Fairyhouse Wed, 5th Feb, 2025  Good To Be Alive he’s a home-bred and we thought he was a bit weak so he’ll probably come on a bit from the run today but it was nice to win. He’s a horse that’s improving and he might not be the worst horse in the world. It’s not ideal winning a maiden hurdle at this time of the year but it’s still not a bad complaint. We’ll have to try and find a novice hurdle for him somewhere.

Limerick Sun, 29th Dec, 2024  Con's Roc He was hard to keep sound and, in fairness, the syndicate (Near Or Never Syndicate) were patient as he was supposed to run in Tipperary last May, but I felt the ground was iffy so didn't run. That was a hard one to take, but they were fine about it and he was due to run in Fairyhouse last month but the ground was again too good so we came here. I didn't expect Rocky's Howya (fourth) to show up, so I thought if we finished close to him, we'd be delighted. Obviously Sean Doyle's horse (runner-up Willitgoahead) looks to be decent as well, but our fella had won his point to point really impressively last year. Ideally, we'd love to think we could end up in Cheltenham and he'll have one run before then and hope to get him in. The syndicate are all Kilworth and Araglin people and are good supporters, so it is great to get a win.

Fairyhouse Sat, 30th Nov, 2024  The Folkes Tiara That was great. He had lost his form a little bit and it's great to see him back. Brian was brilliant on him. I'm delighted for the lads, Johnny, Paddy and Willie. He jumped unreal. Brian said he thought he was beaten coming to the last and he said the leap he put in there was brilliant and winged it. He won at Leopardstown last year and he'll be a couple of pounds higher now but it's a very valuable pot. We're delighted to win today.

Fairyhouse Tue, 5th Nov, 2024  Mabel In May it's a big day for Ivan, who is with me six days a week and does a lot for me, as does his brother James. After his brother won the apprentice title, it must have been a case of 'if he can do it, I can do better'! There is good competition between the two and I'm delighted to have given both boys winners. Mabel In May was a bit disappointing the last day but never got into it but I thought three miles here would really suit her. She won better than I thought she would and it's great for the owners.

Fairyhouse Tue, 5th Nov, 2024  Tommies Call Tommies Call's half-sister is in the sales next week, in foal to Vadamos, so it's a timely boost for the pedigree. It's great to get a win with him as he promised so much on his first start. We thought we had a lovely horse going forward and gave him the summer off. We thought we did everything right, but when he came back he wasn't able to put one leg in front of the other. We couldn't find a whole lot wrong with him, he had niggly little bits and pieces but nothing major. We just decided later in the summer to train him from the field and it seems to have worked. In every other race he was off the bridle from the start, couldn't go the pace at all no matter what trip we ran him over. His jumping was always okay, that wasn't a factor, but he just didn't seem to be doing anything right. Today he popped off and was a different horse. He travelled, jumped and stayed going, which he hasn't done before. I'm disappointed we had to be down in a 0-95 race but it's great to get the win. If you'd told me months ago we were going to get a win out of him I'd have been thrilled with anywhere. Hopefully that will give him confidence and he'll go forward.

Fairyhouse Mon, 7th Oct, 2024  Katherine We were confident coming here today. I got there in plenty of time. She’s an unbelievable jumper and that’s a massive help to her. She’s been tricky to train and there have been little things that we’ve started to figure out with her. The way we are riding her is playing a massive part and she loves passing horses.