Paul Nicholls: Ever wondered how I get my horses over to Ireland?

Then read on!

We have two runners at Leopardstown on Sunday - check in tomorrow morning at 8am to see how I rate their prospects - so I thought I would take this opportunity to outline what actually happens when we send horses over to tracks in Ireland.

Touch wood, our record in Ireland has been pretty good over the years - though Celestial Halo and Take The Breeze disappointed last year - and I can't recall any of mine travelling badly.

But it is always a worry, and you never really know for sure whether the travelling is responsible for below-par performances.

Luckily Pride Of Dulcote and Indian Daudaie are fairly laid-back characters, so fingers crossed.

So, how did they get from Ditcheat to line up at Leopardstown on Sunday?

Well, they left here at 6pm on Thursday evening.

Alan Walters, who does a lot of my transport, picked them up and they travelled with The Listener. My pupil assistant Tom Jonason and Julie Fowler, who looks after Pride Of Dulcote, went from here, and there were also two staff from Nick Mitchell's.

They got the ferry from Holyhead last night, and arrived at Leopardstown racecourse at 8am.

As many people across the country will be aware, it was very windy last night and at one point I was very worried that the weather forecast may scupper their chances of travelling - sometimes when conditions are bad and it is very windy, they don't let livestock travel.

But luckily everything was ok, and they were able to make the four hour crossing.

The horses worked here on Thursday morning, so to let them get over the journey, they will have a day off today. They have grubbed up well, and will be led out twice for a pick of grass.

On Saturday morning, they will be ridden out and have a blow out over 5f. Tom will ride Indian, and Julie will partner Pride.

I am not an advocate of shipping horses over on the day itself, or even the day before, as I think the horses need a day off once they arrive.

They will then leave after the race, and get the 9pm ferry on Sunday night, and arrive back at Ditcheat on Monday morning.

As for me, I will travel over from Bristol on Sunday morning with the Yeomans and Nick.

And, for reasons that are explained in my Grand National piece, I may have to be at my charming best on the way over!


Paul's columns on his weekend runners will go live at 8:00 on Saturday morning

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Paul Nicholls / 4 Feb 2011