….P Mullins;
You know, Gaelic Warrior inside out, you know Paul's body language on a racehorse inside out too. Did you think at any stage he'd gone too hard too early, or did you always think there was going to be petrol left in the tank?
He’s the sort of horse, you can' fight. I was riding him on the gallop last week, and the gallop was very heavy now, and I jumped off in front, and when we got to the finish, I thought I'd only got a normal speed, but I turned round, and I was 20 lengths clear of the rest of them.
The lads were all slagging me off saying that my clock was gone. So, he's that kind of horse. He has a high cruising speed, but the reason we haven't been able to really ride him that way is because he can do a bit too much.
But on Sunday he never looked like he was running away, he never looked like he was doing an Un De Sceaux and was just bolting. But he certainly went a good, strong gallop, but looked within himself at all times. It was just the two jumps at the end of the back straight that put a little bit of doubt in your mind.
I know it's a long way away to the Kempton and the Ladbrokes King George, but I'd imagine Paul will be itching to get back on him around there?.
Yes, certainly. You probably would want to race a little bit more conservatively over the extra half mile, but I'd imagine in a race like the King George, you wouldn't have to make the running. On Sunday there was nothing else that was going to go forward so Paul took the bull by the horns, whereas you'd imagine maybe something like The Jukebox Man or one or two others might be able to give them a lead at Kempton. And I'm hoping that with a lead, he'll settle again.
I'm just hoping that Sunday’s race hasn't lit him up altogether now. Hopefully we can put the lid back on him and channel his energy efficiently for going back to three miles.
We also need your reaction to Fact To File’s run. The formbook says he finished second, but it was probably a career-best effort. How well does that set him up for the season ahead?
It was a fantastic run. I thought Mark Walsh rode a lovely race on him. He didn't get involved early and brought him into the race beautifully. He got to the front after the second last, and you know, and while it looked like a hard race, and maybe it was a hard race, both jockeys were stock still until he got to the second last, and neither jockey went for their stick until after the last.
So hopefully that means it doesn’t leave a mark for the season, both jockeys rode the race very well and in terms of Fact To File it was a fantastic run, and I do think it could have been a career-best from him.
I just think it was a fabulous race, and taken in isolation, one of the best races we'll ever see between two proper monsters.