Our Friends in Ireland: Ado McGuinness stable tour featuring Bowerman and Current Option

We were delighted to finish in the top 10 in the trainer’s championship last season. We had a good team of horses last year, and we’re looking forward to getting going again this year. It was a pity to lose the early season races, like the Lincoln and the All Weather Championships, but all we can do is have our horses ready to go now for when racing returns.

Our Friends in Ireland - Ado McGuinness

• Stable star: Bowerman
• Horse to follow: Current Option

Aussie Valentine

Aussie is back in. He’s in great form, we’re very happy with him. He’s nine years old now, but you wouldn’t know it. We’ll be keeping him for the grass, and we’re looking forward to getting him going again.

Bowerman

We got him last year from Roger Varian, and he won for us at Gowran Park in September. We gelded him at the end of last year, and that seems to have made a big difference to him. He won twice at Dundalk in January, and he was only just beaten in a listed race at Cagnes-Sur-Mer in February.

It was a pity that the All Weather Championships couldn’t go ahead, as that was his target. He’s in good form though. He’s a gorgeous horse. The ground was soft when he won at Gowran, but that wouldn’t be his ground at all. It was just his class that got him home that day.

He’s a big powerful horse, and his action tells you that he is not a soft ground horse. He goes well on all-weather, and he is rated lower on grass. We’ll chance a good handicap with him, and he will probably go on to stakes races after that. He gets a mile well and he could go 10 furlongs.

Current Option

He was great last year. He finished second in the Irish Cambridgeshire on just his second run for us, and then he won a valuable handicap at Leopardstown on Irish Champions Weekend.

He’s in great form now. My son rides him out all the time, he pulled up after he worked the other day and said that the gallop was too short for him! He has really come on, he has developed over the winter. I think that he could be a Royal Hunt Cup type of horse. He as obviously well handicapped going into the Leopardstown race on Irish Champions Weekend, and he got 5lb for that, but I still think that he can go higher again. He could step up in class too. He is one of the most exciting horses we’ve had.

Eglish

We were delighted with her over the winter, she took to the all-weather well, she won three times at Dundalk and ran well in defeat on a couple of other occasions. We always thought that she wanted good ground. She’s on a little bit of a break now, and we’ll target good ground in the summer with her. It won’t take her long to get up to full fitness. We think that she will improve again, and she’ll be sold at some stage.

Laugh A Minute

He is a very exciting horse. He’s probably the most expensive horse we ever bought, we gave 100,000 guineas for him at the Tattersalls horses-in-training sale in October. He’s a really nice horse, he shaped well on his first run for us at Dundalk in February.

He’ll be targeted at good six-furlong and seven-furlong races, and Ascot will be on the cards. He ran well there a couple of times when he was with Roger Varian. I don’t think he wants the ground to be too slow, I think he wants goodish ground and six or seven furlongs. He’s into a lovely way of going now in the yard, my assistant Stephen rides him and does a great job with him.

Never Back Down

He was a little disappointing after we got him, but he didn’t run badly on a couple of occasions at Dundalk. We gave him a good break, and we’re happy with where we have him now. He should be competitive in those six-furlong handicaps.

Pillar

He was busy during the winter and the spring, so he’s on a break now. He’ll be getting ready for a summer campaign, he has won at Bellewstown and Listowel in the past.

Raphael

He bled the last night at Dundalk, so you can put a line through that run. We changed his training a bit, we’ve put him into a big open barn. He works like he’s a serious horse. We got him from Kevin Prendergast, and Kevin always liked him too. There could be a good pot in him.

Rock On Aidan

He ran consistently at Dundalk, he won there in January and he ran well on a couple of other occasions. He’s a big horse, he looks more like a chaser than a flat horse. He was weak as a younger horse, but he is a stronger, more powerful horse now, and he wants good or fast ground.

Royal Admiral

We’re very happy with him. He surprised us when he beat War Hero at Laytown in September, but he kept on well that day. He’ll probably jump a hurdle at some stage, but I think he can win again on the flat too.

Saltonstall

We had him primed up for the Lincoln, so it was obviously disappointing that it didn’t go ahead. We’re very happy with him though. He’s in great form.

We will target those premier handicaps with him again. Like Current Option, he could be a horse for the Royal Hunt Cup. He is by Pivotal, but he doesn’t want really soft ground. He is a classy horse, he was second in the Irish Lincoln for Michael Halford as a four-year-old.

He lost his form a bit at the end of the 2018 season, and he dropped down the handicap as a result. He won the Colm Quinn Mile at Galway last year for us off a mark of 89, but I still think that he can be competitive in those premier handicaps off his current mark.

Scorching Heat

I was happy with his comeback run at Naas. He was bought at Newmarket in July 2018, and he had a bad accident on the way home. They were going to put him down in Holyhead, but we managed to save him. He has been through the mill, but we like him. We put a visor on him for the first time at Dundalk last time and, while he ran too freely, we were very happy with how he ran. He’s well down the handicap now and he should be competitive off his mark.

Slade Runner

He has only had one run for us since he joined us from John Oxx, and we were happy with that run, at Dundalk last month. We gelded him a few weeks ago, and he should be competitive in those three-year-old handicaps.

War Hero

He was owned by the late Bart O’Sullivan, to whom I owe so much. He sponsored the yard and he introduced me to the Dooleys, who are great owners. It was a poignant success when War Hero won at Dundalk in January. We gave him a little bit of a break after his run back there in February, and he’s back cantering away now. He might sneak into the bottom of one of the premier handicaps, and Galway is an option for him. I think there’s a nice prize in him.

Two-year-olds

We have a nice bunch of two-year-olds this year. There is a Kingman filly, a big gorgeous filly, who we like a lot. We have a filly by Acclamation from Rathbarry Stud, a half-sister to Beau Warrior, who won five times for us as a two-year-old and as a three-year-old. We have a Dark Angel filly we bought at Fairyhouse for 60,000, and a Fast Company filly, also bought at Fairyhouse, who will be targeted at the Tattersalls Ireland sales race at The Curragh on Irish Champions Weekend. We’re looking forward to getting them out now and getting them going.

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