Punchestown Sat, 23rd Nov, 2024  Heads Up How did I get him beaten in two bumpers?. He’s still a little bit immature mentally and ran off the bend past the stand first time. He’s not doing everything right, but has enormous ability. Finn (Buckley) said he felt like he was never out of second gear the whole way. It’s my first horse for Darragh (McDonagh) and he’s been very patient with him. He’s only four and we’ll definitely stick with bumpers, but whether we give him a break and bring him back for a good spring bumper I don’t know. Whatever he’s doing here, jumping is his game.

Naas Sun, 10th Nov, 2024  Lieutenant Mayne I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when the more fancied ones came out. We fancied him anyway, the form of the Fairyhouse bumper is very good. I shouldn't have run him anyway and he's better than that run. We knew he was a nice horse and anything he was doing in bumpers was going to be a bonus. He jumps super. We don't know where we're going to end up with him but he's certainly a nice horse for the future. We'll go baby steps with him and try to find a novice hurdle, maybe across the water and then step him up in grade. The McNeills and Stones owned him last year, he ran in Greg(Stone)'s colours. They are very easy to train for, they leave it all to me. I'm sure they will be delighted watching it.

Dundalk Fri, 8th Nov, 2024  Higher Kingdom Gary's a good judge of pace and the horse has obviously come down a lot in the handicap. He's a funny old horse - he's by Kingman and he has his own thoughts on the game, but he owes us nothing. He has been a great servant for us. Delighted for Seamus (Devlin), big supporter of the yard and he has been very patient with him. He was running into a bit of form based on his last run and even his run before that in Navan was a pretty decent run. It would be nice if he could back it up, but today was the day.

Wexford Mon, 28th Oct, 2024  Ira Hayes We were very, very disappointed after the first day. We went to Listowel thinking he'd win and we are still not sure what went wrong. It was very, very wet that day, it was over two and a half and he was quite keen for his first day at school. He didn't run that bad and if our expectations weren't so high we wouldn't have been disappointed. You kind of lose confidence then.