Going - Hdle/Bmp: Soft to Heavy (last 2f soft). Chase: Heavy, soft in places. Breezy
Jackpot Pool - €24,207.00 Dividend - €40.30 Winning Units - 420. Placepot Pool - €73,833.46 Dividend - €43.30 Winning Units - 1191.54. Pick Six Pool - €54,812.50 Dividend - €25,579.10 Winning Units - 1.5. Days Aggregate - €378,307.00 (7 races). Last Year €276,951.00 (8 races).
Quickpick wins Leopardstown opener
I think he's (Quickpick Vic) very good but it has just taken him a long time to learn and grow up. He can be very free but when he put it together at Naas last year he won very well. I probably shouldn't have brought him to Liverpool because mentally he wasn't ready for it. He had a nice run at Christmas and benefited a lot from it; he's plenty good enough to be entered up for the novice hurdles.
Trifolium wins Irish Arkle
I knew he (Trifolium) was in the form of his life but while I wasn't expecting him to win, I thought he'd be there or thereabouts. We had cheek-pieces on him the last day and he was a bit free so we decided to leave them off today and it probably helped settle him a bit. He has jumped beautifully from his first day chasing at Thurles but being able to settle him in behind Defy Logic today which was the secret. I felt he was coming to the form he was in going to Cheltenham two years ago but we'd a terrible year with him last year when we couldn't get anything to go right; he seems to be back now and it looks like I'll have an excuse to go to Cheltenham now after all!
Russell Treats himself at Leopardstown
he did it well and came on well from his last run. The better pace helped and he is progressing well and looks like he'll make a nice chaser. He'll have to step up in company now as he'll probably get a fair penalty for that. Hopefully he keeps going the right way and he could be a horse for the Dan Moore Chase (named in honour of Moore's late father) at Fairyhouse next year.
The Fly storms to fourth Irish Champion win
if you'd seen the bit of work I'd seen him (Hurricane Fly) do during the week! It was terrible and his worst bit of work ever; I was so disappointed that I came down off the gallops thinking 'the dream is over' and maybe it's come to the stage where he's had enough. Thankfully that night we found a bruise in his foot and, once poulticed, he seemed find the next morning. However that bad bit of work stuck in my mind all week and certainly when Our Conor loomed up beside him, I thought 'that bad bit of work will beat him' and we'd get beaten on the day.
Treble for Walsh on Sure Reef
he (Sure Reef) was very free and I was a little bit worried about him but Ruby decided to take him back and pull him out a bit and give him a breather. Ruby felt he couldn't continue to run a race (racing keenly) so he wanted to fill his lungs. He took a chance coming on the outside and it worked, but it wasn't Plan A! . He's a fair sort and did a fantastic bit of work during the week; he's still a bit heavy and that tells me there's huge improvement in him and Ruby said he stays all day. However the worry about running in a race like the Albert Bartlett (at Cheltenham) is that he might be too keen.
Wrong Turn makes it a right day for Ruby!
the two horses found plenty from the last (Wrong Turn and runner-up Tabhachtach, which blundered at the final fence) so you'd have to be very happy as it was a good performance; we'll have to go again with him!
'Normal service resumed' as Weld wins last
it's normal service resumed for Robbie McNamra!. The horse learned a lot from the last day . Derek O'Connor (his rider then) said if he'd have ridden him before then, he'd have won on him but Robbie knows the horse and we all knew after the last day he is a staying horse. The plan was to make all the running and he was pretty impressive. He'll be even better on better ground and we'll see how he comes out of the race but we'll look for a winners' bumper. He has potential to be a Cheltenham horse and both he and Silver Concorde (stablemate of the winner and a winner over Christmas) are two very nice horses.
