Going - Soft. Overcast
Jackpot Pool - 1,137.19 Dividend - 796.00 Winning Units - .56. Partial Carry Over of 500.38 to Punchestown on Sunday 16th February. Placepot Pool - 24,448.41 Dividend - 68.00 Winning Units - 251.54. Days Aggregate - 137,629.09 Last Year 201,203.82
Blue Lemons may head to Cheltenham after successful hurdle debut
Being by Blue Point you would wonder if he would get home but I was impressed with the stamina he showed. For a horse off the Flat he was lovely and settled and jumped well. I thought he’d be way more buzzy but he settled well and did it all nicely and may take his chance in the Triumph.
Kitzbuhel could be Aintree bound after Grade 3 Gowran victory
It was a nice performance. I loved the way he jumped, he’ll have no trouble going over fences. I love the way he stayed on. It looked like the race was over after he had taken on Sir Gerhard and then he had to find again to take on Break My Soul. It’s the sign of a real good horse that he’s able to pick up a second time, which he did. I’m probably looking at Liverpool more so than Cheltenham with him, with the timing of the race. The two-and-a-half mile at Liverpool in the Aintree Hurdle would be a big possibility. That’s what I’m looking at at the moment. I think he’d love to step up in trip. I’d have no problem going three miles but two-and-a-half miles in Aintree might be more his thing at this point in his career. We’ll see what he does in his next two runs but the way he jumped there he looks like he has real potential as a novice chaser.
Progressive Bridie's Beau defies a stone rise
That’s great. He’s taken a step forward. He travelled brilliantly and jumped brilliantly and he was gutsy too. He met the second last on the wrong stride and lost a bit of momentum, but he was good and brave. He has surprised us, I thought for a long time he was going to struggle to ever win a race but here we are and he’s after going up a stone. He has enough size and scope to keep improving. He is six and we thought when we got him first, as a five-year-old, that he was well tried from Paul Nicholls but in fairness to him he’s after coming forward.
Classic Getaway upsets stablemate in Red Mills Chase
It was a good performance, he has been improving all season. Danny was very keen to stress that the three fences in the straight made a big difference to him because his jumping brought him into the race without any effort and then he had that final kick to go and win the race. It was nice for Cheveley Park to have a Red Mills winner.
Harry Des Ongrais appreciates step up in trip
That was a nice one, I’m delighted with that. We hoped he’d run well and Rachael was brilliant on him. It’s great to get it for Kenny (Haughey, owner). He ran well on his first run when two miles was probably a bit sharp for him. The step up in trip suited him, he saw it out well and picked up well. We’ll look for a novice race now, today was on our mind so we had a good go here and it’s great to get it.
Midweek finds his Voice at the weekend
It’s great to win here today on a local day. He won the last day and he was well in at the weights today so we said we’d give him a go. Cian was patient on him. He jumped his way into it and came home well. He’s definitely improving, before he wasn’t finding much off the bridle but he seems to be staying at it a bit more now. His jumping is really getting slicker. Hopefully there is another good handicap in him, I’ll have to talk to Eddie (Walsh, owner). He still has a good mark over hurdles, but that’s why he couldn’t win over hurdles — his jumping is his forte. He said he was in his hands early but when he got in behind a few he switched off a bit. I think he would stay a bit further too.
Debutante Aqua Force takes the bumper by 28 lengths
I’ve been looking after things for a couple of years. I’ve only six in at the moment and I’ve a job in the morning. She was very impressive. I always thought a fair bit of her at home but that’s above and beyond what I thought to be honest. The phone is hopping in my pocket at the moment!. She’s a mare with a pedigree, it goes back to Back In Front — the good horse of Edward O’Grady’s. I’d say someone might own her next time. She must be worth a fair few quid after that. It was a savage performance first time out in a bumper. She’s always been relentless and doesn’t know when she has enough done. She has a hunter cert. I was going to point-to-point her, and then I thought maybe she’s a bit better than a point-to-pointer.