchestown but they absolutely walked. I said to David Mullins that day 'are we getting it right or wrong' and he said you're spot on but the race didn't go to plan and to stick with it. That's what gave us the confidence to try and ride him the same today. He's in a 2m4f race at Punchestown and that's the one I've wanted to go for all season but I don't think he's going to get into it.
Sun's success moves Mullins within half-million
it's nice for Katie as she hasn't ever got the real pick of the rides and to land one like that is absolutely fantastic. Katie has been there through thick and thin and it's very hard for lady riders to get chances but she took her chance when she got it. We know he is as lazy as sin and Paul (Townend) was saying to Katie to keep slapping and agitating and to just keep him going. She said after every hurdle he'd pull up and she'd have to get him going again but he seemed to have a lot in the tank. It was a grand surprise and he was the second lightest weight of ours and definitely the weight just suits him. It was a nice pot to land with him, especially as he wasn't one I was planning on keeping. He'll mix it during the summer and he'll probably go to Punchestown and then go back on the Flat.
Flying O'Farrell completes Fairyhouse double
I was a bit afraid of the ground drying out and becoming too tacky for him. He loves it sloppy and I was hoping that they'd have raced on the original Tuesday no matter how bad the ground was because he loves the muck. He did that well and better than I thought he would. I'd say his season could be over with this wind and the time of year the ground will be gone. We might put him away and you never know he might pick up one next year. I thought she had come to early and I said coming off the corner 'just sit, sit'. He kept jumping himself into it and there was nothing she could do.
Hogan completes hat-trick with Youcantcallherthat
she's improving all the time but I thought it was going to be hard today giving 8lb and back in trip on tacky ground. She didn't travel great but from three out I knew nothing else was going real well either. She's a dream mare and after the last day we said we'd go for one more mares race and put her away for a bit. The boys live very close to Ballybrit (Galway) but the ground might be a bit good there but she'd love the track and the trip in the Galway Plate. We'll see what the handicapper does and I think she's 87 over hurdles so we'll try and exploit that somewhere and she should be able to scrape home off that!. Things couldn't be better and I'm really enjoying it. I have a great bunch of staff to work with and great owners. I really love the job and hopefully it'll keep going the way it's going.
Sizing Coal bags hunters' hat-trick
the plan was to sweeten him up a little bit this year in this game because he was maybe finding the handicap game a little tough. He was badly handicapped and his Irish National run probably did him no favours the following season and rather than taking on those 30 runner fields, this seems to have sweetened him up a bit. He probably go to Punchestown now and he'll appreciate better ground.
Bumper winner has Elliott breathing easier ahead of Punchestown
she's a nice, big honest mare and a mare for next year and is a chaser in the making. I thought that was decent and she's looks nice and she settled better than she ever settled there.