Cheltenham Fri, 15th Mar, 2024  Absurde I thought I’d have the pace of them all on his Flat form, but the ground was a big worry. Paul can’t have a warm bone in his body, he was so cold the whole way and delivered him at the right time. He just missed the last but everything else went right. I was very worried about the ground, that’s why I thought Risk Belle was the best of my squad, I’d more or less drawn a line through him. They went very slow and his Flat speed was a big factor at the end. When I saw where he was early on I thought it wasn’t the place to be, but they were doing 18-second furlongs so I thought he might have a chance. He had to find his way through and while he missed the last, it was one hell of a ride, it was the ride of the week for me. He’ll probably go to Punchestown and then back on the Flat I’d have thought. It might be hard to qualify for Melbourne – I’d like to go though.

Cheltenham Fri, 15th Mar, 2024  Absurde I thought I’d have the pace of them all on his Flat form, but the ground was a big worry. Paul can’t have a warm bone in his body, he was so cold the whole way and delivered him at the right time. He just missed the last but everything else went right. I was very worried about the ground, that’s why I thought Risk Belle was the best of my squad, I’d more or less drawn a line through him. They went very slow and his Flat speed was a big factor at the end. When I saw where he was early on I thought it wasn’t the place to be, but they were doing 18-second furlongs so I thought he might have a chance. He had to find his way through and while he missed the last, it was one hell of a ride, it was the ride of the week for me. He’ll probably go to Punchestown and then back on the Flat I’d have thought. It might be hard to qualify for Melbourne — I’d like to go though.

Dundalk Fri, 22nd Dec, 2023  Riyami The last day the trip beat us and he was unlucky. Really he is a hard ride over 1m4f because you need them to go very hard and they didn't. We thought he was going to be a very nice horse - we bought him from Mick Halford but he was a bit backward and took time to come to hand. He could probably go back over hurdles, he is actually entered on Monday at Leopardstown. It would need to be good ground, though.