Dark Viper
4yo gb g (2262220-21)
Dark Angel - Grande Bleue
After finishing second eight times, I was wondering if he’d ever win but it was fantastic that he did for the first time at Leopardstown last month. He’s been a great servant who stays seven furlongs and a mile no problem.
Instant Appeal
4yo b g (231-0)
Advertise - Moment Of Time
He had two very good runs in juvenile maidens in 2023, including when third to City Of Troy at the Curragh, before winning at Gowran that autumn. He missed last year so is a four-year-old now. It was his first start in 581 days [when 10th] at Leopardstown on Wednesday.
Jetara
7yo b m (33-21153143)
Walk In The Park - Jelan
She’s been running very well over hurdles and might go back to the flat in the autumn after a summer break. She’ll go to the Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown next after her third at Aintree last week. The plan is for Nico [de Boinville] to ride her; he seems to get a great tune out of her. She does what it says on the tin - try.
Kings Time
5yo ch g (3/2410/107-)
Exceed And Excel - Mrs King
He won a premier handicap at Cork on his first start last season and then had a few problems. We’ve fixed a few things with him so hopefully he’ll be back to himself.
Norwalk Havoc
4yo ch g (6/11264291-)
Showcasing - Light Of Joy
It was great to see him win the Listed Knockaire Stakes last season at Leopardstown. He’s mostly been running over a mile but I think he’ll get a mile and a quarter this year - that would open up a few more options for us. He does need an ease in the ground, though. He’s grown up a lot.
Saturn
5yo gr h (331/1318-1)
Galileo - Alpha Centauri
Unfortunately, he had to have colic surgery last August but he’s shown no ill-effects of the surgery so far and we were thrilled to see him win on his first start back at Navan on Tuesday. I’d imagine he will end up in one of the staying races at Royal Ascot. I hope we have a very exciting season with him.
Spring Dance
4yo b f (3)
Dubawi - Anamba
She finished third on her debut at Gowran last week and I thought she looked good. When you think that she’s a four-year-old who had a few problems before we got her, it’d be great to win a maiden with her. She might turn out to be better than just that, though. She was very green when push came to shove and didn’t really know what to do, but part of that could have been the fact she was making her first start as a four-year-old and hadn’t been in training throughout her career.
Barnavara
3yo b f (144333-7)
Calyx - Alfea
She probably ran as good as she is the other day at Leopardstown [when seventh in the Group 3 Priory Belle Stakes] but I think she’ll improve from it. All of ours are taking a bit of a run at the moment. She definitely needs to step up to a mile. I’d view her as a great, big, galloping filly.
Collecting Coin
3yo b c (unraced)
Lope De Vega - Mighty Spirit
A horse we bought from the John Dance dispersal [for 52,000gns last May]. He wasn’t really in training for all of last year; he was weak. I think he’s very nice. He’ll probably take a run as he’s very green.
Edge Of Seventeen
3yo b f (30-)
Circus Maximus - Freedonia
She won a barrier trial before a good run when third on her debut at Naas in a seven-furlong maiden. She then ran badly at the Curragh on her only other start [last October] but came back with an injury. She’s all right again now and has ability so I’m hoping for the best with her. She’s a half-sister to our Prix Marcel Boussac winner Albigna.
Green Impact
3yo b c (211-)
Wootton Bassett - Emerald Green
He’s a homebred for Marc Chan - the first foal out of the first mare he’s bred from. He calls this horse his first born! We’ve got through the winter with him and Hotazhell, who are both still in the English, Irish and French Guineas. We’re still waiting to see, but the vague plan is - ground permitting - Green Impact will go to Newmarket and Hotazhell will go to the French Guineas. If those plans don’t work or get changed, they both have the option of the Guineas at the Curragh and Green Impact is also in the Dante at York. That’s sort of what we’re thinking at the moment but it could change; they’ve still got to get there and the ground has to be right on the day. They both go on good ground. I think they’d go on anything other than extremes of too heavy or too firm. It was nice to see the form get a boost for both colts with Delacroix, who they both beat last season, winning the Ballysax the other day. I think Green Impact is looking like a Guineas type at the moment; he’s shown he can quicken off a strong pace and can take the hustle and bustle well as a big, strong horse. I think he has enough pace to win a Guineas. He showed plenty to get to the front at Leopardstown and stay there. He’s very uncomplicated and well balanced. He should take the proceedings very well. Whatever happens, Green Impact and Hotazhell will be going to the classics without a run. It’s a long season and not everything is set out for them in the spring - there are plenty of good races that roll right up to November. Both have been away to the Curragh already and we’ll watch the ground with where they could go again for an away day. It’s possible Green Impact could end up being a Derby horse after the Guineas.
Jr Mahon
3yo b c (8)
Wootton Bassett - Rythmique
He didn’t run last year after coming to us from the breeze-ups [bought for €38,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze Up Sale]. He just felt very weak but has done very well over the winter. His work had been nice before making his first start in a maiden at Leopardstown.
Lady O
3yo b f (13416-9)
Australia - Roseraie
A nice filly who got no luck in running at Leopardstown [when ninth on her comeback in a competitive 10-furlong handicap]. She’ll be out again soon but probably needs a bit of ease in the ground.
Marazion
3yo b f (65-)
Sea The Stars - Liber Nauticus
This filly is a half-sister to Trevaunance [Group 2 winner for the yard] and looks nice. We probably ran her a couple of times last year because she was showing natural ability - then she started growing and just got a bit weak. She had been showing us a lot.
Metamorphic
3yo b f (unraced)
Frankel - Mississippi Delta
An unraced, homebred filly for the Niarchos family. She’s starting to come and I’d imagine she’ll start off in a mile-and-a-quarter maiden. She stays well.
Mittens
3yo b f (unraced)
Night Of Thunder - Roystonia
This is a nice maiden. She was due to make her debut at Cork last Sunday over seven furlongs but the ground was too quick for her.
Nancy J
3yo b f (155-)
Ten Sovereigns - Anne Of Kiev
She won first time out for us at Gowran before finishing fifth in the Ingabelle Stakes and filling the same spot in the Goffs 500 - she got no run that day, really, and came home strongly. We entered her for the Guineas Trial at Leopardstown the other day but she wasn’t quite there yet. She’s really come a long way in a short space of time, though. I think she’s going to be a seven-furlong/mile type.
Night Magic
3yo b f (68-)
Too Darn Hot - Midnight Sunshine
A filly who has done very well over the winter. She was beaten in her two runs last year at Leopardstown and the Curragh but I’m hoping she’ll go on to win her maiden this season.
Some Performance
3yo b c (44-3)
Oscar Performance - Princely Sum
He had two good runs last October as a two-year-old. He was only beaten a neck, a neck and a head in fourth at the Curragh [behind Dewhurst runner-up Expanded]. By the time we ran him later that month at Dundalk, he had gone a bit weak. He’s done very well into his three-year-old season and finished third on his first start after a break in a maiden at Leopardstown on Wednesday.
Va Va Vroom
3yo br f (2155-)
Bated Breath - Grace Note
She won her maiden well at Leopardstown in July before we sent her to Deauville for a Group 2. She probably disappointed a bit on the face of it but they had a lot of rain the night before and it just turned soft. This is a filly who likes to hear her hooves rattle off the ground. We ran her back in a listed race at Dundalk on her final start in October but she got no run and finished off well. She’s starting to come the right way in her work. A bit of warmth will help her stay coming. I think in another week, the horses’ coats will start to come.
Her two-year-old team and the sales
We have about 60 two-year-olds; probably the most we’ve ever had. It’s great and I suppose if we were ever going to get an increase of two-year-olds, it had to be after last year when we had some nice winners. We’ve got more colts than we usually would have too.
We don’t appear to have many early ones. We ran a nice filly at Cork last Sunday called Portmagee Girl, but the ground was too quick for her [finishing eighth]. She’d probably be the smallest one we’d have, but she looked big when she got into the ring alongside the others! We’ll run a few this weekend but we’ve got plenty of big, mile or middle-distance type of horses. That’s mostly down to the horses that I’ve been sent, I think.
It all depends on what you can buy in your price range too. We thought the yearling sales were tough last year; there were a lot of horses making crazy money and we had to be disciplined, do what we could afford. The breeze-ups are coming up and they were lucky for us last year [with Hotazhell bought for 200,000gns at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale]. I think we’ve got some nice ones there. The Silverton Partnership have another very nice Too Darn Hot colt [out of Solar Echo], who was bought in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale last year [for 200,000gns]. There are some lovely horses by Starspangledbanner, Wootton Bassett, New Bay and so on – all the so-called right sires! Then there’ll be a few by less high-profile stallions who come forward too.
Her previous with the 2000 Guineas
We kind of ran into one the day we sent Pathfork over to Newmarket in 2011... Frankel took off like a scalded cat! If we knew he was going to do that, we’d have probably ridden our horse with a bit more restraint but you felt he’d have to stop. He didn’t. He was going five-furlong speed for a mile. It was an amazing Guineas. I’ve gone very close with Lucky Vega in the race since – he was only beaten a short-head and a neck in third behind Poetic Flare in 2021 – and it’s a race I’d love to win. You’d love to win any British classic. This year’s Guineas at Newmarket looks wide open. It’s great for the yard to have these horses, everyone is excited about it, but we’ve got to temper our enthusiasm and hope all goes to plan between now and then.
Prize money levels in Irish racing
We all want prize money to stay going up, but I can’t quite see why the amount invested into it has been cut back. I thought the ambition was to increase the prize money in Ireland? That’s very important. It’s much easier to explain to the owner that you might pay for a horse [to be in training] for the year with a couple of wins. That has to be the target. What they’re doing, I think it’s wrong.
Leopardstown has been very bad with its prize money. At least this year, they’ve put it up a bit. The maiden I won at Cork on Sunday, it was only worth €9,000 to the winner. That’s not good enough, especially for an EBF maiden. They should all be €20,000. It is what it is, but I’d like to see more of an explanation why. It should go up. Our costs have gone up, which are then passed on to the owners. Otherwise, the bottom line doesn’t add up.
At this time of year, the maidens are like group races. I know there is another side to this where you can sell horses out of Irish maidens, but we don’t want to have to sell all our good horses. I sold plenty to Australia last year. It’s a double-edged sword. We shouldn’t have to sell our horses because the prize money should be good enough to keep them here. The crux of it is prize money, because that’s what the owner gets, what they see in their account. There are plenty of deductions and administrative fees too.