Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore© Photo Healy Racing
Rachael Blackmore spoke to the Game On team on 2FM radio last evening and she assessed her prospects at the upcoming spring festivals.
“When you list the horses I have to ride this year it’s unbelievable. I feel like I’m living a dream I could never even have dreamt,” she reflected.
Asked to nominate one name for listeners Blackmore said: “I can’t wait to ride Honeysuckle again.
“To be honest I see her in all glory at the moment. She hasn’t done anything wrong for me and it looks like she’s going to run in the PCI Insurance Irish Champion Hurdle (Leopardstown Saturday February 1st) next.
“She’s been unbelievably exciting, hasn’t put a foot wrong, and she’s just a pleasure to be involved with.
“I think every jockey wants to have an involvement with a horse like her. It’s just fantastic when you get linked up.
“It’s definitely something that we’re going to have to figure out (her ability to perform at the top level over two miles).
“She did run over two miles in a much lesser race at Thurles one day but we’re definitely going to learn a lot in Leopardstown.
“There will be nothing too drastic done at home and it’ll either happen for her on the day or it won’t.”
- - Minella Indo
“I know a lot of people saw it as an underwhelming performance (Navan last weekend).
“I did think coming to the second last — oh we’re going to win on the bridle here, and even though we didn’t I wouldn’t be too worried because he hadn’t a race won this time last year.
“I’m happy and the plan at the moment I think is to go straight for the RSA.”
- - Aspire Tower
“He was very good there (at Leopardstown) the last day and you’d be very much looking forward to him again.”
- - Notebook
“Notebook was brilliant over Christmas. He’s a really exciting horse to ride.
“He measures his fences really well. He kind of attacks them. You’d be always looking forward to riding something like him, especially around Leopardstown.”
- - A Plus Tard
“We thought the trip was going to be on the short side for him but he proved it wasn’t (at Leopardstown at Christmas) — it opens up a lot more doors for him.
“It’s massive (going left-handed) for him. He just doesn’t seem to be the same horse right-handed. Lucky for us the Cotswolds is left-handed.”
- - Monalee
“Monalee is going to skip Leopardstown and go straight to Cheltenham.
“He ran a blinder over Christmas as well and he might just be one to keep an eye on, back on form now.
“I have to (believe he’ll get three and a quarter miles). That’s where he’s going (the Gold Cup) and that’s his plan. At the moment I do and I can’t see why he won’t.
“He showed himself the last day to have his old spark again. Hopefully he can reproduce that in Cheltenham.”
- - Captain Guinness
“He ran away with me the last day. If we can fix that problem he could be a very very good horse.
“He jumped off and ran too free in my hands, burning up petrol early on, trying to kind of get to the front.
“Eventually I gave in, slash, didn’t have a choice, he just went.
“We had just burnt up too much petrol early on. Whereas the winner (Andy Dufresne) behind me just cantered away nice and relaxed and in a good rhythm.
“After the last hurdle it paid.
“When it’s happening you’re just frustrated that it’s happening. It’s different when you make a conscious decision in a race to do something. It’s frustrating when the horse is making up your mind for you.
“You just have to get on with it. You have no other choice I’d suppose.”
