I am trying to cut down on the cigarettes at the moment and it’s hard work to be honest. I’m smoking way too long and at last, common sense has kicked in. It doesn’t make sense to be smoking. It’s stupid. I have never tried to cut down or give up before but I’m not doing too badly. I have halved the amount of fags I was smoking in a day so it’s progress.
I brought a filly to the Sales in Tattersalls on Tuesday and was delighted as we got her sold. It was a great sale, with plenty activity. To be fair, the sales were never really hit all that hard by the recession because the nice horses always made money.
Apart from that, there was nothing too unusual about what I got up to during the week. I wasn’t riding work as we were pretty busy racing although I did school a few after racing at Leopardstown on Sunday which we were pleased with.
In terms of the racing itself, last weekend was good. Sir Des Champs was particularly good on Saturday, showing a good attitude.
On Wednesday, we were in Down Royal and the closest I got was when Beef To The Heels was just touched off in the final strides. To make it worse, I picked up a three-day suspension so it wasn’t a great day to talk about.
Yesterday was better. Folsom Blue is a lovely horse and won very impressively. He certainly handles the kind of conditions that are there now. He’s got good action. He’s still improving but this was only a listed race so he has a long way to go to be talking about graded company.
People think that we have all the answers in racing but with a young horse like that, you don’t always know. It depends how much he will improve.
This time last year, the weather was playing havoc with racing fixtures. Thankfully, it’s nothing like that now but the frost is a threat to Fairyhouse tomorrow, where I’m looking forward to good efforts by Ballysteen and Rathlin.
It actually isn’t as bad in Munster as further up the country but it can be an issue in the mornings if you’re supposed to be on the road early to ride out. In our line of work, a good car is important because of the mileage you do on the road, but also to cope with the conditions our increasingly unpredictable climate is throwing at us. For me it’s a Toyota Avensis.
With racing scheduled for the weekend, you couldn’t be making too many social plans but I do have a back-up if Punchestown falls by the wayside on Sunday.
There is some great point-to-point racing at Belharbour and Tallow on Sunday so I’ll go to one of those. I love the point-to-point scene and with the first four-year-old races of the year, it will be very interesting to see how some of the good Giggingstown prospects go.
With a bit of luck, we might get to see a star of the future.
