Going - Standard. Overcast and showery
Placepot Pool - 17,030.67 Dividend - 159.80 Winning Units - 61.36. Quadpot Pool - 1,833.10 Dividend - 71.50 Winning Units - 18.98. Days Aggregate - 136,741.00 Last Year 141,925.28
Hodd's Girl causes a 20/1 surprise in opening sprint
Mikey said the last day he rode her that she was drawn wide and they were just gone and she didn't know what was happening. He said if he had been drawn lower he would have been a bit closer. She had sharpened up at home since and was 4lb better off with the second horse so I was hoping she'd be placed. The penny has dropped with her now and she's learning how to sprint. She was sharp today whereas the last day she was lost when they jumped. She's a grand big filly and handles that surface. She's very straight-forward and it's good to get a bracket with her. I wasn't so sure she'd handle this as she handled a dig in the ground really well. The owners just said to kick on this year and see if we could get her to do something. It's difficult for owners keeping them in training with trying to get them into races and everything else so rather than stopping and starting her again next year we said we'd keep coming up here. She's always shown a little bit but it's just taken a while to get it all together.
Pin Your Hopes strikes at 25/1 in 1m4f maiden
Irish Poseidon completes hat-trick in tremendous style
Ewing takes both divisions of 1m4f handicap
He did it well, he stayed at it well and will probably stay further. He's a big horse but handles that surface quite well so I'd say we'll come back here in the New Year for something. We could also go to England with him. I'm delighted for Derek Kierans, who is the biggest owner in the yard and has been very loyal. He's probably more of a summer hurdler. He probably wants good ground over jumps, a little ease in it. He's a nice dual purpose sort. He's a big horse and is probably only coming to himself now so there might be a little bit left in him. He's won a couple of races for us and should win a couple more.
Kierans doubles up with strong stayer Hannon
This is mostly down to his owner Derek as he mentioned this race to me a good while ago. I have to give him the credit for this. There aren't too many of those two mile races and he looks like he wants every yard of it so I don't know where we'll go now.
Catena Zapata provides de Bromhead with Flat win
Juyush continues on an upward curve for Lynam
That was super. He's really enjoying it and building in confidence with each run. I was a bit nervous because I didn't want to think that I was running him back too quickly and being greedy. He seemed in good form. We're delighted and he'll have a little break now over Christmas. There is a bit of a gap between now and the new winter program so it's ideal.