Crawley lands valuable pot with Sassy Diva

It was her first run in a handicap and she’d run in some small fields but luckily she had the class to get through it. Donagh is a real cool rider and rides with plenty of confidence. Like myself he went through the Tony Martin school!. I was delighted with the ground as she has a real low action, and if we can get it like that all the time (for her) it would be great. I was delighted he (the handicapper) gave her the mark before we saw Honeysuckle again. I have seven in training at the minute. The horses are running well and we had a second at Down Royal the other day. I’d love to go chasing with her and I’d say this time next year she could be going to stud. She’s done her pelvis before so we’ve had to be careful with her.

Sir Erec leads home 1-2 for O'Brien in Spring Juvenile

Dallas Des Pictons proves tough on handicap debut

I liked the way the way he jumped. From the last to the line, when the other horse came like he was going to beat him, he put his head out and galloped again. He's a nice horse and he's improved every run we've had him. He'll be entered in all the handicaps over in Cheltenham and we'll see what happens. To be fair he'd have to improve a lot off that to be better than a handicapper. He's a grand horse and will make a grand big three mile chaser but I'd say that's what he is.

La Bague Au Roi strikes only blow for raiders

She’s so tough and an absolute pleasure to train. The plan has paid off. I think it’s really important that we come over and support a meeting like this. The Irish are so strong and to come over here in their own backyard and win is great. She has put a lot into that today and I’m not sure about Cheltenham — we’ll sleep on it. I know Richard’s first thoughts were not Cheltenham. He said she’s put everything into that today and she needs a bit longer. There is huge prize-money at Aintree as well and I’ve said all along the track might suit her better. The temptation will be there but we need to do what’s best for her and if that means she needs a bit longer then so be it. To win two Grade 1’s is fantastic and I think she’s as good a mare as we’ve seen for a long while. The Gold Cup is not beyond the realms of possibility some day. She’s very much a horse that needs to be in her own rhythm and not anyone else’s whether that’s leading or not. She was getting lonely out in front but she will keep pulling it out for you and is so tough and knows where the winning line is.

Mullins lands tenth Irish Gold Cup with Bellshill

Ruby was fantastic. We didn't want a slow pace and he didn't think there was much pace in the race so he elected to make it. Then when Sean went by him Ruby was happy to sit there. What I really liked about the horse was that every time Ruby wanted a jump he took two lengths out of the one in front. He knew that he had that in hand and he was very confident and cool over the last three fences, I thought. He used the other horse as a lead. I thought he might pull out more after the last but he pulled out enough. A lot of horses didn't turn up but still the quality horses were here and they served up a fantastic race. We might have a few nice horses to go to Cheltenham with this year. He's always promised to be this good. Now he's won his Irish Gold Cup and hopefully we'll follow on, maybe, next month. He was very good at Christmas but he needed it. Road To Respect was unlucky at Christmas but we needed it.

Kennedy grabs biggest win on Breeze

I'm delighted. That's a lovely way to win your beginners!. He ran really well in Punchestown and I was delighted with him. We thought he had only 9-11 but luckily the weights went up and Paddy was able to ride him. He knows him from home. He jumps like a handicapper and I said to make use of his low weight. We knew he stayed three miles so what was the point of hanging around. I told him you have to kick him into every fence because his problem was, if you look back on his beginners chase, he was a bit cautious. I put the cheekpieces on him and said to be positive the last day when Finny Maguire rode him. He probably would have won the last day he if hadn't made a mistake at the third last and he was giving the winner well over a stone. I was pretty confident today. I knew he'd love the ground because he won his point-to-point on good ground. He was the last horse that Alan Potts bought, off Timmy Hyde, and I was lucky enough to get him. He was literally in my yard a week before Alan died. It's great that Stephanie his daughter is over here today. We had sort of thought about the four miler at Cheltenham but I definitely wouldn't be going if there was too much soft in the ground. He's a smashing horse, he's just turned six, so he could be a horse that might run in the Irish National if he gets into it and then we could look at something at Punchestown for him.

McLoughlin grabs Grade 2 prize with Rossa