Bovary wins Punchestown opener

she was good . she had two nice runs over fences, behind Mikael D'Haguenet and up north when I thought she'd win over Christmas. Coming here I thought she'd win and she is a brill jumper and thats down to Jamie Codd who did all the jumping with her last year when she was with him (and trainer Willie Codd). We'll look for a mares listed race and hopefully she'll come back here for the festival.

Popaflora scores for Ring/Rothwell

Popaflora deserved to turn around the form with the favourite (Take A Shot) as he missed the third last badly when they met at Down Royal over Christmas. I put blinkers on for the first time today but is was still hard work and he hung on. I'm delighted to win with him but he's no superstar and it was an ordinary handicap. Hopefully he's not too heavily penalised for that and he'll stay running in those low grade handicap chases.

Fogarty back with Conyngham Cup win

that was Panther Claw's first run in a handicap and after Liz's (Doyle) horse beat him the last day, he received a mark of 116 which we were hoping he'd be competitive from. I thought today's race cut up a bit and there wasn't much depth to it and it didn't look a wonderful contest. That said, he jumped well and that basically won it for him as there was plenty of birth flying over the last few! He's a slow horse and he wants every yard of that trip.

Diakali cut for Triumph after rout

that looked very good and it was a nice progression from his Gowran run. He can jump, gallop and stay and I don't think you need much more!. I don't know if he'll have another run before Cheltenham but he's on the short-list. He missed one or two hurdles but I think it was because Paul was trying to settle him - he might prefer going on a bit faster. It's hard for a four year old on only his second hurdle start to go out in front on a big open track with no rail but we decided to make the running because there didn't appear to be a lot of pace. Paul said he picked it up after two out and came back on the bridle. He's very keen, which was a feature of his flat runs, and I was hoping hurdling might settle him more, and I think he will settle with more racing.

Way Up In The Air up and running over jumps

she did it well but could have settled a bit better. However she jumps so well, she is hard to settle - she was passing three horses at every hurdle. She's a brilliant jumper and always was and did a lot of schooling as a four year old but then went the bumper route and did no schooling last year. She was a bit erratic the last day when she rushed it and got an awful fall. She looked where she was going today which was the main thing and there's a small chance she'll turn up at Fairyhouse next Sunday for the listed mares' hurdle. She's a massive mare and we bought her as a two year old at Goffs - Anne Marie O'Brien (of Ballydoyle fame) bred her.

Mullins helps notable new owner to first win!

Si C'etait Vrai wins Punchestown finale

Si Cetait Vrai was nearly entitled to win a race like that. He stays and jumps well and conditions suited and he goes on that ground. He was reasonably well in and if he reproduced his run behind Cause Of Causes, it was nearly good enough. We qualified him for the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham the last day (when unplaced at Leopardstown) and he could possibly go for that race.