Barry Connell

Marine Nationale

I decided against running him at Navan this weekend due to the wet weather we’ve had. He wants good ground and I don’t want to give him a grueller on soft to heavy ground at the start of his season. It wouldn’t bother me if we had to wait five weeks and go for a beginners’ chase at Leopardstown over two miles and a furlong at Christmas. He could go there, then head on to the Dublin Racing Festival and Cheltenham. That’s probably the way we’re leaning at the moment. It’s a long season and you want to have him coming back to Punchestown this spring. Having had him on the go during the summer of last year, we finished up at Cheltenham. Hopefully this season we can finish up at Punchestown if all goes to plan.

Charles Byrnes

Blazing Khal

We’re not getting a great run with him at the moment. It’s been tough going with him. To be honest, I have no idea when he’ll be out again. It definitely won’t be this side of Christmas anyway. He’d definitely be staying hurdling on account of his problems.

Byker

We had him entered for the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham but took him out of it. We were just a bit disappointed with his run at Sligo last time. The plan is for him to run at Navan [today] in a two-mile handicap hurdle. He’s one who takes a lot to get fit.

Shoot First

He unfortunately missed Cheltenham last season and we’ve decided to give him the full season off. He could go back into training no problem but we feel the timing would be wrong; it would be February or March time before he’d be ready to run. We don’t see any point in putting him back in for that.

Ciaran Murphy

Enjoy D’allen

It was a shame that he didn’t get the rub of the green at Aintree last season. We’ve been thinking about the big staying handicap chases with him – possibly a race like the Porterstown at Fairyhouse next month – but he’s been doing a little cross-country work lately and we’ve been happy with him. It’s possible he could go to Punchestown for the banks’ race there later this month, we’ll see how he is closer to the time.

Emmet Mullins

Noble Yeats

He came back much later after a tough spring. He is back in training now and we might see him out over the Christmas period. Ultimately we will be gearing him back towards a spring campaign taking in the Gold Cup, National and the Grand Steep. We’ll see which races suit him best at the time. Stamina is his biggest asset. It’s never going to be easy for a horse with his class in a Grand National with the weight he has to carry but it would be something special to think he could go back and be competitive again.

The Shunter

It was a huge thing to go and win the Cesarewitch. We had felt for the last 12 months since his November Handicap run at Naas last year there was always going to be a nice pot with him over staying distances on the flat. The patience paid off. He’ll be mixing it now over hurdles and fences and will have plenty of options. He’s still on the go and we’ll just wait for the right race to show up for him.

Feronily

Feronily is out for a while unfortunately, at least until next year. We’ll have to wait and see but you never know, we might get to see him again before the season is out.

Corbetts Cross

He was good on his chase debut [finished third to Grangeclare West at Naas]. He was a little careful for the first two fences and then ran a little keen and blew up later in the race. Mark [Walsh] said he got set alight bypassing the two fences in the straight and he ran with the choke out after that. Hopefully that freshness has gone out of him now. It’s never an easy feat to win a beginners’ chase in Ireland but hopefully that run will leave him spot on for the next day. We’ll stick to the intermediate distances for now and see how high we can go and if we don’t reach the top of the tree, we’ll change to whatever distance we feel we can get the most out of him.

Gavin Cromwell

Encanto Bruno

I’m probably going to take a chance with him and come back in trip for a crack at the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse. I don’t think he’s short of pace. In terms of the ground, everyone keeps telling me he wants nice conditions and we’re not guaranteed to get it there but we might have a go at Fairyhouse unless it’s bottomless-heavy.

Final Orders

He’ll take his chance in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham today. There isn’t a huge field and it looks like the ground will be nice enough.

Flooring Porter

I think we’re going to give him a shot at the Florida Pearl Novice Chase next weekend at Punchestown. I know he’s been better going left-handed before and we’d be going the other way around here, but we’ve broken one mould by going chasing so we’ll try to break another one now by going right-handed. He jumped pretty straight at Cheltenham on his first start over fences last time and he’s a lot more mature nowadays. He won going right-handed as a young horse over hurdles before too, albeit at a different level, so we’ll see how it goes. He did it pretty well at Cheltenham last month, I thought. There’s always Leopardstown as a possibility for him at Christmas as well.

Letsbeclearaboutit

We’re going straight to the Drinmore Novice Chase with him at Fairyhouse next month. I thought his performance was good at Cork last time in Grade 3 company.

Vanillier

Unfortunately he had a little bit of a hold up and we haven’t made a plan for him yet, but we need to. Everything is going to revolve around Aintree for him after he ran so well in last year’s Grand National. Maybe we might get to start him back off at Christmas, we’ll see.

Jessica Harrington

Ashdale Bob

I haven’t made a definite decision on him yet but at the moment I’m looking at keeping him over hurdles this season. He summered very well. It might be Christmas before we see him out, or else there might be an option for him at Fairyhouse before then.

The Very Man

He’s on a break at the moment after his run in the Cesarewitch. He’s a dude of a horse. I think he’ll come back around February time, we’ll see.

Joseph O’Brien

Banbridge

It was great that he got his Grade 1 win at Aintree last season. We gave him entries this weekend for the Shloer Chase and Fortria Chase but have decided to wait a little longer to get him started.

Fakir D’oudairies

He made his reappearance in the John Durkan last year but we’re not exactly sure yet where he will return this season.

Home By The Lee

We were delighted to win a Grade 1 with him last season at Leopardstown over Christmas. We’re starting him back today at Navan in the Lismullen Hurdle.

Martin Brassil

An Epic Song

We’re looking at going chasing with him this season. He was due to run at Wexford before that meeting was called off and then he couldn’t run [at Fairyhouse last week due to a non-respiratory infection]. He’ll be out shortly and can start off around two miles.

Desertmore House

He had a little break after his win in the Kerry National but is back in full swing now. We’ll maybe get another couple of runs over fences into him and then possibly aim him at the Irish National in the spring.

Fastorslow

The plan is for him to run in the John Durkan at Punchestown next weekend. We’d be going there with a view to then maybe heading to Leopardstown for Christmas. It was a great end to the season at Punchestown and he did very well for his break over the summer.

Longhouse Poet

It was a shame that he unseated at the Canal Turn in last year’s Grand National. Aintree will be his target again this year.

Mouse Morris

French Dynamite

We had declared him for the Clonmel Oil Chase but I didn’t think it was the right thing to start him back for his first run of the season when the ground was so testing. He’ll go to Thurles for a listed chase over two miles and six furlongs on November 30th.

Gentlemansgame

I’d imagine he’ll be heading to Leopardstown this Christmas [for the Savills Chase]. I’ve been delighted with him since the Charlie Hall, it was nice to see him do it there.

Noel Meade

Affordale Fury

We were very happy with him at Galway when he won his beginners’ chase and he seems to have come out of that race okay. All going well, we’ll head to the Florida Pearl Novice Chase with him at Punchestown next weekend. If that were to go well and he stays all right, he’ll go for the Grade 1 novice chase over three miles [at Leopardstown] over Christmas. We were almost forgetting how young he was last season when he was going from bumpers to hurdles as a four-year-old. He’s five going on six now and we’ll be a bit more steady with him this time around.

Jesse Evans

His connections have had a brilliant time with him through the year and he’s on his holidays now. You won’t see him again now until the spring, I haven’t decided where he’ll come back but he does like good ground.

Thedevilscoachman

He runs tomorrow in the Troytown at Navan. He would be pretty close to the top of the weights in a Paddy Power Chase and he might be more of a soft ground horse, a Thyestes horse maybe. We’ll start off this weekend and see how he gets on anyway.

Paddy Griffin

Joke Dancer

He could be a fun horse for people to stick in their tracker. We got him from Sue Smith’s yard and he previously looked like quite a smart horse. He was once rated 141 and is now down to a British mark of 103. Hopefully a change of scene might revitalise him and that he can pick up a race or two.

Roi Mage

We came into this season with two aims; a listed cross country chase at Compiegne and the Grand National. It was brilliant to tick one of those off the list last week in France and he’ll be working back from Aintree now.

He won’t go to Cheltenham this year but I hope he might be able to win again at Down Royal like he did before. I’d be really delighted if we could get him back to Aintree in top form with a clear run.

Sam Curling

Angels Dawn

We were happy with her first run back of the season over hurdles at Clonmel because she would have needed the run badly.

I think there’s plenty to work on and she could run again over hurdles in early December before heading on for the Thyestes at Gowran in the new year.

Sean Doyle

Monbeg Park

We entered him for a beginners’ chase at Navan this weekend but we’ve decided to wait a little longer to start him off, potentially at Leopardstown over Christmas.

We learned a few things about him last season, firstly that he probably likes nice ground and that he seems to be effective when getting a strong pace over two miles. We’re aiming big for the spring with him.

Coming out of Punchestown last season, you’d have to have been very excited about the future with him. He’s schooling well, we’re happy with his jumping. Hopefully fences should bring out the best in him.

Shark Hanlon

Hewick

He’s in great form. He’s back in a couple of weeks and we’ll probably run him at Christmas if he’s ready. That was the first real break he got for two years. Last year we kind of went to every cock fight in the country and picked up prize money but this year we’re going to train him for the Gold Cup.

Maybe we’re wrong, but we’re going to give him a shot at it. I think he deserves another chance after his run in the race last year; he was running well and coming down the hill you wouldn’t have liked to be on anything else.

He came off the bridle before he came down but he tends to come off the bridle in all of his races and finds to come back on it. Jordan [Gainford] felt he wasn’t finished with at all that day.

We’ll send him wherever the ground is best for him. If we’ve got good ground in Ireland, he’ll stay here and if there’s good ground in England, he’s got an entry for the King George at Kempton. We could go there if the ground was soft in Ireland.