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We finished last week on a high and for a small outfit like ours it’ll be hard to repeat. We have 2 tomorrow and being honest it’ll be disappointing if either are beaten. Bullish? Not really. Simply a case of both have won their recent starts and while the handicapper will have his say I just hope it’s not tomorrow. He catches up with them all but for some reason when they’re ahead you think they’ll stay there. Oneoveryou made her life a whole lot tougher by bolting up the last day and she’s in against a different set of faces as a result. She’s an adorable filly, worth a look if you’re racing, small, compact, flashy colouring and a brilliant outlook. She’ll go her usual gallop. She may have to revisit her tactics after tomorrow evening as trying to dominate this crew may be a different kettle of fish. Bianca Minola is next. Her race is less tough and if the filly from Roscommon turned up I’d be hopeful. I thought she was very professional that day. Observing her immediately after and in the subsequent days, that race wasn’t unduly onerous. The ground would be a slight question but there is absolutely no physical reason why she wouldn’t handle it. She has good limbs. Touching wood here. We’ll get our trousers pulled down, of that there’s no doubt. I just hope it’s not tomorrow.

A quick return for Maymine having run at Naas Monday last. That whole event appeared to pass her by for whatever reason. She seems well after, has eaten everything and has been bright and happy at exercise albeit light exercise. She’s back in handicap company and is well drawn and the ground will suit. Having mulled it over with her owner we were loathe to let this pass her by. The difficulty with the quick turnaround is you can’t graft her to find out definitively how she really is. Fingers crossed we are doing the right thing. She can have a little rest for a few weeks if not.

Today sees the first day of racing at The Curragh this season. We have 2 to go. With plenty of rain predicted during the day, ground conditions will be in flux. The mighty Alans Pride returns after a 7 month break. He was pretty tired after a busy season and took the winter off. He’s the most likeable horse in training. He takes life very seriously, putting everything in to his work and racing. Testing ground would be a slight concern as he will be very fresh and forward going. Fitness has to be a slight question after such a long gap. 29 opponents would be a little obstacle also. I think he can be an important horse for us again this season. Maths Prize is next and the ground would be more of a concern for him. If there is a significant change in the going I may withdraw him. He has flourished since the Lincoln and is in a great place at the moment. He looks terrific and is a much bigger, stronger horse now. He looked like a cold little boy at Naas that day. It’s a hot race but the day he can get up a head of steam on nice ground he could be one to pop up in a nice handicap.

Today was a bit of an eye opener. The ground was borderline good and as a result Maymine was out of her comfort zone everywhere. Nothing ventured etc and she can now work back up to that level through the handicap route. Soft ground isn’t the be all but at 5.5furlongs, on that ground, it is. Tomorrow we head to Roscommon with Saturday’s winner Bianca Minola and she runs here with a 6lb penalty. She looked like winning easy 2 down at Cork but through loneliness or tiredness she just held on. Given her wellbeing since the race I’m hoping it’s the former. She has eaten well and exercised lightly for the last 2 days. She’s drawn poorly but Billy can mitigate that somehow and I’d be hopeful of another big run. These staying fillies can get on a roll and I can think of 2 last year that progressed from modest levels to run up a sequence. Both with a Motivator connection, this lady is out of a Motivator mare, hopefully there’s another day or 4 in her!!! I jest but she’s a hardy, likeable little lady and tomorrow will be interesting.

After an exciting day in Cork Saturday we head to Naas tomorrow with Maymine. She runs in the Listed Polonia Stakes, a 5.5f, 3 year old only race for fillies. I had my eye on this race from a bit back and due to it’s fairly restrictive criteria thought it might be poorly subscribed. So much for that, 16 show up including a Royal Ascot winner that cost a cool £1.5 million. It looks hot. Our lady has her winning bracket and is in a wonderful place at the moment and we felt it was the right thing to do with her. She’s taking her schedule well and has achieved plenty in a short space of time, having worked for the first time in her life on Queen Mother Champion Chase day. She worked with a nice older horse that day who failed to give her 3 stone, I remember being disappointed with him coming home. Some judge me. Anyway it’s a big step up but black type is where it’s at and I’m really looking forward to giving it a go. The horses are running well at the moment. All along it was primarily myself and Catherine Dalton that were responsible for everything and we tipped away fine. Catherine was worked to the bone and still is stretched. She is consistently fantastic running the yard. We had a new addition in Shane Hourigan on the 19th of March. He’s a local chap who relocated from Joseph O’Brien’s to be closer to home and to try and be involved with a potentially growing outfit. His arrival has allowed me to step back a fraction, observe a bit more, all the while getting valuable feedback. He’s a much better rider and I feel we’re hitting the nail on the head a little better as a result. Fingers crossed we can keep kicking, pot committed now.

An important day in the racing calendar. All eyes will be on Newmarket and later Churchill Downs. Fingers crossed Aidan wins both. Despite his dominance I love to see him raising the bar even further and to win the Kentucky Derby would be off the scale . We’re concentrating on Cork where it’s described as soft to heavy. It’ll be gluey with the drying and whether our 2 will handle it is in question. They might. Bianca Minola runs at 3.40 and it’s her first run for us. She came to Ireland on the basis that she handled soft ground and there would be plenty of opportunities for her. She put up a splint, an area of bony inflammation on her shin bone, about 6 weeks ago and while she didn’t miss a beat I didn’t want to run her while it was irritating her. She has been working fine and hopefully she’ll give her very enthusiastic owner a bit of fun in the coming months. I think she’ll handle nice ground aswell for what that’s worth.   Alcatraz is next. He’s well drawn, the trip will suit, he’ll be ably assisted by Gary and he appears in terrific form. All his ducks are in a row today but this is Alcatraz and Alcatraz does what Alcatraz wants. Watch this space.

We head to Navan tomorrow for what will be a new experience for us. We’ve not had a runner there yet and we’re taking two. We have Maymine in the 5.8 furlong maiden and it looks like a race with a bit more depth than the one she was 2nd in 10 days ago. She did a lot right that day and I wouldn’t be surprised if the winner was quite useful. I’m not sure she’ll improve much for fitness but she should improve a lot for the experience. She should be more professional in the first couple of furlongs and when she’s asked to graft you’d like to think she’d have a better idea of what’s required. The difficulty with finishing 2nd the first day is that there’s only one good result the 2nd day. It’s not all about now with her, she’s strengthening all the time and as life gets easier with running she should really start to blossom. Here’s hoping. Alcatraz goes immediately after and he appears well since his excellent effort Monday last. He came there to win his race and found a different way to thwart us. I was pleased in that it’s the first time he’s got to the front in a long long time.  Chris has to find a way of matching that up with the line!! 5.8f wouldn’t be the most obvious but I’d prefer to see him half off the bridle everywhere and doing his best work late rather than being off and on it over further. The blinkers are there to help him keep up for the first half. I wouldn’t mind if some rain fell for both. We have had a nice bit of exposure and comment recently and it all helps. Hopefully we can capitalise on it and get a winner or two soon.

We’re back to Leopardstown after a mixed day yesterday. It was wonderful, as a small outfit, to be part of Guineas Trials day. We hit the road early, the kids turned out to the nines. All was good pre race. Filly looked well, her conduct was good and then bang, her effort was underwhelming. She’s fine this morning, we’ll work our way back up to that level in the coming months and she’ll prove herself in time. We were very grateful to Ballylinch Stud for their hospitality post race and all in all it was an enjoyable experience. Note to self; must do better. Ger Lyons was interviewed last week and mentioned how the standard of the powerhouse training outfits in this country should elevate the performance of the rest of us. We’ll have a good think about yesterday and see what could have been better. I haven’t grafted one like I did Dianthus for her Madrid run and the 19 days may not have been sufficient recovery. Equally I may have been too easy on her in that 19 days. Perhaps it was too big a class jump at this stage of her career. I don’t know yet. Observing her over the coming days will help. I have to be careful with conclusions, horses tend to defy logic and whenever you hang your hat on one explanation it’s not long before it goes out the window. Alcatraz goes tomorrow in the last race and he will be interesting. He’s a gorgeous individual and I have said it before but some of his work has been excellent. I struggle to catch him right for some reason. 4 days out from a run I could be purring and come race day he’s gone a bit quiet.  Most of ours come up to a run on the back of a strong routine and this may not be suiting him.  It seems to flatten him. He worked last Wednesday away from home and it was excellent. He’s had an easy time since, jogging and hacking and he appears well. I’d love him to show what he shows us and if he did and we figured out how best to train him he would give his owners a right bit of craic this summer. It’s worth knowing that about 10 days after his last run he had an abscess released from his lower leg that may have been bugging him for a while. Not a foot abscess but a nidus of infection that was sitting close to his tendon above his fetlock joint. People/punters talk about cliff horses. This is mine, to get him to win some day would mean a lot.

We’re in Naas tomorrow for what should be a good day’s racing. We have one in the 2nd race, the 6f fillies maiden. She is only the second horse to start her career with us. It’s a different proposition and hopefully something we can look forward to doing a bit more of. The older horses have been fantastic but developing youngsters needs to be a bigger part of what we’re doing this season. Anyway, Maymine is a lovely daughter of Mayson that we have had since the middle of January. She is a pleasure to have around the place, a real teacher’s pet. She has a beautiful temperament, eats, sleeps, canters and would do anything you ask of her. She’ll need time to find a rhythm. If the penny drops and she travels amongst horses and finishes out her race, I’ll be pleased. Mayson wouldn’t be that common over here but he’s a solid, commercial sire across the water whose progeny sometimes handle testing ground. Our last visit to Naas was an enjoyable one. If this lady has a good experience and runs with promise we’ll enjoy this one.