Going - Yielding, Yielding to Soft in places; changed to Soft after Race 3. Showery & windy
Jackpot Pool - €3,969.87 Dividend - €90.20 Winning Units - 30.8. Placepot Pool - €50,653.38 Dividend - €33.80 Winning Units - 1047.96. Days Aggregate - €176,477.92 (7 races). Last Year €173,180.18 (8 races).
Itswhatunitesus begins new era for Elliott
a big part of my team since I started training and he has been a friend as well as a colleague.
Old Soul returns to form with 22/1 upset
he was clinically abnormal here the last day — that’s why he was 22/1. He probably should have been about 7/1 and was entitled to win that if you scratched out his last run. it was a disaster here the last day but Sean (O'Keeffe) pulled him up quickly. He’s not quick and we’ll probably head over fences now reasonably soon.
Saylavee returns to winning ways
she disappointed in the north but has shown nice improvement and it’s nice to get some black type for her. Paul was very good on her and he ploughed his own furrow. He said she was a little dead going down to the start and in the early part of the race and he felt that she didn’t like being with horses.
Dominant in the Durkan, Champs targets Cheltenham
he was more relaxed and settled well. I was delighted when he came past the winning post the first time around there was a loop in the reins. When Paul wanted a big jump he gave it to him and when he went in close he was able to do that. There was a lot of positives to take out of today. To go away from a four-time Grade 1 winner (Fakid D'oudairies) over that trip was very good. It looks like he’ll be able to play in the senior ranks and I’m looking forward to his next run. We thought there would be a front-runner and we were happy enough to tuck in behind that front-runner. You always want to be teaching him. I’ve no plan at the moment where he will run next but he will have another run before Cheltenham. He is a Gold Cup horse and is going for the Gold Cup bar something goes wrong.
Appreciate It rules supreme on chase debut
he went out and did his own work in front. He was very idle in front and Jack Kennedy (on runner-up Top Bandit) kept him honest over the last couple. I couldn’t ask for any better. It was only two miles and we’ll see how he comes out of it. We’ll see if there is something between now and the Dublin Racing Festival. He’s an Arkle (Chase) type and we have other horses to come out over the next few days. I don’t know if they are as good as him but we’ll give them the opportunity.
Well backed Sir Bob scores for McManus
he travelled away well today and jumped well but he made hard work enough of it in the finish and Mark did a good job in getting him up. We’ll see how he is and try and find something similar for him. We have about 12 in at the moment, about six for the track and six for point-to-points. We have a few four-year-olds and a few five-year-olds. We’ll keep it at that. I changed my mind about stopping completely. It’s something to get us up in the morning and is a family run operation.
De Bomhead's Slade Steel wins bumper finale
he won a point-to-point last year and we really liked him since he came. He does everything nice and has plenty of pace. That was a perfect starting point and John gave him a lovely ride. He’ll stay in bumpers this season and will probably have one more run, a max of two, and will make a lovely novice hurdler next season. We’ll have to talk to Robcour and see if they want to go for the Cheltenham bumper with him. There is also the bumper here at the Festival so there are lots of options. John said he was very green and ran in snatches in places. He said he’ll improve a lot from it. He’s a nice horse to look forward to.
