Matthew Smith with One Cool Poet, his son James and rider Billy lee© Photo Healy Racing
It is a slow, long haul but this season has been our most successful to date, the string is the biggest we have had and we have had more winners than ever before. Once you’re moving in an upward direction you can’t complain, even if you’d love it to happen more quickly maybe.
People are taking notice though and there is no doubt that good publicity that has come with One Cool Poet, with his three wins in a week in Galway and last Sunday’s premier handicap win at the Curragh, has been tremendous for us.
One Cool Poet has come out of last Sunday really well and we’re still in the process of planning what might be next for him. We will need to make that decision sooner rather than later because he is a horse that you could run every 10 days to two weeks. He showed that in Galway but he also showed it at the weekend, when Billy said he was really fresh and too keen at Leopardstown. Back out 24 hours later, he settled far better and had the energy to come with that late run to claim the win. Running regularly seems to do the trick for him.
He ran on the heavy ground a couple of times and didn’t handle it so we won’t run him through the winter. He’ll go on summer soft though, no problem. I’d imagine we will run him soon enough and there are plenty of options.
He was second in a beginners’ chase in Tipp just nine days before his first win in Galway but we probably won’t go back over fences with him for the minute — there’s plenty of time for that.
He does seem to have turned a corner as regards wanting to get his head in front so I’m hoping it will be the same case over hurdles. He’s a good jumper, he has been knocking on the door over hurdles before so there’s no reason to think he won’t get the same improvement over hurdles now that he has turned that corner.
The only explanation for it is that his confidence has been boosted for winning, that he knows he’s winning. What else can you put that improvement down to? There was a worry that Galway might have been just the way the week panned out but last Sunday showed that wasn’t the case.
It was an incredible thrill for me and the lads in the DRFG Partnership to win the Northfields Handicap, a €150,000 premier handicap with nearly €90,000 to the winner. Galway was great but Sunday was extra special. It was Irish Champions Weekend at the Curragh, the crowd was there, you had the champions’ race and a great atmosphere around that and Pat Smullen; to be part of that was just something else.
Billy Lee has been brilliant on One Cool Poet. Colin Keane rode him when he was just touched off a head in Limerick at the start of July. He had to ride something else in Galway and the first man I thought of was Billy. I saw him win on Early Call for Michael Mulvany in Navan. He’s a horse that needs to be ridden like One Cool Poet. He waited, waited, waited and just produced him on the line. It was just the type of ride we needed and he has produced for us. So I rang Kevin O’Ryan and thankfully he was available.
I thought he was very good on him, especially that first win in Galway because when he did get his head in front, well you don’t get much stronger than Billy and he wasn’t going to let him change his mind. Since then, he has run all the way to the line and is clearly enjoying himself but Billy has been class each time.
He is only rated two pounds more over hurdles than he is on the Flat. I know that doesn’t always mean they will win. We had Gretzky a few years ago that was in a similar position, but for whatever reason, he wasn’t the same horse over hurdles. But I think One Cool Poet is different. His runs over hurdles until now were similar to his runs on the Flat in that he was running very well but just not getting his head in front. Now that he has gotten into that good habit, we’re hoping he will do the same over hurdles.
On the Flat, he has earned the right to have a go at a Listed race. With his rating now at 100, it would be hard for him to win a handicap but he is entitled to have a go and there are options over a mile and a half at Limerick and 10 furlongs in Leopardstown.
Jerry Hannon called him the horse of the summer and he is right. People have latched onto him and he has been brilliant for us.
Warnaq had been our flagship horse until One Cool Poet exploded and she is in great form since finishing third in the Listed Oyster Stakes at Galway on Tuesday. She ran a cracker and we will try and find a Listed race that she might be able to win too.
She is unlikely to run over hurdles again though. Having been placed in two Listed races now, has given her real value as a broodmare and understandably, we wouldn’t want to risk her over obstacles.
It is great to have horses like her — she is owned by my father Kevin — and One Cool Poet in the yard. Here’s hoping there’s more to come.
