Michael Winters
Chatham Street Lad
9yo br g (1123/5-15113)
Beneficial - Hearts Delight
Vivian Healy
He just ran a bit below par the last day at Fairyhouse and we’ll give him a chance now and give him an easy time for a couple of weeks. It looks like he will go straight to Cheltenham and we’ll give him a bit of time now to let the body soften down a bit. He’ll do a bit of road work and he’ll just have a nice ease down for himself.
He is still a novice and the lads who own him will decide what race he’ll go for, but he has options over there.
At Fairyhouse, he never got into a rhythm and he had a lot packed into the few weeks before Christmas and he definitely peaked when he won at Cheltenham. Then you have the travelling over and back and he looked a small bit tired after the last day which isn’t usually him. He jumped a bit to his left too, so we’ll get a physio in to look at him and give him a chance.
His best runs appeared to be when he was put to sleep, and he’ll get a good pace to aim at over there again. He has done us proud he will go out into the paddock for a couple of weeks now and freshen him up. The plan is Cheltenham and we’ll let the lads decide as what race he’ll go for over there.
Sayce Gold
8yo b m (4/P13-1117)
Gold Well - Sayce
Trevor Hemmings
She has been out for a few weeks and she is just about ready to start back and she will be entered for the Mares’ Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham. She needs it good and soft and this time next year, she will be jumping fences.
Whatever she has done over hurdles has been a bonus really and she has blacktype as well, so we’ll see, and I’d say it’s nearly certain that she’ll go straight there. She has done very well for us and she has surprised us too in a nice way.
She is a fine big mare, and we’ll do right be her now and we eased off her after her last run. She can go swimming and go to the beach and she does run well fresh so that would like the plan for her.
Sayce Gold will be entered for the Mares Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham \ Healy Racing
Shark Hanlon
Skyace
6yo b m (3-11206F11)
Westerner - Graigace
Birdinthehand Syndicate
We gave her a break after her last run at Punchestown and she came back in around 40kgs heavier, so she had a great break and now we are training her for the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.
She won’t run beforehand – she runs well fresh. I’d be afraid that if she did run at Leopardstown that she could have a very hard race.
The lads who own her are based in Dubai and they have really enjoyed the journey so far and they are a great bunch of lads. Fair play to them and between them and their friends, they have gone in again and bought more horses, so I’ll have more to run for the summer which is great.
We needed a boost like that especially now with the point-to-points closed down for the short term, so it’s great to have new blood coming into the yard.
I remember saying to Jody McGarvey when I was legging him up the last day at Punchestown, that I thought that she had improved a stone and she bolted in that day. That form is good enough for her to take her chance. It will be a different ball game over in Cheltenham, but there will be no pressure over there, and sure isn’t great to have one good enough to go over.
She has just improved in every way and we are all living the dream and I can’t thanks the lads over in Dubai enough, they have supported me big time.
Racing is huge over there and they’ve spread the word about having a Cheltenham runner so they will be all tuning in over there.
Dime A Dozen
7yo b m (21-2132313)
Jeremy - Jennys Gem
Great White Shark Syndicate
She was placed in the Red Mills Final for us and she rarely runs a bad race. She has won a bumper, a hurdle and a chase and has won four in all. I have no doubt that she will make up into a smashing mare for the spring where she will mix it over hurdles and fences.
I’d love to get some blacktype for her, and we gave her a good break over the winter as she’d hate this real bad ground. We’ll look for a nice hurdle race for her in the spring.
Teescomponentyess
5yo b g (86-1)
Shirocco - Northern Native
W G Hanly
I gave £4,000 for him last year and he ran two poor races in England before I bought him, but he was a big backward horse and he just needed time. He was here a couple of months and was showing me plenty and I wasn’t surprised that he won first time out for us at Tramore.
He has improved a lot for that and he’s a horse with a nice future. It’s ambitious but we’ll aim for the graded bumper at Leopardstown at the Dublin Racing Festival and if he finished in the first three there, we’ll head over to Cheltenham for the bumper.
He is a gorgeous big horse and I bought him because I loved him when I saw him, and he has turned inside out since he arrived.
Ronan McNally
Dreal Deal
6yo b g (00880-1111)
Arvico - Fleur Rose
Ronan McNally
He’ll go to Cheltenham for the Supreme with the Ballymore, his second choice. I’ll see how he is and if I think he’ll need to run again before Cheltenham we’ll look for something next month but I think he’ll improve massively for winning on Sunday.
I’d say at the minute he’ll go straight there and he is a horse who runs well fresh.
He did surprise me on Sunday as a lot of my horses just weren’t right and he had a quiet week the 19th of December. A few of them hadn’t scoped right and then we had the frost which held us up in the New Year. It was just small niggly things which you don’t need on the run up to a Grade 2.
He has won six races now without getting a smack. He handles any ground – most real good horses go on anything and he got 4lbs for winning on Sunday. He is rated a few pounds behind Appreciate It and he is probably the best novice in the country at the moment.
After Sunday, I’d say handicaps are probably out for him and we’ll just have to see if he is a Grade 1 horse now.
Dreal Deal - Grade 1 races now on his agenda \ Healy Racing
The Jam Man
8yo br g (1111429-P16)
Papal Bull - Kathy Jet
Ronan McNally
He’ll go for the big three-mile handicap hurdle, a race that he was second in last year at the Dublin Racing Festival. He had a quiet week like the rest of them but he has been going well and hopefully he can go a place better this year.
We didn’t make an entry in the Stayers’ Hurdle this year as he didn’t make it to Ascot, so we’ve gone this route instead and we’ll see how Leopardstown goes and then we’ll make a plan for the spring. The Irish National is there for him and maybe his style of running might suit a race like that.
They went hard early on and Paul took his time when he won the Troytown at Navan and taking your time around Fairyhouse might suit.
He is getting into the better races now – he isn’t a novice but he has won a fortune of money and anything he does from now on is a bonus. He’ll go to Leopardstown and the flat is an option for both him and the Dreal Deal.
Denis Hogan
Moyhenna
9yo b m (P4-9240P2 )
Westerner - Moskova
Robert Hennelly
She has run great races for us this season without getting her head in front. She has the option of going for the Thyestes but I’d say we’ll skip that and go for the Grand National Trial at Punchestown.
She ran a super race in the Kerry National at Listowel and was fourth after that in the Munster National. She ran a cracker again when second in the graded mares’ chase at Fairyhouse and I think the Punchestown race might suit her better and after that, we’ll look at the mares’ chase at Cheltenham for her.
She will, I’d say, have entries in both the Irish and English Nationals. She is rated 145, and she is just a smashing mare to have about the place. She loves soft ground but that may be gone come the spring. The National Trial is worth a lot of money, so she’ll go there.
Moyhenna will have entries in both the Irish and English Nationals\ Healy Racing
Funky Dady
6yo ch g (31F-85142169)
Maresca Sorrento - Non Dadi
Final Reminder Syndicate
He won the Red Mills Final at Punchestown and that was a great pot to win and I just feel that he hasn’t been getting home over three miles so he’ll go to Navan at the weekend over two and a half miles.
I’d love to get him to Cheltenham for something over there, either the Coral Cup or maybe the Martin Pipe. Obviously, his owners will not be able to go over this year, but they would love to have a runner over there and they have all knocked great sport out of winning last year at Punchestown and they are great enthusiasts, for them to have a runner over there would be great and that is the way we are thinking at the minute.