Thurles Sun, 22nd Jan, 2023  Ferns Lock He has the potential to be a serious horse and Barry (O'Neill) said he learned more today than the last day. He said Billaway eye-balled him early in the race and he panicked a bit and took a while to settle. Once he settled into a rhythm, he was pretty good and there is improvement to come. He is 17 hands, is a huge tank and after Fairyhouse we gave him a break but put on about 50 kilos! Then I had to try and get it off him and was panicking. He is a horse for next year and won't go away - the Tetratema (at Gowran Park) will be one of his main aims. I definitely won't send him to Cheltenham as he might be run off his head and it could scare the life out of him. What this horse has over my other three hunter chasers (Vaucelet, Winged Leader and Ultimate Optimist) is a serious kick of gear. He has the potential to be top class and we've always held him in the highest regard.

Punchestown Mon, 19th Dec, 2022  Slade Steel he won a point-to-point last year and we really liked him since he came. He does everything nice and has plenty of pace. That was a perfect starting point and John gave him a lovely ride. He’ll stay in bumpers this season and will probably have one more run, a max of two, and will make a lovely novice hurdler next season. We’ll have to talk to Robcour and see if they want to go for the Cheltenham bumper with him. There is also the bumper here at the Festival so there are lots of options. John said he was very green and ran in snatches in places. He said he’ll improve a lot from it. He’s a nice horse to look forward to. Robert Power, representing

Fairyhouse Tue, 15th Nov, 2022  Ferns Lock he’s a very nice horse; normally I would like to take him up through the point-to-point ranks to learn, but the opportunity arose and we’ll work away at this game. Ray (Nicholas, owner) wanted a really nice hunter chaser, that’s what I went looking for and he has very similar traits and quality to Winged Leader. he’s a big strong horse and does the same kind of things at home and his jumping is very good. Barry gave him a great education today and the nice thing about him is every time he’s ran he’s stepped up from it. Barry said he could have gone around again and he’s quite an exciting horse to have. He could turn up in a winners’ somewhere and maybe contest the Tetratema later in the season. I don’t want to overface him at this stage as he’s only five. That’s only his fourth run and fingers crossed we have years to work with him.