Navan Sat, 16th Sep, 2023  First Dare The horses are well thank God,. I thought she should have nearly won in Ballinrobe and could have gone very close in Kilbeggan, and lost her hind legs at the back of the last in Tramore. Beautiful ride, mid-division and scraped the paint. The only moment was when she was a bit long at the second. These races are so determined by the experienced riders. She made the difference anyway. She's a little bit tricky, so I rang Maxine a week ago and I said 'if you have nothing that is jumping off the page at you, I think I'll go close'. That's how ahead of the game you have to be. Great to get her head in front. She is 15.2 and I put a syndicate into her that wanted to lease something. You wouldn't be brave enough to waste an entry fee on her going to the sales that height, she's so small. This is her game, but a little Flat race might not be beyond her somewhere along the line. We might wait until next year, we'll see.

Ballinrobe Fri, 15th Sep, 2023  Ballybawn Belter She missed the break badly in Galway and, in hindsight, at a quick track like that she probably didn't have the speed to drop down in trip. Maybe at the likes of Navan in the winter she'd be okay back in trip. I saw this race and said we'd try her over two-six. I don't think they went very quick, though, so she's probably still a two-and-a-half mare with the boot she shows. I was contemplating going over fences but Frank (Berry) twisted my arm and said we'd keep her over hurdles for the time being. I'm delighted with her. She was a skinny, narrow, very light thing last year and really has rounded up and strengthened up. Four-year-old fillies can lose their way but she's really started to go the right way physically. We'll look for another hurdle for her.

Kilbeggan Fri, 8th Sep, 2023  Tom McGreevy He's difficult, it's not easy to get his set-up right. He needs to go right-handed and needs a good pace,. I was a little bit worried about the mare today (Effernock Fizz) but we decided we'd leave each other alone, she just couldn't really go quick enough for him. I'm very pleased for the owner/breeder (Edward Holly) as it's a long old road for them. It's great he's got his head in front again today. Fences didn't work out for him last year so we're going to park that and go for another hurdle. We might look at the Flat with him as well as he seems to have plenty of boot.

Bellewstown Wed, 30th Aug, 2023  Applejack Poet Just about got the trip, he's not a strong stayer. Sharp track, flat track and good ground today has really helped him because he doesn't hit the line strongly in any of his races and we just held on today. Nice new syndicate in him and I'm delighted for them. It is hard to win these 80-95s unless you have a lot in hand, so to just hang on is great.