The horses have run very well in the past week with two winners, three placed and three fourth out of 12 runners. Of the rest, only two ran any way disappointingly.

I am sounding a bit like a broken record talking about the weather and ground here almost on a weekly basis, but readers will understand what a huge bearing it has on what we do.

Despite ongoing issues with the weather, it’s been a good week and the highlight for the stable was our apprentice, Charlie Elliott, riding his first winner, aboard Bendzoldan at Leopardstown on Thursday night.

The John Oxx-trained Alanza earned a crack at the Group 1 Fal mouth Stakes at Newmarket’s July Meeting when justifying odds-on favouritism in the Group 3 Ballycorus Stakes at Leopardstown last night, the second leg of a double for the in-form Curragh trainer and Johnny Murtagh.