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Connections CommentsAir Force One"He jumped well there. I went down to watch him at the last and he was awesome. I have always thought he is decent and we have given him plenty of time. Noel said he has had an easy race and if he comes out of it well we may well go the Reynoldstown at Ascot on the way to the SunAlliance. He is a serious horse - but he will need to be to take on Kauto Star and Denman next year!" Charlie Mann 24th January 2008 Albertas Run"It was a good performance after a lay-off - he liked the ground and he got a great ride. I was pleased to see that he jumped well and after that he'd have to go to the Festival. He did win at Cheltenham earlier in the year and he'd be entitled to have a crack at the SunAlliance now, but he would want good ground." Jonjo O'Neill 16th February 2008 Duc De Regniere"Mick is delighted with him. It is only the sixth time he has seen a racecourse and he needs to learn. We found him something relatively simple and we think he will be a better horse in a more competitive race now. We will go quietly with him, keeping him out of graded company for one more race, but I'd like to think that is where he belongs." Nicky Henderson 4th January 2008 "We believe he'll be a high-class chaser, and I think he was one of the horses who changed Mick Fitzgerald's mind over retirement. He hadn't shown us a lot at home prior to running at Newbury, but he won well and followed up at Kempton. He took his chancein the Ballymore Properties, but probably wasn't quite mature enough for that challenge. He was bought to replace Isio for the Gibbings, and he may well prove top class over fences." Nicky Henderson Stable Tour - October 2007 Joe Lively"He's come back fine, absolutely 100% - he just ran a bit flat. He was only a length and a half behind the Welsh National third (Over The Creek) and in that top grade of racing, he just wasn't 100% on the job. He wasn't travelling after a mile and looked slow. I don't think watered ground in the middle of winter helped him. They watered and there was a hard frost and it made the ground tacky. I thought we had seen the end of watered ground in the summer. There's still all to play for at Cheltenham and the Royal & SunAlliance will be his next race." Colin Tizzard 17th February 2008 "We fired him after he got heat in a leg and the aim when we got him back was to go summer jumping last year. He was a only a very light-framed horse and although he's still not very big, he's really filled out and despite all of his runs he's actually got stronger. The first time he won at Cheltenham we just thought one or two of the others might under-perform but he won so well and he's done it twice there now. He's a seriously good horse and although he looked like he was lugging a bit at Kempton last time, it didn't stop him and he still stayed on. His next target will be the Reynoldstown at Ascot (February 16) and we'll then head for the SunAlliance."
Colin Tizzard 22nd January 2008 “He was bloody awesome. He still shows us nothing at all at home, but we are going to have to start setting him up for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase now. He is better on good ground but he showed last time at Newbury that he can act when it is horrible. We can't keep running him every three weeks between now and the festival, so we may just give him one run before March.” Colin Tizzard 14th December 2007 Jy Vole"At the moment I'm not inclined to go to Cheltenham. I'm looking at the Powers Gold Cup, a Grade One two-and-a-half-mile chase at Fairyhouse over Easter. I do not think I want to run her in the SunAlliance and I'll have a close look at the Arkle maybe. If she's going to go anywhere, that could be it. What I could do is enter her in the mares hurdle in Cheltenham so I've got to look at that race as well. I've said all along it's not my priority to go to Cheltenham with her." Willie Mullins 17th February 2008 “The way she runs you would think that she'd be too hard on herself in a SunAlliance and I don't know if she's quick enough to come down in trip for the Arkle. She worked very ordinarily with Our Bob on Thursday, and when he was well beaten in the novice hurdle I thought we had no chance. If it was an ordinary race we wouldn't have run. Everything went wrong and it was an extraordinary performance to win, she galloped away and didn't drop the bit until the back straight, she hung right and jumped right, and gave Ruby a horrible ride. When the other horse went past her it would have sickened most horses.” Willie Mullins 10th February 2008 Notre Pere"He's OK (after fall at Leopardstown). There was some way to go but everything was going fine and he just got one wrong. Those things happen. He may run on Sunday week over two-mile-five back at Leopardstown or over three miles at Navan the following Sunday. He'll only go to Cheltenham if he's good enough. It would also hinge a bit on the ground. On quick I don't think we'd go, but anything approaching soft he may." Jim Dreaper 1st February 2008 Ornais"We have always thought of him as a nice staying chaser who could run well in a SunAllliance but never thought of him as one who would win one. The intention is to run with Silverburn." Paul Nicholls 20th February 2008 "He's slow and he just stays and jumps. His last run at Cheltenham was too bad to be true and he might not have been right. Aintree and Punchestown would really suit him but the SunAlliance looks open and with that kind of weight-carrying performance he would be in there with a chance - I'm not ruling it in or out." Paul Nicholls 9th February 2008 Pomme Tiepy"I've had mixed feelings all along about whether going for the SunAlliance with this mare would be the right thing to do. She likes ease in the ground and, anyway, I'm finding it hard to decide whether running her in the Cheltenham race, at this stage of her career, would be a wise thing to do. We'll have to have a good think about it and I'll be talking to the owners. She jumps well enough for the Arkle but she mightn't be quick enough for that race. A plus for maybe running in the SunAlliance is the fact that unlike our other good novice mare J'y Vole, who is quite highly strung, Pomme Tiepy is very relaxed and has been taking her races well. Even if we decided to finish her season now, she would have done more than enough. I honestly don't know what we are going to do with her." Willie Mullins 17th February 2008 "She might not run at Cheltenham at all, although she would have a huge weight allowance in the SunAlliance. I don't know if I'd want to run her on quicker ground at Cheltenham, though. I need to sit down and think about plans because I also have J'Y Vole and she is another possible for Cheltenham, but she is another that might not go there at all. She could go to the Powers Gold Cup." Willie Mullins 27th January 2008 Silverburn"He was a litte disappointing in the Feltham over Christmas where it looked like he didn't stay, however it was Ruby's first ride back over fences and tactically we could have have got it wrong. He got caught flat-footed when they sprinted in a slowly-run race and I am adamant he stays three miles. We made more use of him at Sandown last time when he jumped very well. The emphasis on stamina and jumping in the Royal & SunAlliance will suit him and I honestly don't feel we have ever had him any better. I am really looking forward to running him and feel he has an outstanding chance." Paul Nicholls 20th February 2008 "That was always his race today as the ground was right for him. Hobbs Hill coming out made it a bit easier and we thought we would ride him more positively because he jumps so well. He is in the Arkle and the Sun Alliance but the only way he would run in the Arkle was if it was absolutely bottomless on the first day, which never happens thesedays, so it is highly likely he will run in the Sun Alliance. It might look doubtful but he does stay and three miles round Cheltenham will suit him. At Kempton last time I think he could have winged on down the back straight and got the race won. I don't mind them being ridden like that rather than taking a pull and being done for toe so we rode him positively today." Paul Nicholls 2nd February 2008 "My view is that he wants to go back in trip. He has so much jumping ability and speed that two and a half miles might be ideal for him, so I would be looking at the Scilly Isles." Paul Nicholls 26th December 2007 "Brother to Denman, but whereas that one is chalk, this one is cheese. Denman takes stacks of work, Silverburn doesn't, and you have to go careful with him. He wants his races nicely spaced out. After winning the Tolworth impressively, we fancied him to run a big race in the Ballymore Properties over five furlongs further, but he was always flat out. He disappointed when up again in trip at Aintree, but we found he was suffering with bad stomach ulcers. Looks great at present and the aim is to have him ready for a 2m4f novice chase at Newbury's Hennessy meeting. I beg to differ slightly with his owner Paul Green in that I think he wants a trip; the whole family stay well, and I could see him ending up in the Royal & SunAlliance Chase. Paul Nicholls Stable Tour - October 2007 Starzaan"That was great. It's been a real team effort with him, and the critical thing is that the owners have been prepared to wait. He's had lots of problems but he's a proper horse. He was not far off the best over hurdles and would have gone chasing last year but we had to back off with him in November (2006) as he had a problem. The Royal & SunAlliance Chase at Cheltenham has been his target for two years and that is where he will go, with no more than one more run before." Hughie Morrison 5th January 2008 Tidal Bay"We were going to run him last weekend at Ascot, but it was too heavy. We have got to be patient and and see if we can find one on decent ground and if not, go straight to Cheltenham. I'll leave the decision as to which race to go for up to Howard (Johnson) and he'll make his mind up. Last year he chose between the Ballymore and Supreme the weekend before Cheltenham and while that's not much good to ante-post punters, I think that it will probably be the same again." Graham Wylie 25th January 2008 "We could go either way now - two or three miles - and all he wants is an end-to-end gallop. He is buzzy and excitable, but he always has been since day one and he only made the mistakes as they were going too slow. When I bought him from Alistair Charlton he said I would win an Arkle with this horse, and I just laughed at him - but now I am thinking he was right, although Arcalis is a possible for that too. We will just take it day by day with him but I will look to find another novice race for him and he could then go to Cheltenham in January but he won't have a hard season." Howard Johnson 29th October 2007 "He is a lovely horse but was a bit novicey last time at Carlisle, so we brought him down here to give him some more experience. He has jumped well apart from a couple of novicey mistakes and he does want better ground. He has a very high cruising speed and it wouldn't bother him dropping back to two miles. I'll try and give him another race before the Festival, hopefully around the end of January, and he will be entered in both the SunAlliance and the Arkle as an end-to-end gallop will suit him."
Howard Johnson 15th December 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||