Going - Good to Yielding, yielding in places X-country - Good. Overcast
Jackpot Pool - €6,545.00 Dividend - €4,581.50 Winning Units - .06. Partial Carry Over of €6,152.08 to Punchestown on Wednesday 27th April. Placepot Pool - €101,766.64 Dividend - €23,603.30 Winning Units - 3.02. Days Aggregate - €544,043.80 Last Year €176,532.00
Elliott wins Punchestown's opener
she loves that ground and Davy gave her a great ride. He said he was happy the whole way, the one thing you don't want to do is get to the front too soon as she idles. The plan was to be upsides at the last but as soon as she got to the front she pulled up. She did it here before one day. It's a great start to the week and great for Noel and Valerie (Moran, of owners Bective Stud). we haven't discussed going chasing yet but I can't see why she won't jump a fence. She's a nice mare and I'd say ground is a big key to her, she just doesn't like real depths of winter heavy ground. On the heavy sand at home she's not impressive but when you get her on a nicer surface she's good.
Mighty Potter cracks Mullins pair
it's brilliant to win the first two races - I know it's not going to be smooth sailing all week and when Willie gets going it will probably be like a steam train!. I'm very lucky with all the support I have in the yard and being honest, I thought Party Central was my best chance of the day. I was humming and hawing whether I'd run this horse (Mighty Potter) - we walked the track a couple of times and said we'd take our chance. I thought Jack gave him a beautiful ride, he held his position the whole way. The horse is a chaser for the future and we're very happy. He did the splits and was lame for a few days after Cheltenham, nothing seriously wrong with him but he just wasn't right and came home very light. That was great and he'll going chasing next year.
Life's a beach for Elliott with Punchestown treble
This time last year I was in Portugal lying on a beach but I'm a lot happier to be here.
Mullins hails 'new champion' Energumene
Chacun Pour Soi has had a great career and hopefully he'll win more races but I think we've seen the new champion here today. The ground would have suited most of the other horses in the race but I wasn't sure whether it would suit Energumene but he went on it today anyhow. On this ground that was a tremendous performance. Patrick (Mullins, jockey on Chacun Pour Soi) was setting it up in front and Energumene loved it and was just jumping up beside Chacun Pour Soi. we'll plan next year with both horses and probably go down different paths. I thought Chacun had his chance landing over the second last and I thought 'the race is on here' but Energumene just found so much in the tank. On this ground, to me, that was as good if not better than he ever did before. He just seems to be improving with racing and he's learning all the time. We learned an awful lot from Ascot, we learned more about how to ride him and have more confidence in him. That's the way Paul has been doing it now and it's worked twice since. He's by the same sire (Denham Red) as Un De Sceaux and looked like he might be a similar sort but he has a lot more speed than we gave him credit for. The fact that he was able to come off a pace like that shows the speed, he was still able to gallop away from them and show speed going down to the last fence. It tells me that he's improving all the time.
Punchestown left 'waiting for Gordo'
we thought this (Absolute Notions) was a nice horse but he's a baby and nearly like a breaker to be honest.
Mullins - 'Capodanno could be a Gold Cup horse'
I felt coming out of Cheltenham we didn't do the right thing. Having a chat with Mark today, he was thinking the same way as I was and he wanted to be positive and that suited me. We always thought that he stayed, it was just about the right way to ride him. Jessie's horse (Harrington, Lifetime Ambition) took us along and when he didn't jump the fence down the back great, our fella went past and winged it. Mark got a little breather after the fourth last and he was very happy with him. In the bigger races we hadn't been bold enough and today was the day just to be bold and see what happens. It worked out and hopefully we might have a Gold Cup horse on our hands. He gallops and jumps and usually the Gold Cup is on good ground, that'll do us. He does everything right but he looks to just gallop and jump and when you stop him doing that you're not making maximum use of him.
Vital Island wins Ladies Cup
he loves it around here, he's been second a few times but he did the job today. He loves the banks. He's been a great old horse and has won four down in Lingstown for me, he knows his job. We'll see what way he is but he might run again on Thursday (in the La Touche).
Mullins completes treble in bumper finale
it was a very good performance, he was as green as grass and it took him all day to learn how to gallop up the straight. I thought Jody (Townend, on runner-up Vadsa Queen) had the race stolen off the bend but once Patrick got his fella going he got into gear and made up a lot of ground. He was only getting going as he hit the line, he's a half-brother to Lisnagar Oscar so he looks sure to stay.
