Fairyhouse Mon, 6th Apr, 2026  Soldier In Milan Class trainer, class owner. Just so lucky to be involved with these people. Obviously the stable staff in Emmet's are second to none. They are there day in, day out and, hats off to them. It hasn’t really hit home yet. I was pinching myself jumping the last with a lap to go, he was jumping and travelling and everything was going very smoothly. The biggest worry was bypassing the fourth last and hitting the front. I had warned Donagh that if everything is going right to wait as long as he can. He executed everything brilliantly, it was a brilliant ride. Leaving out a hurdle campaign was a risk, I suppose. We always hoped he had the class to overcome the inexperience. He was smart out the gate and into gear. Fingers cross we think he could be a classy individual. He was fit and well. Funnily enough, I know he went off favourite, but I told Paul ‘everything is good, he’s happy, he’s healthy, he’s fit but I’ve seen him in better order’. I was only 95 percent. I was 100 percent happy last year going for the bumper in Punchestown and that proved to be very strong form, beating King Rasko Grey. Fingers crossed we can get him back 100 percent again some other day!. A well-backed favourite winning an Irish National is something special and he was greatly received here today. It’s an honour and a privilege. It’s been the plan, there’s no hiding that fact, since the start of the season when we decided we were going over fences.

Cork Mon, 6th Apr, 2026  Oaks Soldier He has shown us that at home and was unlucky when beaten by just a nose the last day at Thurles. Carl gave him a lovely patient ride and the plan was to come late. Hopefully there is better to come although that'll probably be it for this season as he has enough done.

Cork Mon, 6th Apr, 2026  Oaks Soldier He has shown us that at home and was unlucky when beaten by just a nose the last day at Thurles. Carl gave him a lovely patient ride and the plan was to come late. Hopefully there is better to come although that'll probably be it for this season as he has enough done.

Gowran Park Sat, 7th Mar, 2026  Royal Soldier He has progressed with every run and ran nicely at Fairyhouse the last day,. With natural progression he has grown up and he is one for the future. Hopefully he will eventually go chasing and be a nice horse. We'll see how he comes out of this and see where he goes from here.

Naas Wed, 4th Mar, 2026  Rathbawn Soldier We’re delighted with her. I was worried that it was her first run in a handicap, she has been on and off the bridle in her last two races,. I didn’t know if she’d be keen or behind the bridle. I said to Alex (Harvey) to have her handy and go from there. If she was keen, there was nothing we could do about it, but I’d rather have her up there. She never missed a beat - she had a bit of a look at the last, but Alex knows her from home so he knew what to do with her. He was very good on her. She’s not a big, strong filly - she’ll probably handle a bit of nice ground, so we’ll keep her in over the summer. We’ll see what the handicapper does with her and go off that.

Punchestown Sun, 15th Feb, 2026  Soldier In Milan It was a nice performance. He’s still a bit green and babyish, I suppose he hasn’t had too much racing under his belt. It was nice to see when Paul ranged up, and Donagh sat down on his back, that there seemed to be plenty there. Hopefully it’s onwards and upwards. He’s a big brute and we said we’d crack on and go chasing for fear he got injured and you’d be losing a year over hurdles. This is his game, three miles and staying tests and soft ground. He fences very well for a relative novice. He has an entry in the Brown Advisory, and I think I’ve entered him in the two novice handicaps at Cheltenham as well so we’ve plenty of options. We’ll mull over Cheltenham strongly.

Fairyhouse Thu, 15th Jan, 2026  Soldierstown that’s my first winner, I haven’t had a whole pile of runners yet and it’s nice for my father who bred the mare and it is a good family. He’ll be keeping her to eventually breed off. I’ve had a few point-to-point winners and this mare won for me, as did her sister Rosevale. she needs to brush up her jumping, she’s just making life hard for herself as she was a bit slow early on. She’s tough and game and is a nice mare to go to war with. In fairness she’s a three-miler and we got away with it over 2m4f today in dead old ground, which takes a bit of getting. She just put her head down and kept trucking away, so it’s great. I ran her the last day at Limerick as I was trying to get a bumper win into her, but it just didn’t work out. At least she’s a winner now and if I could get a bit of black-type it would be lovely.