PATRICK ON...

APPRECIATE IT (TURNERS NOVICES’ CHASE)

HE WAS disappointing at Leopardstown over two miles but you have to remember he is nine years old and perhaps he has lost a bit of spark at that distance. We are stepping him up in trip and I still think he could be as good as anything in the yard.

ENERGUMENE (QUEEN MOTHER CHAMPION CHASE)

IT WAS disappointing he was beaten in the Clarence House Chase at Cheltenham in January, but I don’t think he was at his best. There is probably improvement in him but there will have to be. We are getting more stuck into him at home and he will be a fitter horse at the Festival.

FACILE VEGA (SUPREME NOVICES’ HURDLE)

THINGS did not go to plan when he went too fast in the second quarter of the race and was beaten behind our Il Etait Temps at Leopardstown last month. He beat that horse at Christmas and that is his true form.

LOSSIEMOUTH (TRIUMPH HURDLE)

SHE got stuck in a traffic jam when beaten at the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown last month. There is no doubt she would have won and she is still the one to beat.

STATE MAN (CHAMPION HURDLE)

WE DON’T really know how good he is because he has not been tested. If Constitution Hill, the winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle last year, is as good as he looks, there is not much point going, but he will have to be as good as he looks!