Going - Good. Showery
Jackpot Pool - €863.21 Dividend - €604.20 Winning Units - .59. Partial Carry Over of €358.02 to Navan on Thursday 28th August. Placepot Pool - €22,691.52 Dividend - €36.30 Winning Units - 437.19. Days Aggregate - €96,955.08 (7 races). Last Year €98,251.01 (8 races).
Long Gone another winner for in-form Harvey
I think these claimers are a great job and there should be one every month really, I saw Denis Hogan saying it a couple of years ago. You are kind of showing that you are maybe at the end of the road. Irish racing is very competitive, and you are showing the handicapper that you are under a bit of pressure. I'm not complaining - she probably deserves to be 110, but it is hard for her to go out and carry top-weight in a 110 handicap. For her, if she is claimed for eight grand, fair play and she would be a grand mare for the north of England. She's probably just not quite good enough for Ireland. That's why I think HRI (Horse Racing Ireland) should seriously consider putting on more claiming hurdles for trainers that are at the end of the road with horses, because sometimes it is hard to place some of them. She has won a bumper and a maiden hurdle and now this, but she is what she is - she's no superstar and she was well held in Tramore. If she comes back to us again, we will keep trying. John (Bates, owner) and his son are great supporters of ours. They always have a horse with us. They are only small owners, but they love the game, and we will see what happens.
Alex Harvey doubles up on Lamb
There should be more meetings at Bellewstown and Downpatrick! We save on diesel coming here!. He's a very frustrating sort of a horse - you can see there he has plenty of ability, but has his own mind about everything. Ger Fox does a very good job riding him at home and has him nice and switched off. He probably jumped better when they were going quicker than when they were going slower. He steadied into the last, he's okay when he is in tight. He's not one you trust implicitly but has loads of ability. You'd hope so (reach a higher level) - I wouldn't be surprised if he went to England for a little novice hurdle to teach him a little bit more and maybe scare them off a bit!. Then he is going to have to step up, but that was a good pot and when we spotted it, we said we would have a crack at it. Of course, the man on board can't do anything wrong. He has been getting other rides as well which is important, and it is going to be even more important in a couple of days when he loses the claim. The two lads (Alex and Ben Harvey) are excellent riders, it is just there is so much competition over here and that's the problem. Other guys are looking at him to use him as well, so it is great.
Knockraha Eagles sheds maiden tag at the 10th attempt
We were probably unlucky to bump into him (Mephisto in Wexford) that day. I still went home very disappointed that he didn't beat him, but in hindsight it worked out. I think the horse that was fourth (Ladies Well) won in Ballinrobe the other evening. He is an honest horse, but he is very lazy. I probably should have put it (blinkers) on before now. They just made him concentrate around this track. Obviously, he wouldn't need them up in trip.
Alabama provides more local success for the Delaneys
We were delighted with the run in Galway, just the ground got a little bit sticky on us. She can handle the soft, but the stickiness she's just a little bit (questionable). They are all giving out to me that she doesn't stay two and a-half (miles), that two and a-half is too sharp for her. On a sharp track here over two and a-half, she has done it well. We just said we would ride her a little bit handier today, because if she relaxed a little bit she would take the benefit of it. Jordan gave her a cracking ride, so it was great. We will probably go over fences with her now fairly soon.
Adela Icon readily doubles career tally
We changed tactics today. She has always been very keen, and we have always been trying to hold on to her. We just said on this track and this ground, we would let her bowl away in front. That really suited her. We will probably go to Listowel for a mares' race there. We had her entered at Cartmel on Saturday and I was hoping to go over there. Unfortunately, she is a novice in Ireland because she won after the 1st February, but in England you have to win after the 1st of March to be a novice for the summer, so she wasn't qualified.
Dontgowithjoe gets there just in time
He's (Power Roche) top-class. He's a very, very good rider and we have a very good association. Simon (Torrens) won on him the last day and gave him a super ride too. We decided to claim the penalty off him (today), so that's team. I have an unbelievably good team of people around me at the moment. We have Simon and we have Tiernan, and Dylan Robinson has joined us to help out for the winter. There will be bits for him because we have enough runners in maidens and stuff. Onwards and upwards. His jumping was terrible at the start in maidens. Same thing, good jockeys make good horses. Tiernan got him jumping really well in Cork one day. Then Simon was awesome on him in Ballinrobe. We want a bit of nice ground and there's very little racing for him between now and Listowel. Not so sure he will get his ground in Listowel, so we might look at a week after it. Might give him a break and bring him back for Leopardstown at Christmas for a novice handicap. In the meantime, he could have a few runs in Dundalk.
Lelia Byrne registers first winner at home track
It does (put the seal on two good days in Bellewstown) and we expected it. She has just progressed. Colin Motherway is a great person to buy off because there is something left in the horses. A lot of these point-to-pointers, maybe they don't go on but with Colin you are always going to get a horse that goes on. We have had a lot of luck buying off him. He was very sweet on this filly, but she was still raw. She's progressing all the time - every bit of work she has done, she has got better and better and better. She worked with some of the winners recently and worked really well. She's fit, but there is definitely going to be improvement in her. The filly is exciting, I'm delighted with that. She's only four, I might put her away and maybe go for the Listed fillies' bumper at Cheltenham in November. I think she is entitled to go. I'm not going to go hurdling with her until next year. She's big and she is going to get better, I really like her. Lelia has been in the yard a good while and to get a winner at her home track is a big thing for her. She left us for a little while and came back. Ben Harvey is her other half and that's the connection. They are local people from Ratoath direction.
