Punchestown Sat, 29th May, 2021  Sapphire Lady That was a nice performance off a lay-off on that slow ground. She jumps well and hopefully she can build more on that. She’d have no problem going into handicaps the way she jumped there. The ground is a bit dead because it’s drying but I don’t think it’s as deep as we were expecting it to be. It’s lovely jumping ground — you’d run a winter horse on it.

Aintree Fri, 9th Apr, 2021  Livelovelaugh Incredible. Every jockey wants to win over the Grand National fences. It’s something you’d like to do before you retire. My father did it on Atha Cliath in the Foxhunters’ in 1983. I got some spin there. If I could bottle that I’d take it home. It’s great to get one on the board the day before tomorrow. I wanted to get out, get away and over the first four fences near the font rank and get a break before the bend and let him jump and enjoy himself. I hadn’t asked him to go forward. He was just enjoying himself. When I jumped the third-last I had a look behind and was surprised how far clear I was. I wanted to get a little breather into him, but not give away my advantage altogether. The horse was very brave, but he’s a real example of the Aintree factor.

Limerick Sun, 28th Mar, 2021  Chatham Street Lad He thrived on the conditions and had more time to fiddle his jumps and I never saw Darragh so happy,. He travelled over to Cheltenham fierce well but the ground had dried that little extra fraction for him and I was half-thinking of pulling the plug and not running him. I did feel he came home out of Cheltenham fierce well in himself and he loved these conditions today. I know you put your head on the plate a bit, but you can't hide. The way he jumped there, you wouldn't mind running him in a National on heavy ground but I'll leave that up to the owners. There is great prize money now, like the Caspian Cup over in Cheltenham, and great sponsorship and the money today was outstanding.