Road to Riches wins Lexus !

Road to Riches pictured here winning at down royal. 

Noel said afterwards: "I'm thrilled. Things didn't go quite to plan as we thought we'd be able to make it. He was getting hassled up front early on but it worked out well in the end.

"We knew he was in great shape and he's been improving all the time since Punchestown.

"The way he came home I'd imagine it's all systems go for Cheltenham. You'd say he'd get the trip. He really stuck on well there.

"Bryan said they went very quick and if he had been up there he would have been going too quick. He stayed on really well and I'd say going further wouldn't bother him.

"I'll have to talk to Michael and Eddie. I don't know if he'll run again but obviously we're hoping to go to Cheltenham.

"We did the same with him that we did after Punchestown and left him off. It was never the plan to run at Gowran and he was a bit of work short. We learned a lesson there.

"Bryan rode him work in Navan last week and was delighted with him.

"I thought that was a good race today and thought it was every bit as good as the King George."

Road to Lexus !

Noel commented after the victory of Road to Riches in the JN Wine Chase at Down Royal today “that's terrific, everything went a dream.

“They left him alone in front and he had a couple of great jumps up the back which stretched them.

"This was always the plan; he was a bit undercooked going to Gowran and is still slightly heavy today - five or six kilos 'over' from Galway.

“He's a good horse and I'll probably leave him now until Christmas where we'll go to the Lexus if it's not too heavy.

“I'd love to go for the Gold Cup, but there's more things to be done and he's not going to have his next run in the Gold Cup.

"We changed his training regime and diet completely from Punchestown on and it has made a big difference."

Very wood reappearance !

Tu va takes plate with riches!

(Road to Riches )

Noel stated: "This was Eddie's (O'Leary) plan. I thought he'd have top-weight if he came here and I was delighted to see Kid Cassidy (top-weight, unfortunately a fatality Meade stated: "This was Eddie's (O'Leary) plan. I thought he'd have top-weight if he came here and I was delighted to see Kid Cassidy (top-weight, unfortunately a fatality in the race) in.

"Willie (Mullins) was behind me when they started up the hill and he clapped me on the back. At that stage I wondered did he have a lead-cloth on him at all he was winning so easy.

"He was out of all the trouble the whole way and with Shane it's obviously a case of an old head on young shoulders.

"Michael (O'Leary) is not here but I'm sure he's watching in. They've had the third too in Willie's Balnaslow. Jonathan Burke, another young man going places, was on him.

"Being by Gamut, and Gamut is by Spectrum, most of them want good ground. Probably that's the key to him and he does want to come into a race fresh. He jumped brilliant.

"He went a fair gallop but he was always comfortable. He jumped so well he gave himself a chance, and every fence was a help to him.

"I think that was Shane's first ride for me. Ger (Fox) would have been riding him put for breaking his collarbone (at Wexford last Friday) but that's racing. We bought him off Martin Cullinane who only trains about six miles from here.

"That's the only one of the big races (at Galway) that I hadn't won. I've been second in it I think three or four times. I'm absolutely thrilled as the Plate is something you want to win.

"I'm sure the handicapper is not going to be too nice to him after that, he won so easy. I'm sure he's a Graded horse, there is no doubt about that. His handicapping days might be over after that. Good ground is essential." the race) in.

"Willie (Mullins) was behind me when they started up the hill and he clapped me on the back. At that stage I wondered did he have a lead-cloth on him at all he was winning so easy.

"He was out of all the trouble the whole way and with Shane it's obviously a case of an old head on young shoulders.

"Michael (O'Leary) is not here but I'm sure he's watching in. They've had the third too in Willie's Balnaslow. Jonathan Burke, another young man going places, was on him.

"Being by Gamut, and Gamut is by Spectrum, most of them want good ground. Probably that's the key to him and he does want to come into a race fresh. He jumped brilliant.

"He went a fair gallop but he was always comfortable. He jumped so well he gave himself a chance, and every fence was a help to him.

"I think that was Shane's first ride for me. Ger (Fox) would have been riding him put for breaking his collarbone (at Wexford last Friday) but that's racing. We bought him off Martin Cullinane who only trains about six miles from here.

"That's the only one of the big races (at Galway) that I hadn't won. I've been second in it I think three or four times. I'm absolutely thrilled as the Plate is something you want to win.

"I'm sure the handicapper is not going to be too nice to him after that, he won so easy. I'm sure he's a Graded horse, there is no doubt about that. His handicapping days might be over after that. Good ground is essential."

Very very good at Cheltenham!

Winning connections of Very Wood.

Carberry said: "It's brilliant, great for Noel, and I'm delighted to get a winner.

"He travelled and jumped super. He's going to be a lovely chaser. I had to gather him up after the third-last, but he stormed up the hill."

Meade added: "It was just fabulous. He had a bruise last night and we thought he wasn't going to run, the team did a brilliant job to get him here.

"You could fancy him if you'd seen his run behind the favourite (Briar Hill, at Naas). He was staying on very well (over two and a half miles). It's the trip that makes the difference to him and he's a chaser for next year. He's a pretty laid-back customer. Eddie (O'Leary) bought him in a field, I think.

"We ended up coming here with only two runners. We thought we had a great team, but they kept getting knocked out and then we got a bug about a month to six weeks ago and we closed up for three weeks and had no runners at all. That's hard to take. Hopefully were the other side of all that now!"

Looking forward to our runners today

"We haven't had runners since Hennessy day at Leopardstown. The horses picked up some bug. It passed from one to another very quickly and they ran temperatures for a few days. We had to be patient and hopefully they're over it."

 "We've done the tests on the horses running over the weekend and they seem fine. We run Corskeagh Royale and The Herds Garden at Navan, while Zigger Zagger and Busty Brown run at Leopardstown on Sunday.

"We'll see how they get on and then wait to see how things go in the week before finalising Cheltenham plans."

Texas Jack wins the Kinloch Brae!

Texas Jack clearing the last like a fresh horse!

Meade said, “He jumps like a buck for Paul and it’s great to have him back on this horse. I think that is probably around his trip and I’m not sure if he gets any further.

“He's probably a horse to stay at home rather than Cheltenham. I was annoyed that I didn’t put him in the John Durkan, and he just wasn’t right around Christmas time. We freshened him up and came here.”

Carberry said, “I’m finally getting the hang of him! I’ve been there too soon on him a couple of times. He always travelled well and jumped super, it’s just that he does pull up in front."

Mullaghanoe gets deserved win!

Meade says “he's very lazy and when he gets there he thinks he has done enough. He did a piece of work the other day which was way better than anything he had done before and if he hadn't made that mistake at the second last, he'd probably have won well.

“I could see him being in an Irish National some day and there's no doubt he could win one of those good staying chases.”