Robbie Power On Altior, The Holy One, Sizing John & The Thyestes Chase

It was a fantastic weekend personally with two winners.

Magic Of Light
Magic Of Light was very good on Saturday. Coming back to hurdles after being chasing for a long time doesn’t always work out. She was an impressive winner. She’s entered in Huntingdon next Friday over 2 1/2 miles. If they get enough rain in Huntingdon then she might run there on Friday.

Altior & Fox Norton
Obviously, when it comes to Cheltenham it won’t be a problem, but the only concern with Altior is why was he jumping left. Is he feeling something? I’m sure Nicky Henderson and the team will delve into that. But it was a very, very good performance. He rode a decent race and…

there’s no doubting he’s probably the best horse in training at the moment

…so it was great to get a sight of him.

I was delighted with Fox Norton as well on his first run for a long time. He’ll probably go to the Game Spirit Chase in Newbury in a fortnight’s time and then we’ll make a decision. It’s probably unlikely that he’ll have another crack at Altior but we know he stays well so the Ryanair could be a strong possibility.

Cyrname
He jumped well and made all the running but I’d question how good a race it was. I would just question what was in behind him. I rode in the race and don’t think he rode a great race. He got a free lead in front. Going forward I would just question the quality of the race if Cyrname was to step into graded company.

Thomas Darby
He had a good win on Saturday and remains an exciting horse. It’ll be interesting to see where he lines up at Cheltenham – whether he goes for the Supreme Novices’ or the neptune.

Thurles On Sunday
It was a nice performance from The Holy One. He’s been threatening to do that for a long time. It wasn’t the strongest of Maiden Hurdles. He hung quite badly left throughout the race but he always had things in control and he won as an 8/13 shot should.

We’ll find a Graded Novices Hurdle for him somewhere and hopefully he’ll continue to pay his way.

Jett ran a nice race and finished fourth. I was happy with the way he jumped. He’s not one for handicaps so he’ll keep going down the route of graded chases and hopefully he’ll pick one up somewhere along the line.

Tout Est Permis, with Sub Lieutenant, led us a good gallop the whole way. Tout Est Permis needed every yard of the 2 1/2 mile. That trip on that ground is the bare minimum for him. He’s an out-and-out stayer as he proved when he won the Troytown. I’d imagine a step up in trip is likely on the cards for him. Noel Meade has done a good job with him but I don’t think he’s up to the standard of a Ryanair Chase, but I could be wrong.

I think staying is his forte so maybe something like the BoyleSports Irish Grand National could be his return.

Camelia De Cotte is definitely improving, with a good win and performance at Thurles. You could question as to how good the opposition were but she’s still beaten some decent types. The interesting thing is that is was only one second slower than the race before, which Tout Est Permis won. That was the most impressive part of it really. She jumped out and ran a good gallop all the way.

It was definitely her best performance over fences and she’s in interesting mare going forward. I’m sure Willie will have her in something at Cheltenham.

Gowran Park On Thursday
At the moment I’ll be riding Sumos Novios for Liam Burke in the Thyestes Chase. He had this race in mind for him all season.

He ran okay in the race last year and finished sixth or seventh. He just didn’t quite get home, maybe we rode him too forcefully. He’d a very nice comeback run in Cork back in December when he ran in a 2 mile chase. I was very impressed at how he ran that day.

He’s got to have a decent each way chance.

It’ll be a very interesting race, it’s always a great race.

Sizing John
He’s in fantastic form. I rode him at the Curragh on Friday morning. He worked really well and we were extremely happy with him after it.

I drove home from the Curragh with a big smile on my face!

His options are the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown or Gowran Park for the Red Mills Chase. I don’t mind where he goes, we just need to get a run into him. He’ll probably only have one run between now and the Gold Cup. I’m looking forward to getting him back anyway, he’s in very good form.

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