Results Cheltenham Thu, 14th Mar, 2019

Defi defies Lost in JLT thriller

He has been phenomenal and our flagship horse for a bit now. He is the most amazing horse, as he is so tough, loves the job and is so sound. It’s just great. He only ran twice last year. He was fourth at Ascot, which wasn’t a disaster, then he went to Ireland and ran below form, so he stayed in Ireland (at McManus’ Martinstown Stud), plus our horses weren’t A1, so it was best to draw a line through last season. JP just said, ‘you know when you won this race, last February when you sent him home’, and I said, ‘No, you told me he was going home!’. I still think, and nobody else agrees with me except for John Francome, that it was the sun that was the problem the first day he came here, as he ballooned everything going into it but coming away from it he was fine. OK, it didn’t affect the other runners, but it affected him. Barry thinks he could win at any trip, but he is probably best at two and a half. I would have thought we would train him for the Ryanair next season, but that is a long way off.

Quick double for Geraghty & McManus with Berlais

There was plenty of traffic, but he responded and was a willing partner. I was happy the whole way through the race. He was short of room at the top of the hill, but Barry gave him a great ride and he never panicked. I knew when it opened up he would stay going which was brilliant. I thought until 50 yards before the line we were still under a bit of pressure. It looked the race to go for with him, so it is great. I’ll speak to the owner and see what we do next, but to win the Pertemps is great. We had a very slow start, but it goes to show if you keep your head down and keep trying you will get there.

Frost makes Cheltenham history on Frodon

The support we’ve had from the crowd, coming in, was amazing and he knows it’s all for him. There was a lot of talk about the Gold Cup, but I left that all to Paul, he’ll always do the right thing, my job is to ensure the horse has the most successful career possible. I must thank Paul and the owners Mr and Mrs Vogt for sticking by me once I’d lost my claim, it would have been easy to put someone else on. This is a big team effort and I’m just so pleased it’s all come together. That was awesome, I’ve lost my voice a bit. She (Frost) deserves it. He hasn’t been easy to get right, I knew he had to be 120 per cent and in the middle of last week me and Clifford (Baker, head man) felt he was a gallop short so we took him to Wincanton on Friday and that put the finishing touches on him. I said there was no point getting in behind, just make all and keep saving a fraction and have one go from the back of the last and that was brilliant. He’s massively improved this year, we worked out how to get him right and it was perfect. It wasn’t difficult to run in this (rather than the Gold Cup) after the rain, you need to stay three miles for this anyway. Next year we might look at something different.

Park powers home to land Stayers

He isn’t big, but he’s in the Baracouda mould. He hits that flat spot and then comes again. He’s delivered for us the whole season and he’s done it again. I’m thrilled. He was a bit further back that I expected but, but the man in charge (Coleman) knew what he was doing. There are so many people behind this horse and I think they just blew him up the hill. I think it’s probably unlikely he’ll go chasing (next season). He’s good, so let’s enjoy him over hurdles and he’s only seven. I’m just delighted he’s done it and he’s a young horse going forward. I have no idea if he’ll run again this season — I’m not even going to think about that. He’s banged his knee a little at the last, so we’ll get him home and see how he is and decide.

Kelly shines on Siruh Du Lac at Cheltenham

Noel Fehily announces riding retirement plan

Any Second Now wins Kim Muir for McManus & Walsh