Going - Heavy (Soft in places).
Jackpot Pool - £70,422.54 Dividend - £2,605.10 Winning Units - 19.21. Placepot Pool - £1,564,283.85 Dividend - £45.10 Winning Units - 25301.02. Quadpot Pool - £70,595.83 Dividend - £19.20 Winning Units - 2710.82.
Slade Steel rallies strongly for supreme Cheltenham success
I’m delighted with him, Rachael gave him a super ride and fair play to the Robcour team – they said Ballyburn has beaten us twice and we need to just avoid him, so that’s what we did and it’s worked out really well for us,. It’s lovely to see young horses like him coming through, we’re very fortunate the support we get from everyone and thankfully we get the odd result. Cheltenham is an amazing, special place. We’ve had a lot of luck here and it’s a cliche, but it’s our Olympics and we’re lucky to be able to take part. You definitely breathe a sigh of relief (after having a winner). We’ve never won the Supreme before so I don’t know this feeling, but it’s good. When you’ve had one winner you want two, but we’re delighted to get one. He was one of our big hopes coming here and it’s great for the team.
Gaelic Warrior takes the Arkle in impressive fashion
You could see what difference a hood made to him. He wasn’t trying to jump right and Paul could ride a race on him. I thought coming down the hill ‘what was I doing running him over three miles last season when he has that speed’. I think he has enough class now to do two miles and he’ll probably stick to that game now, although you could push him out to the Ryanair distance as well. He’s very adaptable. When you saw how good he was at Limerick at Christmas you wouldn’t believe he could run like he did at Leopardstown at the Dublin Racing Festival, I don’t know what happened. I thought he was going to boil over again in the parade ring, but once he got out and away from the crowd he became a lot more settled. It made him so much easier to ride in the hood. I think he’s found his calling now, he looks a Champion Chaser, he could be a Ryanair horse and he won over three miles over hurdles. It’s satisfying to get a win here with him after watching what he does at home all the time, to do it in the Arkle is fantastic. It’s a huge relief to get one on the board, when we got beaten in the first I felt ‘oh no’ when it looked like we had it won.
Chianti Classico digs deep for Ultima honours
I thought at one stage ‘oh no, David is getting too brave’, but he jumped for fun and was cantering coming down the hill wasn’t he?. David has been confident the whole way through, so he was right. He was absolutely adamant from day one he was riding this horse (instead of Trelawne). He adores the horse and says he’s a complete terrier, and he’s done that today like a terrier. He’s as hard as nails, he’s not very big but he’s got so much ability and is so agile, he always has been. When Aiden Murphy and I bought him, we said we’d bring him here, but I never thought it would actually happen!
State Man makes no mistake in Champion Hurdle
I was amazed with the way Paul rode him, I thought he’d be much more forward, I didn’t dream that he’d only be fifth or sixth jumping the fourth-last. But he just rode him with supreme confidence. I thought he’d make more use of his stamina, but Paul seemed to ride him for speed today and he clearly felt there was enough in the ground to take it out of the horses in front of him. But when jockeys are riding with confidence, they can do things like that and I feel that’s the way he’s been riding all season. He’s a fantastic jockey.
Lossiemouth proves far too good in Mares’ Hurdle
She was great – she’s a Champion Hurdle mare, we all think. Once again, Paul was very cool on her and she can improve another year on, when she’s a bit older. Running like that, in that ground, she’s got everything.
Emmet Mullins honoured to land race named after late grandmother
It was a great honour from the Jockey Club to name the race after granny and it’s extra special that we were able to win it. We were always very hopeful, I suppose he had the form in the book to be second in the Arkle today and he was able to show the same turn of foot over this longer trip. Derek got him into a great rhythm and he showed his true colours today, I think. The trip was probably a little worry with ground being so heavy, even though he has plenty form on heavy ground. I think having Derek on board was the main reason we decided to run in this race, to have his expertise is a big advantage. That race is a special test, so we’ll take it one day at a time and see how he is after it.
