Emily Upjohn is being readied for a return to Epsom and a defence of her Coronation Cup crown.
Naas remains yielding (on round course) and yielding, good to yielding in places (on straight track).
Gavin Cromwell is looking forward to trying top-level company with Bottler'secret in the Grade 1 Ballymore Champion Four Year Old Hurdle at Punchestown on Saturday.
Nicky Henderson has reported the tragic news that his popular stable star Shishkin has died due to an injury suffered at Seven Barrows.
Jimmy Mangan is preparing to take on the big guns once more after he declared Spillane’s Tower among a field of eight to participate in a mouth-watering Dooley Insurance Champion Novice Chase on Tuesday’s opening leg of the Punchestown Festival.
The British National Hunt season went out with a bang on Saturday at Sandown when Willie Mullins was crowned Champion British Trainer for the very first time.
His end of season assault on the British tracks was nothing short of epic with 36 runners at 6 different tracks in little over a week yielding 9 victories, including the Scottish Grand National, bet365 Gold Cup and the Grade Two Select Hurdle to seal the title.
My Racing StorySponsored By Tote
I'm from a place called Eadestown, just outside Naas, beside Punchestown racecourse. I had a pony when I was younger at home and I was kind of mad for a bit of speed! I got into Michael Halford's when I was 12 or 13. I rode out there on my school holidays and weekends for five years before I left school. There were some brilliant lads in Michael Halford's at the time like Sean Corby, who rode as an apprentice for a while, Shane Foley was stable jockey and Conor Hoban was apprentice there. You can see from Michael Halford's track record, he had some brilliant apprentices over the years including Gary Carroll. It was a great place to learn and I learned plenty. I was still very weak and green and I wasn't quite sure whether I was going to be good enough to be a jockey but, in fairness, it was the route for me. I had a crack at college in Carlow, but I didn't enjoy that - I only lasted about three weeks! I missed the horses a lot.
By Tom Weekes - SUMMER SNOW is drawn wide in 20 but won easily on Wednesday and is officially 6lb ahead of the handicapper under her fixed penalty. All her best form, and both her wins, have come over seven furlongs so stepping up to a mile is a concern, but scored in a first-time tongue-tie at Gowran (Master Garvey finished seventh) and can progress a little further. Numidia returned from a break when running well at Dundalk recently, with his only win, albeit from 30 runs, being at this distance. Ano Manna won twice at Killarney last year before being involved in an identity mix-up at that track in September. She disappointed on her most recent run but that was almost certainly due to heavy ground and will be far better suited by today's drying conditions. Breezy Zoff has been well held recently but reverts back down to this grade and is race-fit. Sound Move ran reasonably well on recent handicap debut while Lisabetta had some useful form last year.
