Fairyhouse Sat, 22nd Feb, 2020  Ferny Hollow We totally changed tactics with him today and it made a big difference to how he finished out his race. He looked a decent horse,. He's probably booked a ticket to go to Cheltenham but I'll have a word with connections, they are not here today, and we'll see how he comes out of the race. Maybe we could plan an Irish campaign for him instead, we'll see what they want to do. He's a horse that has shown us a lot of ability at home but he was just using himself up too much in his previous races and we just decided to settle him today.

Fairyhouse Sat, 22nd Feb, 2020  Acapella Bourgeois Conditions suited him great today. Very heavy ground and a good test of stamina. He jumped very well today,. He's in the English and Irish Nationals. There are a lot of connections and they are probably more leaning towards Aintree. I'd imagine at the moment that's winning the vote in the Carlow camp. The weather will play a big part. We'll have to see what the long range forecast is like.

Fairyhouse Sat, 22nd Feb, 2020  Burning Victory I don't think she jumped particularly well, she made one huge mistake down the back, but she seems to have a bit of natural ability so that's nice,.

Punchestown Wed, 19th Feb, 2020  Elfile That was a good performance by the winner and will probably book her ticket for the Mares Hurdle. I’d like to go there and I don’t think there is any other race for her in Cheltenham,.

Punchestown Tue, 18th Feb, 2020  Ifyoucatchmenow It’s great for Conor. We have been using him for a while and it’s nice to get a big winner for him. She stays every yard of that trip. I thought she would have won more races by now but maybe she just needs that extended trip. We’ll look for something over that trip on soft ground. She’ll struggle to get into the Irish National and she could go for the 3m6f race here at the Festival meeting.

Navan Sun, 16th Feb, 2020  Francin It was hard work. His race at Christmas has worked out well and now he is another winner out of it. It is hard to look impressive there - I thought he was going to be impressive but he seemed to get stuck in the ground. I'll find a nice race in the spring somewhere and he can go up to 2m4f on nicer ground.

Gowran Park Sat, 15th Feb, 2020  Cilaos Emery the first half of Luke's plan has gone to plan anyway!. I thought he was very impressive what he did, especially after his mistake at the third last. What he did in between the third last and the last was what impressed me. It's very hard for any horse to be impressive, visually, on that ground and in that weather. I'd imagine that might mean he goes to the Champion Hurdle now. It was debated what chance would he have in the Champion Chase and what chance might he have in the Champion Hurdle. It was decided then that we'd run today, see what happens and that would make up our mind. We keep coming back to saying that he has as much of a chance in the Champion Hurdle as he has in the Champion Chase. That's the reasoning behind where we are going.

Naas Sat, 8th Feb, 2020  Aione I think the conditions of the race suited and the two-mile-and-three trip. We were lucky enough to make use of that,. Today he looked like he wanted fences straight away. We'll see where we go between here and novice chasing next year. I'd imagine he'll go for the final of this at Punchestown, that's what he'll be aimed for. The trip and going right-handed there will suit him. I wouldn't say he would go to Cheltenham as this final would look an easier option for him.

Naas Sat, 8th Feb, 2020  Cut The Mustard Paul said his mare started to follow Tintangle out (at the third) so he thought he was lucky to get away with it,. Other than that she jumped straight-forward bar a mistake at the fifth last. She's straight-forward and improving nicely. Paul was happy he was going to make all anyway. We'll try and keep her to mares contests and that kind of trip suits her.

Leopardstown Sat, 1st Feb, 2020  Chacun Pour Soi He was electric jumping. Jumping those fences down the back he was so slick and so fast. He was getting a length or a length-and-a-half at every fence without any effort,. Paul said he just arrived up beside Min at the third last and he didn't want to hang around so just kept going. He idled, which is a good sign I think. It just shows how much he improved since Christmas. All that worked out and he was here today in top form. It's a nice prize to win. Min was the horse to beat in the race. It was a tough choice for Paul to make, looking at the race afterwards you'd say maybe it wasn't. To me Min was the one to beat but he didn't get things his own way with Ornua up there. If Ornua hadn't been there it would have been a much closer contest I think. Chacun Pour Soi looks the horse of the future and I think that's why Paul made the decision, he thought this was the horse that was coming up. The first day I brought him up here for Cheltenham trials day last year I let him go around with a few of ours. I said to Danny, who rode him then, to follow around but after two fences he was in front and led all the Cheltenham horses. It was absolutely eye-opening. Once every two or three years you get a horse coming up the gallop that shows you something that he shouldn't be able to do and that's what he did that day. First day here over fences he had handicap chasers and Grade One horses behind him and he was a novice. I said 'wow we could have something here' and he's turned out

Leopardstown Sun, 2nd Feb, 2020  Asterion Forlonge I'm surprised and I'm delighted. I had him down as a two-mile-and-six or three mile horse. The last day he won at Naas was a mile-and-seven. I had a three-mile horse down in Cork and he got beaten so I said to myself 'now I've this fella in the wrong race over two'. It looks like I'm wrong and he's a two-miler. He has a huge cruising speed and I said to Danny 'go out and make the running, you're not making it for our other two you're making it for yourself so try and get the fractions right'. He's never fast at home but he obviously covers a huge amount of ground and can keep that gallop up for two miles flat out. Looking like that he looked like he could be a Supreme Novice horse and that was the furthest thing from my mind three weeks ago. We'll see what happens. I think this fella can stay, I think he's easy enough to ride. I always had him down as a stayer. If the owner has something else for the Supreme we can chat it out.

Leopardstown Sun, 2nd Feb, 2020  Faugheen It was magic at Limerick. It was a very special occasion,. I don’t think we’ve seen him at his best since he came back after 18 months off, even though he has won three Grade Ones, but that performance at Limerick was up there. I suppose his consistency has gone a bit, but that was a huge performance. John Codd has been very happy with him since Christmas, so hopefully he can put in a similar sort of performance this weekend. It’s a good race. Battleoverdoyen is very good opposition, but Faugheen has put in some very good performances and had some big days in Leopardstown before. To me, it would be the biggest result of the weekend were Faugheen to win. Three 12-year-olds have won Grade Ones since 2000 — Monet’s Garden, Florida Pearl and Sizing Europe, so it would be a fair group to be part of.

Leopardstown Sat, 1st Feb, 2020  Chacun Pour Soi Cilaos Emery has been a very fragile horse. He’s missed time here and there, but he beat Melon as a novice. He used to be very keen, and that was his downfall, but he’s settling much better now. We’e not quite sure how good he is. Min is the one they have to beat, because he’s the one who’s gone and done it. The other two are stepping up. I don’t envy Paul having to choose between them.

Limerick Thu, 30th Jan, 2020  Five O'clock He made hard work of that but I think the race was a half mile or mile too short for him as he is an out and out stayer. The ground is really testing which I think he'll handle but with the trip we took a chance on running him because there wasn't a suitable race coming up. I know he has entries across (in Cheltenham) but we'll see what happens. We might see what handicap mark he gets because I asked Paul (Townend) what the second horse (Email Rose, rated 113) was rated so we might go down that route.