Aintree Fri, 12th Apr, 2024  Arizona Cardinal It is a massive emotion as the horse didn’t have it easy at the beginning of the season with a lung infection. It took a while for him to get over that, but he is a lovely horse and an absolute gentleman. It’s a massive team effort. It was seven or eight months ago when we started looking at this race, mainly because we thought his jumping was superb. We took him down to Lambourn to have a pop over the National fences and he was class and I don’t think he’s made a semblance of a mistake today. I thought he was beat and you’d be silly if you didn’t think he was beat, but the fact that he stays three miles has helped him on the soft ground. He’d jump round, quite whether he’d get that trip (I’m not sure). We might try to stretch him to the Becher Chase and give it a try. He’s obviously relished the fences.

Aintree Fri, 12th Apr, 2024  Kateira She’s a good horse, we came here last year for a Grade One which shows you what we thought of her but she just got lost in the autumn and winter on very bad ground. I actually stepped her up to three miles but when you do that it is because you are struggling. What she wants is two and a half miles on decent ground and if this race was yesterday it would probably have been too soft for her. She’s just really good, I’d have no worries stepping out of handicaps again after that, she might go to Sandown on the last day. Since this meeting last year if she didn’t end up being a graded horse this was the race we were always looking at.

Naas Sat, 10th Feb, 2024  Answer To Kayf we gave Answer To Kayf an entry in the Albert Bartlett and I was also thinking of going for the Martin Pipe - we’ll see how he comes out of today. Eighteen months ago he couldn’t win a novice riders’ maiden in Wexford. He had a lot of problems with his hocks and was lame after his maiden hurdle run in Killarney last year, when beaten 24 lengths. He was then put out on grass and came in sound and hasn’t taken a lame step since. He’s twice the horse he was. It’s great as Denis (O’Connor, owner) has been a great supporter. He’s really patient and it’s great that it has paid off for him. we always hoped after his Limerick run that he’d be good enough to win this but when I saw Willie’s two in it, I was worried. He jumped really well and hit the line well. He did everything that I hoped and more. There is a great prize for the Final of this Series in Punchestown and I suppose that is probably the main aim. Whether we take in Cheltenham in the meantime we’ll see how he comes out of this. I’d say he’s flexible in terms of trip. He’s not a slow horse and I didn’t think he was stopping there at the finish. Johnny’s 7lb claim was obviously a big help today and we’ll see what the handicapper does with him after this.

Fairyhouse Sat, 13th Jan, 2024  Romeo Coolio He's a good horse. It was a messy race as they went no gallop. I missed a bit of time with him a month or two ago and he's having a proper blow, he's going to come on a lot from it. If I didn't come here I had to go to Navan, there aren't a lot of races for him going forward and I wanted to get a run into him. On the day probably 80 per cent of mine ran below par so I was nervous going into the race, but I think he's a proper horse. It's all about the future with this horse, whatever he does this year is only going to be a bonus — I think he's a real one. The boys (KTDA Racing) are big supporters of the yard and they flew over from England today, so I'm delighted to get them a winner. He'll go straight to Cheltenham now. I'm not worried about today, the race was very messy and it didn't work out. They went no gallop and he's a big galloping horse. He's a stayer. Harry said he didn't do a stroke when he got to the front. It's one of those days, I didn't think we had too many that were going to win but at the same time we had one or two run disappointing. That's the game we're in and I've had worse days.

Fairyhouse Sat, 13th Jan, 2024  Romeo Coolio He's a good horse. It was a messy race as they went no gallop. I missed a bit of time with him a month or two ago and he's having a proper blow, he's going to come on a lot from it. If I didn't come here I had to go to Navan, there aren't a lot of races for him going forward and I wanted to get a run into him. On the day probably 80 per cent of mine ran below par so I was nervous going into the race, but I think he's a proper horse. It's all about the future with this horse, whatever he does this year is only going to be a bonus — I think he's a real one. The boys (KTDA Racing) are big supporters of the yard and they flew over from England today, so I'm delighted to get them a winner. He'll go straight to Cheltenham now. I'm not worried about today, the race was very messy and it didn't work out. They went no gallop and he's a big galloping horse. He's a stayer. Harry said he didn't do a stroke when he got to the front. It's one of those days, I didn't think we had too many that were going to win but at the same time we had one or two run disappointing. That's the game we're in and I've had worse days.

Naas Thu, 14th Dec, 2023  Wingmen He’s a nice horse, a next-year horse. I think he’ll be better with a jump in front of him and you probably won’t see too much more of him this year. There is a massive engine there but he’s a bit hard on himself, a bit too keen. We might give him a run over hurdles later on in the season.