Rise Of An Empire wins again in Downpatrick

They kind of made the race for him too, it was for horses rated under 109 and he rated him 104 and the other lads are getting penalties. It was really made for him but he probably did improve a little bit with the run the last day. He just loves that good ground. The ground was a big factor. He's a big, big horse so maybe he's just only filling out. He was very close to being let go. Fair play to Eddie (O'Leary) the last day he ran real bad here, he said 'no, keep going with him. Give him another couple of tries'. He's going to go up a bit now. Bryan said not to delay too long over hurdles with him before going over fences. We'll see but I imagine he'll run in another novice hurdle.

Tellthemnuttin disqualified and jockey banned

Shadow popular with the locals

He (David Mullins) has done everything lovely for me. He said she was a wee bit keen with him. He said she took a wee while to settle. Better ground will suit her and she'll hopefully come back here in three weeks time. There's a mares winners' hurdle here if everything is okay with her. She's going to be a good wee summer horse. The Ballynoe Stone Circle (owners) is just up the road. A group of local fellas bought her off Jeremy Maxwell for a bit of fun. Declan Lavery and his brother are involved in it.

Drama as Drum gives McBratney another win

Some compo for Byrnes after misfortune

He's a great old servant, he's back in his own grade and he has won here before. He'll mix it for the rest of the summer - fences and hurdles. Davy said he definitely would have won (on Reetaj in race three), he was going very easily. That takes the gloss off it. I've a good old record here. It's a long drive, you wouldn't come here unless you had a chance. I love the track, I think the ground is in terrific shape. It's a family syndicate (Byrnsey Boys).

Shane jumps better to put record straight

He jumped better today and the little bit of juice in the ground helped him. He wants a little bit of juice in the ground and we were hoping for a bit of rain. He will probably go to Listowel and I had a bit of confidence in him here. He didn't jump the last day but came out of the race fresh.

The Storyteller dictates terms

He's a nice horse. He wants further, he's more a three mile horse but we made plenty of use of him and it worked out grand so everyone is happy.