On his dominant

position in jump racing

It’s just where I am and we are. We didn’t arrive here in a parachute. It took years and years of work and wondering why we hadn’t horses like the ones we have now.

When the Vincent O’Brien Irish Gold Cup in Leopardstown was created (1987) I remember thinking would we ever have a horse good enough to run in it, never mind win it.

So we put in plenty of years where we were looking up at the guys up there. We were lucky. We got a team together, from staff to owners. We didn’t just land here from the planet Mars. It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of disappointments along the way. They say racing is 90% disappointment.

The topic of our success is coming up all the time. I was thinking about it the other night. Our staff and our owners get a lot of disappointment. Having to ring guys up and tell them their horses are out for the season when it’s their one pride and joy.

They have been looking forward to Cheltenham for years, from the time they bought the horse, and now they are out. The only good part is that they might be back next year.

But maybe some morning I’ll have to ring them and say ‘this horse is finished racing, we need to retire him’. So there’s a lot of stuff goes on that I think people who make comments like that don’t understand.

Any team in any sport takes years and years to build. So we are lucky we are in the position and we are always wondering when is it going to go down. That’s why we have to keep trying to make it better.

On why French-breds continue to dominate Grade 1 races

To me, the French breed to race. We [in Ireland] breed to sell.

The French might have the edge on breeding to race. They are racing them. Our programme is not set up to do that. We have a different way of doing it. This year the French horses have won, other years the Irish horses win.

Maybe it’s a cyclical thing but what amazes me is that the French produce a small number of National Hunt foals compared to Ireland. Their winning ratio is huge.

A lot of French races in the provinces don’t have blacktype but they can be good races. I don’t care about blacktype. To me, runners means soundness.

We are lucky enough, we buy form horses from France. I think it takes time for them to acclimatise and get used to the way things are done here, get used to the feed.

My worry is the French have cut down on their national studs. The left-wing governments there have reduced their support for the breeding sector. We used to buy horses from all round France by sires you never heard of, Denham Red, for instance.

But now it seems the French system is going to start mirroring the Irish system. They are developing big stallion stations like we have here. All the top guys are buying the best stallions and they are going to drive the smaller studs out of business.

On climate change

and ground conditions

There has to be a big concern about the ground at Cheltenham. They called it good to soft on the first day last year but the times were below standard. I think they broke five track records in Newbury last weekend.

I don’t know what the watering policy is in Cheltenham. Hopefully they’ll have soft ground the first day. That always used to be the way.

I try not to interfere with what the clerk of the course is doing but it’s worrying if the policy has changed because we don’t need any injuries, you know, if the ground is too fast. It’s a big concern, It’s been so dry lately. Hopefully the weather will break and it will make it safe but it’s something we’d be worrying about.

There’s new management there since last year [Jon Pullin was appointed clerk in August 2021], so is it going to be a different style of ground preparation? This is the second year now, so we’ve to see. We’re all learning, times change and people change. It’s a little concern at the moment but maybe the weather will take care of everything.

I think for jump racing you want a good dig in the ground. Once racing starts then it’s very hard to water.

I was chatting to Patrick the other night about the change in climate. There is a theory that weather goes in five-year cycles. We have had dry spells like this before, and then the next two or three years you think it’s never going to stop raining.

Maybe next season it will rain the whole winter. I don’t think it’s a thing that’s going to be there all the time.

On Cheltenham’s new white

markings on fences and hurdles

We’ve put in white hurdles and fences here. We changed our aprons from green to brown but I was taken aback when I saw Cheltenham had kept their green aprons. We were told everything was brown and white, or black and white. I think Cheltenham is one of the only tracks in England that kept the green aprons, so I’m going back to green and white.

It shouldn’t be a problem but I just said to our guys ‘let’s just paint some of them white and some orange’, so that the horses get used to them and don’t mind them.

The aprons are white and brown in France and we’ve never worried about them before. I wasn’t worried about them at Cheltenham but then Energumene made that mistake. You don’t want to do miss the first jump in those shorter races.

I think Energumene just made strange. They are very nervous animals by disposition. Or maybe it wasn’t that at all and he just made a mistake.

We are gearing up to have everything right for it.

I’m told in the olden days the markings were white until some university professor said orange was the way to go. Now there’s another argument that white is better.

I think you could put blue poles in, or whatever colour, and the horses will jump better for a week or two but then they get used to it.

On why Allaho

will miss Cheltenham

Allaho worked very well on Saturday. Came back, dried off, and we put him into his box. Fed him his lunch and, after lunch, we found him a little bit distressed. We thought he was getting a colic but it didn’t look like a colic - it was something else.

We took him straight down to Fethard Equine Hospital and they found a bleed in his abdomen, which is hugely unusual. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in a horse before.

He was comfortable over the weekend but still critical. On Monday morning he was moved off the critical list, his bloods had come down to normal levels. I got good word from the veterinary hospital but unfortunately he won’t make Cheltenham.

I imagine that’s him out for the season because we don’t know what caused the bleed. There’s no fracture or anything. But something caused it and that’s going to take a while to heal. Hopefully he’ll make a full recovery and maybe be back for next season.

Latest updates on Cheltenham plans

Stayers’ Hurdle

Monkfish did a bit of work on Saturday and I have to say it was the first time I’d seen him back to himself. He has made huge progress.

I didn’t give him much chance of making Cheltenham and I probably still don’t because it’s a very big ask. I’d like to get a run into him before the Festival.

I don’t know if I’ll bring him over there. If I did it would probably be more like the Stayers’ Hurdle than the Gold Cup.

We won the Stayers’ first time up with Penhill but he was training well all winter and we got lots of hard work into him. I’m not sure if I want to do that with Monkfish, but the good news is that he’s done a real good bit of work and he’s fine after it. My big aim with him is to go to Punchestown, maybe with a run before it. He might just stick over hurdles this season.

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle

Facile Vega is good. He got a few easy days after Leopardstown. I was disappointed with his run there but I’m happy how he came out of the race. He’s a good possibility for the Supreme.

Il Etait Temps will go there. If you go back to his first run last season [third in Vauban in the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle] it was very, very good. His jumping has let him down all the time and his jumping has let him down again this year. We always thought he was a Grade 1 horse after his first run last year but he hasn’t got things together. The other day Danny [Mullins] got him on an even keel and things just worked for him. He’s a live one.

Hunters Yarn will also go for the Supreme. His owners also have Dark Raven and Impaire Et Passe. Hopefully Impaire Et Passe will run here. He won the Moscow Flyer Hurdle and usually our winner of that race goes to the Supreme. But he has shown he has no problem staying further, so we’ll have to chat with Simon [Munir] and Isaac [Souede] to see if they want to split them up.

Champion Bumper

Everyone is talking about It’s For Me but Fun Fun Fun must be in the picture. I thought she was only three-parts ready and she took a blow passing the second last hurdle. Patrick just took it a bit easy and, next thing, away she went. That was a huge performance, I felt. There was so much strength in that race.

Champion Hurdle

We have to go there with confidence with State Man. I mean otherwise it’s a walkover for Constitution Hill. I think our horse can go on any ground, and obviously Constitution Hill likes it softer. I think that there’s more in State Man.

I’d imagine he will stay hurdling. When you get a good horse it’s good to keep them hurdling. It’s easier to keep them sound and the races are there. It’s much easier than having to go novice chasing.

Arkle Chase

I didn’t see Jonbon’s race last weekend but I’ve always been keen on El Fabiolo. Go back to his second run for us last season, when he was a close second to Jonbon at Aintree. I’m thinking no matter what happens he’s right up there.

Mares’ Hurdle

This could be the hottest race of the Festival. I was aiming Brandy Love at it and I thought she had a great chance but then Epatante and Honeysuckle came into the race.

Add in Marie’s Rock and Love Envoi and, wow, it’s going to be some race.

It’s extraordinary the way people slated the race. Now it looks like it’s going to be one of the best races of the meeting, one of the most open races anyway.

Mares’ Chase

Allegorie De Vassy looks to have huge talent. A clear round would make her very competitive in that. But, then again, she is just a novice.

Elimay ran a cracker the other day [fourth to Magic Daze]. I flagged before racing that she had missed a bit of time, but I needed to get a run into her. I loved the way she travelled over the fourth last and third last. That will bring her on hugely.

Gold Cup

I think Galopin De Champs will stay the extra two furlongs. We know Stattler will stay and he is coming on lovely. He has won around the track, jumps well. I don’t know what price he is but he’s probably the best value. He will give you a run for your money. He’s going to be there or thereabouts.