P J Rothwell

Sun, 22nd Feb, 2026  Give Him A Chance They are amazing owners and they sort of give me free rein,. I thought the handicapper had caught up on him and didn’t think he’d progress unless we’d be better back at two miles on heavy ground. That was my last roll of the dice. I said to the lads after Christmas I’d freshen him up and wait for two miles on heavy ground. I was planning on riding him reasonably positive but then Tiernan came out and said there was loads of pace in the race. He gave him an unbelievably good ride today, he’s class and it’s great to have a stable jockey that’s able to ride like that. He was flat out on good ground, he wasn’t a summer horse. I always felt that he’d improve on softer ground. The horses are going well and it’s a credit to the staff at home, they are an amazing bunch of people. Anthony Elliott has looked after this lad for the last few weeks. I sent him to ride him up around the farm and forestry to do different things with him. It’s definitely been a big help.

Naas Sat, 7th Feb, 2026  Hesgonethatway He’s a big raw horse, a big weak horse. At one stage last year I was nearly thinking of pulling the plug on him and then we gave him the summer off. They are a great bunch of lads (Night Owls Syndicate) to train for. They were hugely patient with him and he’s just improved as the winter has gone on. He’s a weak five-year-old and hopefully he’ll keep improving away. I thought he’d run well today but I thought there would be an older, stronger, horse that would handle the ground a little bit better and that we might be placed. To be fair to Brian, he gave him a very good ride. I told him to take his time and go wide. I’m delighted for Brian as well. He rang me a few weeks ago to see if there would be a position in the yard for him. He’s just coming to me a day a week. I told him maybe next October we might use him a little bit more or have him in the yard a little bit more. At the moment we have a very happy settled camp, so the only position was for somebody to ride in a 7lb claimers race. That was his first ride for me so hopefully he’ll be happy.