Going - Yielding to Soft. Partly Cloudy
Jackpot Pool - €5,389.36 Dividend - €2,206.80 Winning Units - 1.71. Placepot Pool - €78,929.00 Dividend - €58.50 Winning Units - 943.46. Days Aggregate - €483,936.94 Last Year €544,043.80
Gainford back with a bang on Shecouldbeanything
She’s a good mare. She ran well in Cheltenham, probably did plenty and was keen enough so we said we’d have one run going to the last. I’m very happy and it’s Jordan’s first ride back as well so it’s great. She has a great attitude and she will definitely jump a fence. She won a point-to-point and winged from fence to fence so she will be grand. We’ll give her a break now.
Facile Vega opens Mullins' Punchestown account
Bit of a fright at the third-last, but he lengthened well down the straight for me again. We got it right today and he showed the true horse. He's maturing away as well. I'd imagine so (go chasing next season). Like you saw at the third-last, he had a little guess at it. I think when he does get a bigger obstacle in front of him, his jumping will come into its own then. I’ve always thought the world of him, he has huge ability and I’m looking forward to him going over fences next year. Paul thinks that he doesn’t have much respect for hurdles and he could always do that type of thing even schooling at home. He thinks he’ll have far more respect for fences. I said to Paul to be very positive on him because he has a huge, long stride. He gallops and is able to quicken off that. His pedigree would suggest he can go out to three miles any day of the week and I know he has enough pace to go two miles so we will let the horse tell us as he learns the game in the autumn.
Mullins at double in Punchestown with Bialystok
I said to Danny the main thing was to get him switched off and he did that over the first three furlongs. Then he had to work his way through the field which he did and used his speed to great effect. He stayed on nicely at the end which means he’ll probably stay a bit further. His maidens were run too slow and he was just running too free. A change of tactics worked the oracle in Naas and it was much easier then coming here to ride him like that. He’s learning all the time. He might come here Saturday but probably not. He could be a Galway Hurdle horse and will go back on the Flat.
Energumene wins a thriller to seal Mullins' treble
He normally wins his races with class, but today he had to get down and fight it out. He answered every call from Paul and showed his grit. Paul really pulled that race out of the fire and that’s the difference between a good jockey and a great jockey. You can see probably the end of the season getting to him. Paul said he wasn’t as sharp as his last run at Cheltenham and he missed two fences which isn’t like him. Maybe it was the colour of the fences today!. I was delighted with Chacun Pour Soi. We had been trying different distances and it wasn’t working so we said today we’d come back to two miles. We’ll see what we do with him now and have a word with Rich (Ricci, owner).
Predators Gold brings up Mullins' 160/1 four-timer
He’s improved so much in the last ten days. The last few bits of work he just improved enough to run, but I didn’t dream that he’d be good enough to win. I love when a horse shows me something out of the ordinary that he hasn’t been showing me at home. He’s by Masked Marvel and they are probably more stayers than speed horses. He’s got lots of stamina and grinded it out to the end. I thought Jody had the race in the bag turning for home and when Patrick got down to ride this fellow, the Masked Marvel came out in him — stamina, stamina, stamina.
Mullins and Meyler land first Grade 1 with brave Feronily
He had an unusual prep but you'd be a foolish man second-guessing Emmet Mullins! . Unbelievable what Emmet has done for my career - to ride Grade 2 winners for him in Auteuil and the likes has brought my career to the next step, and it is fantastic to be associated with such a good trainer. He's a fantastic horse, well bought, and great to ride a Grade 1 winner for Emmet and Paul Byrne (owner) as well. He ran a cracker behind Bachasson (in Cork) and, obviously, the form was franked earlier on with Chacun Pour Soi. Coming from a Grade 3 to a Grade 1 ,on his second run over fences, around the Punchestown Festival is a feat in itself. He jumped superbly today and he was game the whole way to the line. We bought him last November as a five-year-old and people said he was too old. We’ve run him in bumpers, hurdles and chases and he’s won a Grade 1 and now he’s a young horse again, so it’s funny how the wheel turns sometimes. He’s progressing with each run and is an exciting horse to have. He’s such a good jumper and what I saw in the point-to-point field was the reason we bought him. Jumping is his forte and we weren’t going to waste time. His work was always good and that’s why he was campaigned highly in bumpers. We didn’t school him excessively. Soft ground I think is the key to him and it was as quick as he’d want it today. Donagh was very good at dragging the sting out of the other horses. I was delighted to give him
Gamble landed on banks newcomer Three By Two
She has plenty of experience hurdling and then point-to-pointing. We were unlucky in this race a few times and we’ve won the La Touche. This mare may come back here on Saturday if she is fine. She enjoys it and hopefully she comes out of this fine.
Market-springer Angelo Dundee makes a winning debut
He’s a nice horse and will improve. He came alive about four furlongs out, but he quickened well and is a lovely horse going forward. He’s sharp. If we can keep him in for a bit of experience we will, but we’ll see what they want to do. Angelo Dundee was Muhammad Ali’s coach and Mr Conway said to me that they had to talk to Muhammad Ali’s family to get it cleared.
