Next stop Ascot as Charles Darwin wins Antarctic Race

Independent Expert makes breakthrough for Thorne

The last day over seven she got a little outpaced and she stayed on well. I think nowadays the stiff mile suits her well,. She was a good winner of a Killarney handicap last year on good to firm ground so we knew that she’d handle the ground even though she’s versatile, as she handles juice in the ground as well. She’s very tough, honest and genuine. Andy Slattery was moving her on last year and recommended her to us. It couldn’t have worked out any better, on a nice day like this to win a nice pot. The colours are very important, she sports the colours of my assistant Stephen Mooney’s grandparents. My first winner carried those colours so it’s nice for Stephen and his family to have a nice winner on a day like this. We look for something similar. She might run well in a nice fillies handicap on one of the big weekends, because she has good Curragh form. We’ll see what’s there on Oaks or Derby weekend. She’ll be a nice filly for Galway as well.

Copacabana Sands sheds maiden tag in Listed race

Beckman foils huge plunge on River at Naas

It was a nice surprise, I was disappointed with the previous one getting his pocket picked. They are very similar horses,. We’re in the high 90s. I was hoping Smack was a bit better than that, this horses is a Listed/Premier Handicap type of horse. I thought that was a nice effort, I loved how he quickened away when he got the gap. I don’t think I’d come back to seven with him. You have the option of the Ballycorus with him. Maurice would like to get a bit more black-type for the sire because that’s his pet project. He’s a fun horse to have, honest as the day is long, so we’ll enjoy him.

Lightning strikes late under Ryan to down maiden rivals

Lady Iman lands Blackbeard Stakes to remain unbeaten

She came to me with a reputation and she’s done everything easy,. Colin said she gets to the front and she idles, which is lovely. I asked the question where to now and Colin said ‘wherever you want’. We’ll sit down with Tony and Roger (O’Callaghan), it’s all about the sire and doing the right thing by the filly going forward. You don’t rule anything in or out. There are plenty of nice races here. People have to put guns to my head to get over there (Ascot). I’ll do whatever I’m asked to do by the owners but at this moment in time we’ll sit back. She had Queen Mary written all over her but it’s not the be all and end all.

Babouche back to her best in Lacken Stakes

That’s the first time I’ve seen that this year from her,. I’m delighted with the team’s performance. We sucked it up and we went to Cork, it wasn’t the obvious right thing to do but it was the right thing to do for what I was seeing at home. We parked the reputation and the ego and we said ‘right go down there, you’re going to get beat because it’s a furlong too short for you. We’ve spent the whole spring trying to settle you down and doing it right’. Now she’s back. Now we can go to the Commonwealth and if we get beat we get beat but at least we know we are locked and loaded. It’s been a good day. She’s a Group 1 winner but she hasn’t been doing that. I was delighted with what I’ve seen because it was a work in progress but I needed to see that otherwise we weren’t going anywhere — we’ve won our Group 1 so there’s no point in carrying on. Now we can off to the Commonwealth, it doesn’t mean we’ll win it but we’re going there with a huge chance. When I seen him (Whistlejacket) in Navan and I seen her at home I wasn’t beating him so then I said ‘lads we have to do something’. If I rock up in the Lacken without Cork we wouldn’t have done that. It’s brilliant, it’s worked. Sometimes we get it right!

Bucanero Fuerte lands Listed prize on seasonal reappearance

It was great for us to see him coming back but I suppose from a breeding point of view it was disappointing,. He’s really showed up today, we were on a fact finding mission today to see whether he was going to train on and sure he was brilliant. He’s only back six or eight weeks with us and you’d never think he was away at stud. He’s so cool and calm, we even said to David going out ‘just wake him up a little bit’ because he’s so relaxed. He finished out the race well, he galloped right to the line. They kind of caught him up a little bit a furlong out and then he kicked on again. He put plenty of daylight between them. Today was just to see how things would go. There is a race in Cork in three weeks time and he’ll be entered for the Nunthorpe. He’s in not in Ascot. We’ll see after a couple of days how he comes out of the race and then make a plan from there.