Going - Soft (Soft To Heavy In Places). Fine and cold
Jackpot Pool - 3,252.79 Not Won. Carried forward to Naas on Sunday 22nd February. Placepot Pool - 26,205.12 Dividend - 1,088.70 Winning Units - 16.84. Pick Six Pool - 7,776.50 Not Won. Carried forward to Naas on Sunday 22nd February. Days Aggregate - 125,508.00 Last Year 174,184.00
Fleming opens account in style
He's a lovely horse, a real nice horse. I said before the race that he hadn't an awful lot of work done and we rushed him a bit to get him here. We'll have to make a decision now in a week or ten days whether to go to Cheltenham or elsewhere. We'd very much like to go to Cheltenham (entered in Triumph Hurdle and Fred Winter), and we'll have to see. We were intending to sit upsides Gordon's horse but he wasn't keen to lead. He's a good genuine honest horse, and whatever he does over hurdles he's a chaser. I'm chuffed as that's my first National Hunt winner in Ireland. We have 15 to 20 in at the moment and a lot of young horses.
Joe strikes late to burn punters fingers
Ger reminds me of Geraghty when he was a 5lb claimer. He was mixing it there with Ruby in a finish and gave him a peach of a ride. I'm delighted for him and I think he's a lad with a bright future. Tom (Quinn) has booked to go to Cheltenham for three or four days and he's in the novice handicap there but I'm a bit dubious about it. If the ground comes up quick he won't go. I said instead of waiting for that and missing the soft ground we'd be better getting it when we could here. He's a horse that has broken down twice and he does a lot of swimming. Probably without the swimming he'd be hard to keep sound. We just swim him and run him and don't really gallop him at home. I said going out today this was the fittest I'd had him. Ideally we would have point-to-pointed him but his legs probably wouldn't have held up to it and I'd be worried about taking him to Cheltenham as well.
Roi Du Mee could be National bound
He's a great little horse and never knows when he's beat. Bryan gave him a great ride. He's in the cross country at Cheltenham and in the English National. He's not getting any younger so we might give him a rattle at the National. He's won a graded race for the last four or five years, every year, and I wish I had a few more like him.
D'albain is right on Time in Hunters
He's now qualified for Cheltenham and Aintree, and we'd be leaning towards Aintree with him.
Jacksons sister scores at 33's
That was great. She's a half-sister to Jacksonslady. She's lazy at home but we did fancy her and the lads had a few quid on. I'm delighted. She's a very quiet filly at home. We'll stay the same route. She has a bit to go to match her half-sister but sometimes the quiet ones can improve. She's owned by the same owners that had Jacksonslady.
Dempsey gets it Right with 186/1 double
I thought he hadn't got there for a moment. He's a very honest little horse, and we've had to wait a while to get the win. He's been bumped all around the place on his last two runs. We were a bit disappointed the last day and expected a big run today. He wouldn't be in love with that heavy ground but he's all heart. John Higgins bought him as a foal and he loves the horse. We'll probably have a look at some of the festivals and he'll handle a bit better ground.
Newcomer Lodge lands Codd/Doyle bumper