Naas Sun, 9th Mar, 2025  Redemption Day He has the engine, but things probably haven’t gone right for him for a couple of seasons. Hopefully he can have a nice spring on the back of that. I couldn’t be happier, hopefully we’re as happy on Tuesday evening!. I won’t have a terribly busy week, but I’ve a lot of classy horses to ride and if we can get a good Tuesday it makes the rest of the week a bit shorter.

Punchestown Thu, 20th Feb, 2025  Gameofinches He did what I was hoping he could do. His homework has been nice, he showed on the track what he had been showing me at home. I was very happy with the outcome and I’d imagine, if he recovers nicely from that race, he’ll go to the Cheltenham bumper. He’s a big horse and you never know how much it takes out of them until a week or ten days after the race. He seems to have a nice temperament, in the parade ring before the race and in the winner’s enclosure afterwards, so that all helps when you are travelling across the water. He looks a real chasing type. We’ll see what happens him next year, whether we’ll go over hurdles. He’s six now so we might go straight chasing with him, I’m not sure hurdling would do anything for his career, but they are discussions for another day with his connections.

Gowran Park Sat, 15th Feb, 2025  Bridie's Beau That’s great. He’s taken a step forward. He travelled brilliantly and jumped brilliantly and he was gutsy too. He met the second last on the wrong stride and lost a bit of momentum, but he was good and brave. He has surprised us, I thought for a long time he was going to struggle to ever win a race but here we are and he’s after going up a stone. He has enough size and scope to keep improving. He is six and we thought when we got him first, as a five-year-old, that he was well tried from Paul Nicholls but in fairness to him he’s after coming forward.

Navan Sun, 9th Feb, 2025  Copacabana I think we'll have to buy the ticket now (Cheltenham bumper)! . He's a lovely, big, chasing type and I was looking forward to bringing him up here on this track. I thought he would show himself off well and he did. There was so much talk about so many horses before the race. It looked a very deep race and I'm very pleased for his owners. It looks like we will have to book a ticket for them for March. He hasn't been showing too much at home until lately. He is a big unit, and it has taken me plenty of time to get him right. Every time we asked him a question, he gave the right answers. We were getting very tight to qualifying for Cheltenham. He just answered that question nicely. He loved that type of ground. With his size and everything, I wouldn't like to campaign him on good ground for a while yet. He looks a horse that would need a nice dig in it.

Punchestown Mon, 27th Jan, 2025  Bridie's Beau He had a nice run in Limerick where he was staying on well at the finish. He was stepping up in trip and he’s improved a bit from Limerick. That was nice,. It’s great for the owner, Owen Daley, who came across from the UK yesterday for Individualiste and this fella. He just has the two with us, so it worked out great that at least one of them won. 

Gowran Park Thu, 23rd Jan, 2025  Carrigmoorna Beech It’s a very prestigious day and I was dreaming about having a double, but it very rarely happens. She has a savage pedigree and is a (half) sister to Carrigmoornaspruce (who runs in the Grade 2 mares bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival), but is a different type of mare. She’s a bit more of a three-miler down the road. She could be left off now unless it keeps raining. The Listed bumper for four-year-olds in Limerick could be a race for her. She was fit coming here but had only one grass gallop, so she’ll improve.

Thurles Sat, 21st Dec, 2024  Blue Velvet She is a nice addition to the mares ranks,. She was very green and lazy so was learning on the job and to pull it out again in the final 100 yards when the other horse came to her, was a great sign. She looks like a really nice type and looks another one for the DRF mares' bumper. Hopefully then she will go across the water and to Punchestown.

Cork Sun, 8th Dec, 2024  Sky Lord He jumped well, Darragh was brilliant on him and I'm delighted for the Holians. He is a nice young horse, came to us highly thought of and ran well in a bumper last season. We're lucky to have him, he is a gorgeous big horse who has plenty of pace. I was worried he might be keen but they went a nice gallop and he was good. We came to try and win our maiden hurdle so that's done now and we might look to one of those novice hurdles in January now as Christmas will probably come too soon.

Punchestown Sat, 23rd Nov, 2024  Heads Up How did I get him beaten in two bumpers?. He’s still a little bit immature mentally and ran off the bend past the stand first time. He’s not doing everything right, but has enormous ability. Finn (Buckley) said he felt like he was never out of second gear the whole way. It’s my first horse for Darragh (McDonagh) and he’s been very patient with him. He’s only four and we’ll definitely stick with bumpers, but whether we give him a break and bring him back for a good spring bumper I don’t know. Whatever he’s doing here, jumping is his game.