Earth swoops to Strike on debut

Vega victorious on first official start

He ran in a barrier trial and ran well in that. That stood to him today,. He probably wants a bit better ground but he got through that today and he's a winner of a maiden so it's great. He's a big baby still and he might come back here at the end of the year for the Eyrefield Stakes.

Roca Roma shows her class in Foxrock

It's good to get her back. We freshened her up since her last two quick runs. It was a tough ask in the Pretty Polly and we ran her back a bit soon in Killarney thinking we'd give her a confidence booster. She ran a bit flat there. She's fresh now. She's gone through that ground due to her class and Colin also went on the fresh ground. She took herself into the race lovely. We knew she wanted a cut in it but no horse wants that heavy ground. That's as bad as I've seen in Leopardstown for many a year, although it's no fault of anyone. We're delighted to give her a confidence booster there. We'll take her home and freshen her up now. Hopefully we might find black-type for her on Champions weekend, we'll have to look at the program. It's all about black-type now. She was a Guineas filly in our eyes and she's still a group horse for us.

Brabazon has big plans for Hayyel

She's a lovely filly and the only bad run she has ever run was in Killarney. I would have fancied her a lot today but we couldn't put our finger on that performance. We were really just hoping she would go back to her old form. That puts her on the brink of good handicaps now. Seamie was saying he should have only won by two lengths but I said 'no it's the one time I want weight to get into a good race'. That'll probably be the plan but it depends on the handicapper. She has run over a distance so she really would have stayed the mile and a lot more, that would have helped today. She's by Dark Angel out of a Galileo mare so she's entitled to be nice. If we had a normal year God knows where we'd be at this stage but that's only her third race. Seamie said getting her settled is the secret and not doing too much. She can get a bit excited and when you are saddling her you are always just trying to keep a lid on it. You want her a little bit lively but not to lose it and she just got it all right today. We might have a crack at the good ten furlong handicap at the Curragh on Champions Weekend. Maybe it's dreaming, and maybe she might not even get into the race, but it's a possibility and she had to win like that for it to be a possibility.

Finans Bay off the mark for Halford

I suppose he had the form and the rating to win it but in those extreme conditions you are never that happy. He coped with it,. Ronan said the race fell apart a bit and he was there plenty soon enough, but he's a decent horse and he's improving, getting better with every run. It's nice to get the maiden out of the way as the year was kicking on. While it wasn't ideal, we thought it was an opportunity for him and we'll step him up in grade now. He stepped up from a mile there and I'm sure he'd go another furlong as well, if he needed to, especially on ground that he would like. We'll see what the handicapper thinks of that. He's a progressive horse, I like him as he has a great mind and I think he'll only get better.

Estepona Sun gives Lyons and Keane their brace

We don't have enough claimers in this country and HRI haven't been putting them on this year. The excuses they are giving us aren't right, they are saying that owners can't come and look at horses. I've had several phone calls from English trainers today asking us about the horses and taking our advice. We were represented in every claimer last year and they've been claimed. It stops us having to go to the sales, bringing staff to the sales in England who would then need to quarantine for two weeks. We have to have claimers. If there was a claimer a week it takes horses out of the sales. In every claimer last year our horses were gone and I wouldn't be surprised if two of the three, if not all three, were claimed. We are an honest yard. We price them right, accounting for the prize money, and we take the cost out of having to travel. All these horses are in the sales next week at Newmarket. It's vital that HRI support Irish trainers and have claimers at least once a month, if not once a week. Everyone who has one in a claimer gets a run whereas in the 0-65s they get balloted out. You can have different levels of claimers. The excuses HRI are giving are not acceptable. I've got five calls from England today and they are good enough to take my word. We want claimers to continue and aren't going to put them wrong. Jim Gough has claimed plenty of ours. There was a race the other day with four horses in it that had been claimed from us. Vormir won the other day and I was delighted

Lightning Amber toughs it out for Weld