Going - Good. Breezy and dry
Jackpot Pool - 3,653.25 Dividend - 545.40 Winning Units - 4.7. Placepot Pool - 42,386.16 Dividend - 4.40 Winning Units - 6735.86. Days Aggregate - 386,365.72 Last Year 206,548.13
Halon Bay justifies support in Leopardstown opener
It was lovely. He has improved with every run. Luke (McAteer) gave him a super ride the last day. He got wide in Bellewstown and as a result he learned plenty. He was more streetwise today. With normal improvement, we didn’t expect him to win today but we expected him to run well. He got a strong ride from Ben, and he handled the ground really well. The penny started to drop two furlongs out. He ran a lovely race; he’s a nice horse. We were hoping he’d be able to win a maiden. He has that job done now and we’ll take it from there. He’s a big horse and time will do him good. He’ll get a mile-and-a-quarter.
Cannes another winner for O'Brien and Browne McMonagle
City Of Memphis stays upwardly mobile at Leopardstown
She’s a very good filly. We haven’t raced her much and I’m hoping we’ll make up for lost time this year,. She’s in the Group Two Lanwades Stud Stakes on Guineas weekend and I think the mile will be no problem. She’s a filly that will do very well later in the year, over seven or a mile. I’ll keep her to better tracks.
James J Braddock comes out best in a thrilling Derby Trial at Leopardstown
Treble for O'Brien as Walsh makes it third time lucky
Billy Lee completes 112/1 treble aboard Truth Be Told
He’d been working well. I’d be good friends with Kris Weld and he recommended him, which is always a help. I liked him watching his last couple of runs. He wasn’t long gelded then, when Dermot had him, and you could see on his last couple of runs that he was really starting to enjoy it. Dermot obviously thought plenty of him, he was his Galway horse. I just loved the way he won going away in Thurles, that’s why we bought him. Luckily enough Ken (Campbell) was looking for a horse. I thought he’d fit the bill ideally, instead of buying a yearling I said we’d buy a fun horse. He looks like he’s going to be that anyway. They went a nice gallop and you’re able to come off the pace here today, so it suited well. All the gaps opened up, and he got a lovely run through them. He won well and hopefully he’s a bit of fun for Ken. There might be something for him on Guineas weekend. He won over a mile-and-a-half around Thurles, but that’s an easy mile-and-a-half. When he starts stepping up in class we’ll see how far he goes but he’s bred to stay. He’s closely related to Royal Diamond, who won an Irish Leger.
Coen bookends card with 48/1 double as Darius Dark takes finale
He’s a big backward fella. Ben said he was on and off the bridle and he was still green. He’s a bit of a work in progress. He stays a mile-and-a-half well and it was good to see him perform on that kind of ground as well. It was a very competitive race; there were a lot of fancied horses in it. He has come on from his last run. The last run really zoned him in and hopefully he can keep progressing through the ranks.