Going - Hurdle: yielding to soft. Chase: yielding. Fine and dry
Jackpot Pool - €5,761.56 Dividend - €225.30 Winning Units - 17.9. Placepot Pool - €28,021.75 Dividend - €7.80 Winning Units - 2508.44. Pick Six Pool - €25,000.00 Dividend - €1,458.30 Winning Units - 12. Days Aggregate - €148,515.00 Last Year €51,913.00
Clonmel is Ten Times Better
She was so well schooled coming here but you'd still be worried having never run in a schooling hurdle. Connor (Fahy, son) said she was the best leaper we've had for a long time though. You can see how tiny she is and she surprised me the way she pulled away today. I was going to run at Galway (last weekend) and then on to Down Royal (for the Grade 3 mares' hurdle) but I think we're better off where we are. Her brother Stack The Deck was some machine and when I told George (Moore, owner), he said I don't care but the mare is ten times better!
Elliott strikes Gold again with Roman
Damut swoops late to complete hat-trick
The ground might have been a bit dead for him but he (Johnny Burke) timed it well and gave him a great ride. The handicapper can't really be too hard on him today and hopefully not as hard as his last two wins. He was a bit lonely in the smaller field today and we'll look for another race at Christmas time next.
Kennedys finds Mor at the finish
Statesman leads home de Bromhead 1-2
I'm delighted with that as he was very disappointing the last day. It was a bit less competitive today and it suited him and Mark gave him a super ride. The other horse (stablemate Never Complain) making the mistake two out also helped him. I don't think he wants it a whole lot softer than that and I'll speak to Frank (Berry, J.P. McManus' racing manager) about plans.
Emcon makes successful debut over fences
I had no plan coming here other than today but I'd imagine she'll stick to the mares' novice chases now. She jumps very well and jumps fences better than hurdles. She has the scope for fences - look at the size of her!. That's a grand start for her and she loves that ground.
Manuka another sweet winner for Thornton
I had him in pre-training a few years ago before he went off to bigger yards, and when he came up for sale six weeks ago I was always going to buy him. We took a chance by coming wide and he jumped super. He is owned by David O'Rourke, a neighbour of mine, and he agreed that he was a smashing horse and it's my first winner for him. I've 12 horses in total, six of which are point-to-pointers and the rest are all running this week!
