Inclement weather brings lots of training problems

The past week has been very unusual with the weather forcing the abandonment of all Irish racing and that has forced the rescheduling of the big Leopardstown meeting to next Sunday at the expense of a good card at Navan which will now go ahead on Monday next. With some top class races also scheduled for Gowran Park on Saturday we are in a position where there are nearly too many good races together, but then that can"t be helped either. It"s tough on Navan, having to move to a Monday, as they have a very good card with some excellent novice chases. It is probably the correct decision and as both tracks are owned by Horse Racing Ireland the legislators probably took the view that Leopardstown has more potential to attract a bigger crowd and there may be some form of monetary compensation forthcoming for Navan as well. The inclement weather has also made training a little bit more difficult because all the grass gallops are covered by snow and frozen, but I"m fortunate to have a good all-weather gallop and an indoor facility which covers a furlong and a half. Two walkers which can accommodate 31 horses also helps to keep everything moving. The only action at the weekend was in the point-to-point field and it was great to see Silver Birch making a successful comeback for trainer Gordon Elliott after almost two years off the track. I mentioned last week that Gordon had told me that the horse was in good form, but I"m sure he was pleased that he actually won the race. Hopefully, Silver Birch will come out of the race sound and it would be a fine achievement by Gordon to get him back to Aintree again this year. That race also provided another point-to-point winner for Nina Carberry, if I"m not mistaken I think that she has won her last four or five point-to-point rides, a good record for her. Sticking with the point-to-point circuit, there was great excitement here last week when Riona Teggart trained her first winner at Tyrella. That would be her local meeting as she is from Ardglass. She has slotted into the role that was left vacant after my head man, Andy Lynch retired. She had to get her licence to drive the horse box and has done a fantastic job - one of the lads in the yard maintains that she would have no bother reversing the truck up Dublin"s O"Connell St in the middle of the rush hour. Initially she wanted to ride in a point-to-point and last year we gave her Star Clipper as the owner was looking for a good home for him. Riona took him on and she trains him herself in her spare time. Thankfully, she decided not to ride in point-to-points as I wouldn"t want her to pick up an injury, instead she got a young Tipperary man who works here, Daragh Bourke, to ride him. So it was a first win for both of them last week and Daragh could have had a double as he was on one of mine, Brynner, which ran out at the last looking like a winner. Riona"s parents were there and she may even have had a good bet as well. Turning to the sunshine in Dubai, Ger Lyons hit the net when he had a winner there last Thursday with Summit Surge for the ultra-consistent Johnny Murtagh, I think Ger would like to stay out there in the good weather, but he will have to come home to get ready for the flat season. Looking at the racing on television, the weather is so good, it would make you a bit envious, maybe I should send a few runners out there next year! We did send Arch Rebel to Hong Kong last year and he would have been a likely candidate for Dubai, he would certainly have a high enough rating to go there and would act on the ground - food for thought perhaps. There is still a demand for quality horses as I found out at Tattersalls sales last week. I had identified about six yearlings that were of interest, but they all went for big money and I didn"t buy anything. In the past I"ve got horses like Corskeagh Royale and Donnas Palm through sales like that, although sometimes they don"t always work out. I got rid of one horse that was sourced through that avenue, I thought he wasn"t very promising and James Halpin took him. That turned out to be Noble Commander which beat one of mine in a bumper at Galway last July and then went on to win a maiden hurdle at Down Royal in September, I suppose it"s appropriate, in the current economic climate, that the horse is owned by the Tough Times Syndicate. It can work both ways, I have a very nice horse here at the moment that was sold at Doncaster last year by Godolphin. They obviously didn"t rate him very highly, but he might do a job for me. He is a well bred un-raced four-year-old by Sing Spiel and could be one to watch out for later this year, Prima Vista is his name. There was an interesting finish to the bumper at Down Royal last week where one of mine benefited, Master Cullen got third place and Gordon Elliott won the race with Ballymak. Inside the last furlong, the jockeys on the first two horses failed to notice a plastic spur extending from the running rail and ran into it, one jockey fell off while the other finished second and was subsequently disqualified. Leading Run also returned to action and I was disappointed with the way he ran, the ground was very sticky and holding, but I though he would run better. Denman out of the Aintree National is a bit of a disappointment, I"ll just have to assess the position now that we know the weights, but Afistfullofdollars will run at Leopardstown on Sunday and a decision will be made after that. Looking forward a little, one that has run successfully for us, The Fist of God, is just waiting for the ground to improve and I"d be optimistic that he will turn up at Fairyhouse at Easter. This weekend"s racing will be hectic for everyone. We have Jazz Messenger in a hurdle at Gowran Park on Saturday along with Watson Lake in the Red Mills Chase, a race he won a couple of year ago. Jazz Messenger hasn"t run since before Cheltenham last year and is in very good form, in fact he was second to Catch Me in next Saturday"s race last year. Nicanor will run at either Gowran, Leopardstown or Navan over the weekend. The races for Nicanor could cut up and we have to keep our options open. Hotel Hilamar will also run, but will be kept apart from Nicanor. I suppose after this weekend there will be much more of a focus on Cheltenham, I will assess my runners next week. Visit Moel Meade"s website: www.noelmeade.com