Clonmel Fri, 11th Jun, 2021  Romella We were waiting for a bit of nice ground with her and were lucky to get in (as first reserve). She has a low action and had done well on soft ground but just couldn't handle heavy ground. That's her job and she'll stay going as long as we can. She won handy enough.

Aintree Sat, 10th Apr, 2021  My Drogo It’s a little bit of a relief. I felt coming here it was nearly his race to lose given the prep he’d had, missing Cheltenham — it’s such an advantage here. We’d always planned to come straight here. To give away a penalty at Kelso, and that form has stood up, gave an indication of what was possible. It’s very exciting to be involved with a horse like him, he’s got it all. The plan was always to go chasing next year, despite the lure of better hurdles. Given his breeding, size and the way he jumps it’s now or never if we want to make him a top-class chaser. For a moment today I was worried we’d run him in the wrong race given how well he was going, but I always felt he’d get two and a half miles. We want to make him a staying chaser — next year he’ll start over shorter, but ultimately he’ll be a staying chaser.

Cork Sun, 4th Apr, 2021  Josies Orders I said to Phidelma I'd give her a fiver for every horse she passed so who's the fool this evening!. Phidelma comes down from Wicklow every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning and leaves at 4.30am and deserves to get her chance. Mr McManus gave the horse to me for the kids to have fun with and she wanted to ride him over the banks at Punchestown so we said we'd give him a tune-up today and fair play to her. He seemed a light of older days but Aileen Sloane Lee did a great job with him as she had him until recently and freshened him up taking him to the beach. He was on fire today and Nina Carberry was the first one on the phone because she retired from him (in 2018) so it is a great story.

Fairyhouse Sun, 4th Apr, 2021  Stand Off He’s a big horse and probably a chaser in the making. This is a bit of practice for him. He doesn’t give up too easy so I was confident going to the last that he would pull it out. Mark had said a while back on better ground there would be big improvement in this horse. He seems to manage that nicer ground.

Tipperary Wed, 24th Mar, 2021  Iron Bridge He is very green,. He was ready for point-to-pointing, he has jumped and was great but has no galloping done and this is different training. I don't know what'll happen him not but that's a lot of pressure off me thank god, because I've always loved this horse and was stone mad about him. He will have a future because he is a lovely horse to do anything with. I have eight horses for the owner (Trevor Hemmings) and I'd happily take on more horses from anybody else, pre-training or anything.

Clonmel Thu, 4th Mar, 2021  An Marcach We’ve been waiting a long time for that one and he’ll get a bit further. Rachael said he wasn’t in love with the ground and on looser ground he’d gallop away through it. He’s owned and bred by Tom Egan so he’ll be happy with that. We’ll see what the ground is like before we decide what to do next. He’s just learning the job and will be a better horse next year up in trip.

Fairyhouse Sat, 27th Feb, 2021  Rhythm Divine I'm delighted for her owners Tom and Walter (O'Connor). Tom had a tough time with losing his wife Mandy and it's their son Ben's (14th) birthday either today or yesterday. It's brilliant for them. I thought she'd need it to be honest and we weren't that sure about the ground either because she normally wants better ground. Even though we weren't expecting it, it's still great. We'll try and come back here for something at Easter.

Navan Fri, 29th Jan, 2021  Mr Hendricks He was very good. He’s been crying out for three miles and he has to go left-handed. He jumped out violently to the left at Punchestown last time and yet going left-handed he’s dead straight. Three miles around here is a fair test. He won his maiden hurdle around this time last year and hasn’t won since but he’s only growing into himself now. He’s an enormous horse, over 17 hands, jumped well and Robert is delighted with him. A long time ago I said the Midlands National (at Uttoxeter) so he could easily end up there. I have a good record in the race with novices. Miss Orchestra (1998) and Intelligent (2003) won it and Badgerlaw was second.