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FOR SALE: CASUAL STYLE
Good looking 2 year old filly.
5 out of 5 Pipeline winners! I hope you phoned the Pipeline yesterday. I managed to find five winners out of five selections. They were priced at 9/2, 5/2, 15/8, 4/5 and 8/15. I know the last one was a bit on the skinny side, but it helps to make my super yankee look tasty. Phone: 0900 3900 900. Calls cost 60p per minute, but I am always as quick as I can be so I do not keep you on too long, normally about three minutes. I get given information from top Newmarket flat yards, and I do back them myself. There is a picture in today's Racing Post of three of the five jockeys who rode for the Dickinson's when they had the first five home in the Gold Cup. Jonjo and Bradley look a bit thin on top, but David Goulding looks like an aging rock star. They were all at the funeral of Monica Dickinson who died last Tuesday at the age of 83 years. David does have some horses for sale, and goes to all the big sales. So, keep on the look out if you fancy a horse for the jump season, you could even get together some of your mates and have shares in one. Its good fun and you are always well looked after at Pond House. We do have the occasional winner, lots in fact, and we always tell you what we think their chances are of winning. 23rd July '08.x
Get Well Soon Oliver
Let's hope Oliver Carter is ok.
Carter, who will be 90 years old in September, has suffered a
stroke. He has had some good horses over the years, most of
them have had Ottery or Otter in their names. He comes from
Ottery St Mary, hence the name of his horses. I remember
taking Oliver up in the helicopter. He had never been in a
chopper before, and this one had dual control. He kept putting
his feet on the controls and moving the helicopter about in all
different directions, he thought it was great fun. Mind you,
our pilot and the passenger were not too happy! He is a real
great character, let's hope he gets well soon.
What a turn up for the books I see Harrington won The Open. Irish bookies Boylesports offered all losing punters their money back if Harrington or Garcia won, it cost them £500,000 in cash back bets plus another £300,000 on the winner. It's strange when you do not win any money, mind you I never had a bet, but you are happy when the bookie 'does his money'. I must have a strange sense of humour, or do we all feel the same? My lad Lester backed Poulter at 125/1, I said well you will win the each way part of the bet, but he said no, I just did him to win. Now, that's what I call a real gambler! It was good to see David Howell shot a 67 in the final round, he comes into our marquee at Cheltenham Festival and seems a really nice person. I love David Elsworth's words to a fellow motorist on the way in to Newmarket races on Saturday. They cut each other up, and Elsie said "I told him his parentage". I think that means he swore at him. Elsie is a real character, he always calls MCP 'Drainpipe', it's all in good fun, or at least I thought it was?! 21st July '08
Two Meetings There are two jumps meetings this afternoon and David sends four runners to Newton Abbot and two to Stratford. Think Lucky ridden by Tom Scudamore and Briteside, Danny Cook, run in the maiden hurdle. Think Lucky was second on his last run and would have a chance where as Briteside would have to step up on her latest effort but she has been placed in a few point to points. Wise Owl carries top weight in the handicap hurdle and is looking to bounce back to form after a slightly disappointing run on the flat last time. Lancer Scott is our final runner down there in the concluding Bumper and should have learnt a lot from his racecourse debut where he finished third at Exeter. Timmy Murphy rides both of our runners at Stratford and Herne Bay is looking to follow up after winning at Towcester last time out. Quarry Town is also looking to repeat his course win on his latest start so we are keeping our fingers crossed that our runners run well. I saw there was an job advert in the Racing Post yesterday for a senior steward in Cyprus. I have been with MCP to the track at Nicosia. It is ok but it is also very hot out there so if you apply and get the job you will have to take plenty of sun tan lotion with you! I would think it would be a great place to live as the people are very friendly and they do like their punting so lets hope the senior steward gets all the inquiries right! 20th July '08
More on The Open Why do people keep saying, veteran Greg Norman? What has age got to do with the game of golf? Norman still looks very fit and hits a drive as well as anyone. He seems to find a lot of fairways, or is he just lucky? Of course he is not, the Aussie is a class player. I hear that he plays a lot of tennis and by the look of him he also spends a lot of time in the gym. I guess being married to Chris Everett helps as well! I am not sure that he will win the Open as it is hard to keep concentrating for the whole 72 holes and with just one lapse of concentration the shots will disappear. There will be an extreme amount of pressure on him now that he is near the top of the leader board so it will be interesting to see how he plays over the weekend. Good luck Greg.
We only have the one runner today, Lemon Silk at Market Rasen. He runs in the big Summer handicap hurdle with Tom Scudamore on board. Our four year old has just had two runs since joining the yard in which he has been slightly disappointing but he has shown a fair level of form over hurdles before hand. It is a very competitive race as you would expect for this prize money at this time of year but our gelding should hopefully give a good account of himself. There is also a big handicap chase on the card there today. We have no runners as our entry Gardasee, did not make the cut but it is another very interesting race that you can see on Channel Four. It was two years ago that the yard did the big race double with Buena Vista and Tango Royal. 19th July '08
The Open All the papers now are full of The Open, not the British Open, but The Open. The weather looked terrible yesterday for the early morning starters, heavy rain and very windy. There's nothing worse than having to play golf with loads of waterproof clothing on. It certainly restricts your swing and any amateur who plays and with a bad shot always says "I cannot swing in these clothes!" Am I not right? Well, that's my excuse anyway. I must say I thought Sandy Lyle withdrawing after playing just 10 holes was terrible. I don't think it matters how bad you are playing, you should always continue and play the round out. Also, Lyle took the place of another golfer who would certainly have played all four rounds. Imagine what Mark Brown thinks, he would have been playing if Lyle had not teed off. I wonder what the New Zealander thinks of Sandy Lyle this morning. Just think, the Scot wants to be Ryder Cup Captain. I am not sure that I would want him as my captain, just imagine your captain saying, "it looks like rain lads, let's get in before we get our new Ryder Cup clothing wet!". Even in amateur golf never N. R. (that's No Return for you non-golfers). If he wants an example, there's the American Tom Watson another senior who is a great ambassador for world golf. 18th July '08
Betty's Funeral
The church at Culmstock was packed
yesterday for the funeral of MCP's Mum, Betty. Roy Kerslake
spoke about Betty, and everything he said was spot on. Betty
never had a bad word to say about anybody, and you could not wish to
meet a more caring and loving person. Betty was the best
letter writer. My wife Jane has read every one of them, and I
have just read them again and cannot stop crying. I am
probably being soft, but I think that tells you how much everybody
cared for Bet. A message from Betty, "Miss me, but let me go."
Betty, everyone misses you and always
will.
Jockeys How can you get boxed in at Brighton in a four runner race? The 8/11 favourite which had been backed from 5/4 got no sort of run at all. The jockey held the two year old up behind his three rivals all the way up the straight and no gap appeared. In the end he eased his horse down and finished last. I know the jockey is a three pound claimer, but as most punters know, the camber at Brighton goes towards the rail so most horses tend to drift that way. He would only have had to pull around three horses to get a run. He will learn by his mistakes. Mind you the punters that had £1000 to £800 on and £1100 to £1000 on will think they have paid pretty expensively for his mistake! I see another jockey rode a finish at Wolverhampton with a circuit still to go on Monday night. The 16/1 chance finished last and the jockey has been banned from 28th July until 8th August. I see five jockeys in all have gone too soon at Wolverhampton, none of them have been top class pilots. Nevertheless, what amazes me most is that one of the five jockeys mentioned has actually done it twice. I would have sent him on an adding up course, he probably just can't count! 16th July '08
Racing by the Mediterranean
I see the Racing Post have an article
on racing in Turkey. I must admit I have never been racing in
that country, in fact I have never even been to Turkey, though I
have eaten some occasionally. I went with MCP to watch racing
in Nicosia, Cyprus. It was a night meeting and very hot, over
100 degrees. There was a huge turnout to watch and they are
very big punters and very noisy. The hotel we stayed at was
owned by the biggest trainer on the island, he had over 100 horses
in his stables near Limassol. The all weather gallop was just
dirt and when horses came towards you, all you could see was dust,
the riders were completely covered. I must say the exercise
routine was interesting. He had a round track and a van going
around inside with a long bar welded on top going out about thirty
feet and chased the horses around with no riders on board. He
was exercising about twenty horses at a time, just him. I
wonder how much he was saving in wages! It seemed to work, and
if they did not make race horses they could always go into a circus.
A lot of his horses were British ex-racehorses he had bought at the
Newmarket sales.
Winner! Leo's Lucky Star won very easily at Stratford, and what a good ride from Tom Scudamore. That's the owners tenth winner since the end of February, and he says David will be getting a few more. That's what we like to hear Roger! One of his mates nicked a tenner off me at Cheltenham, I have got a good memory, so beware Roger, I will get my cockle and hen back somehow!
There's a good picture of Ricky Hatton with jockey Liam Jones at Haydock, as there was a race named after the boxer. The poor jockey looks terrified, mind you with Hatton's arm around his shoulders, I don't blame him. I am a great boxing fan, I even went to America to see Muhammad Ali fight Joe Bugner. The thing I remember mot about that trip was watching Ali go through his training routine in the hotel, absolutely brilliant and worth the trip on it's own. Bugner just tried to keep out of the way during the fight, but Ali won easily. I like Hatton, he seems like a good person and the public love fighters who go forward and give their all. I just hope he does not go on too long, all his fights are hard and he takes a lot of punishment. Let's hope Management don't get too greedy! Hatton supports Man City, so he's not had an easy life! 14th July '08
Leave the Tipsters I see John McCririck is mouthing off again in The Sun newspaper about tipsters. He says the Office of Fair Trading should force tipsters to have more selections independently verified, and after each days racing, put on to the internet. Does he not know that before the odds goes into the Racing Post or Daily Mirror, in my case I have to give them every selection early in the morning before they will put the odds in the newspaper. You cannot just claim winners if you have not had them. They just will not put the odds in their newspaper. The people they should be cracking down on are the mail shots you get if they find out your name and address. Somehow they got my wife's name, and you would not believe the claims some of them make. I could be a millionaire in six months if I followed their system. Apparently, some have a 96% strike rate. Surely people do not take notice of these claims? I suppose some people do, or they would not keep sending them out. Thinking about it, I keep being told my wife is spending a lot of time at our local bookmakers Ladbrokes. She is such a regular with her Mum that the staff makes them a cup of tea. How times have changed, I was always shown the door. Just got to keep smiling! 13th July' 08
Well Done Tom
It's good to see another of our former
jockeys, Tom Dascombe, is making a name for himself as a trainer of
cheaply proven flat horses. He has won his second group race
of the week with Firth Of Fifth at Newmarket yesterday. I can
always remember Tom in the yard, very laid back he was and not a bad
seven pound claiming jockey. He won quite a few races for us
and also rode a lot for Ron Hodges. I must say he was not the
obvious one you would think would make a trainer, but he's proved me
wrong, so well done Tom. I see someone called Innocent Chichera is 31 today, and it says is a former pupil assistant. Can you imagine getting pulled up by the police, and when they ask your name you say, "I'm Innocent". The Plod would probably say, "We haven't charged you yet!". I thought it was funny. Have you ever heard of anyone called Innocent? 12th July '08
Happy Birthday Frank! Just like to wish Frank Farrant a Happy Birthday. I cannot believe Frank is only 61, he always looks so young! He had some good horses with us in the early days, Valfinet and Hero's Fatal. I reckon it must be his wife Alison who keeps Frank so young, they now live in Spain. The horse I remember most is Barry Window. I was with Carol in the stands at Wincanton, and Barry Window came to take it up at the last with a few lengths clear. I was jumping up and down and giving it plenty of verbal, like ' I'll take over from here!'. But the gelding had decided he'd done enough and started to pull himself up and got beat. Well, you can imagine the stick I took in the stands. I just wanted the ground to open up. The gelding then became injured and was off the track for a long time, about 3 years. MCP got him fit, and he won with head and chest on his first time back out at Newton Abbot. Mind you, I was a lot quieter at Newton Abbot, but I did get all my money back, and a bit more! 11th July '08
Jackpot I bet the person who had a pound going on King O'The Gypsies at Newmarket yesterday was a nervous wreck. He had a chance of winning £868,754. What would you do back every other horse in the race, you would have to have 8 other bets, How much could you get on if you left any of the big price horses out? They would probably come and do your jackpot. It's probably a nice position to be in, or is it? Today they predict the jackpot will reach £1.5 million. My mug punter mate Peter said, the fellow only lost a pound on his jackpot bet, its funny how people see things differently. The colt that won the 4.20 at Newmarket yesterday, Meydan City cost $11,700,000. I think I would be frightened to get it out of the box in case he injured himself. Mind you, he won £9,714 back towards his costs yesterday. What its like to be rich, very rich? 10th July '08
Newmarket The July Festival at Newmarket is starting today. As you know I talk to quite a few of the big yards and our main concern is how the rain will be affecting the going. They have mostly worked on all weather surfaces when training, but the 2 year olds will not have seen very soft ground or worked on it. You don't really know how they are going to cope with the ground until they actually race. If you have put your hard earned cash on it, it could be too late then. Some of my stable information experts come up with the fact that the family did go in soft ground, but I am not always so sure about family connections, I could trap a football my brother could not trap a bag of cement! I know that does not completely kill the family connection theory, but you know what I mean! Keep an eye on the going and make sure they have form on soft surface. It seems Newmarket trainer Sir Mark Prescott always has a big cigar in his mouth, every picture is the same. Go to page 19 of today's Racing Post, you will see what I mean. Sir Mark came to Pond House for the day, he is a great story teller and an exceptionally good trainer. He has had 7 winners from his last 15 runners. I don't think I could afford his cigar bill each month, let alone have horses in training with the maestro. 9th July '08
Schooling Session We had a schooling session yesterday and pictured below are Quinte Du Chatelet and Jonothan Lower upsides Swagger and Tom Cannon. They were followed by Quil Est Beau ridden by Tom Scu and Briteside and Gerry Supple. As you can see they all jumped very well.
I cannot believe all the fuss over the Brighton incident with Caprio. All the stall handler had done was slap the horse on the head. Remember, the horse had already put his lass in hospital and was behaving terribly, he seemed intent on hurting anyone who was in biting or kicking distance. Just think if it had been a dog people would have been screaming for it to be put down. The stall handler with 25 years experience has taken a lot of stick, when in fact he should be praised. If you have ever been in a box with a horse that has been playing up you would know how frightening it is. They need to be disciplined, are we getting everything out of proportion? 8th July '08
Betty Pipe
We have some very sad news, Mrs Pipe senior passed away yesterday. Betty was a real mum sort of figure to everyone on the yard and for the last twenty odd years I used to take her morning papers up to her bungalow which was at the top of the drive. She would always make me a cup of tea and get the biscuits out and even at 7am in the morning she wanted to chat and know what runners we had going that day and who was going racing. She always gave me an apple and some grapes for Martin to take and eat whilst watching first lot gallops. Betty always peeled the skin off the apple and cut it up in segments and I always had a banana every morning without fail. When owners came to the yard she always made the best sandwiches you could ever have and she always supplied the girls in the office with treats and wine gums. She was a lovely kind lady and was also sandwich lady for Ray the vet and collected fish and chips for Martin on Saturdays when he was not racing. The lads and lasses in the yard always had hot cross buns at Easter and mince pies at Christmas. Our jockeys always received regular bags of grapes which she used to pick off the stalks and write on the bags AP, or champ for Tony McCoy and she would also do some for Timmy Murphy and Tom Scu as well as several other jockeys who were riding for us. Bet will be sadly missed by MCP, Carol and David and anyone who knew her. I know it won't be the same again, for me I could talk to Bet like she was my mum and I can't tell you how much I will miss her. 7th July 08
Cracking Final What a cracking Wimbledon final, as Betfair smashed through the £40 million mark. Initially Federer looked out of it at two sets down, but like a true champion he levelled the match to two sets all. However, Nadal got his composure back and managed to win the final set. It was great TV, I bet the viewing figures were good. Nadal is now set to play in the Mercedes Cup this week. Its a clay court tournament, and Nadal has won 17 of his last 19 clay court tournaments, so I would not want to back against him winning again. Believe it or not, he's better on clay than grass, mind you he is getting better on grass courts, as yesterday's final showed. I see they have named a race horse after Sir Garfield Sobers, the greatest all rounder of all time. There are several cricketers who have horses named after them, I like Whispering Death named after Michael Holding. Martin Pipe named a horse after me, it was called Chester's Nap. Mind you it was no good and Chester's Nap was always tailed off. Times never change! 7th July 08
Trainers Championship Guess who is leading the British Flat trainers championship? Yes, it is Aidan O’Brien with just eleven winners but £1,470,017 in prize money. I think that it makes a joke of the championship. Richard Hannon had has 82 winners but only £942,342 in prize money. Now look at the jockey’s title. Ryan Moore is top with 84 winners but O’Brien’s stable jockey Johnny Murtagh is not even on the list and they go down to just 25 winners. It is about time that they sorted this out. Surely they must go on numbers trained and not money won to decide the trainers championship as they do for the jockeys? They showed Royston Ffrench’s rodeo act when the saddle slipped during the week on the morning line yesterday. They said his tack slipped back but it was amazing that Royston managed to get back on after having both legs on the same side of the horse. John Francome quickly said I think his tackle moved as well, typical quick thinking from Francome! 6th July 08
Josh Apiafi I see the Jockeys Association Chief Executive Josh Apiafi will be joining the Channel 4 Racing Team for next weeks Newmarket meeting. Josh used to work in our yard, I say work, he used to turn up, only joking! In fact I do remember Josh riding a winner for us, it must have been a steering job. I hope he talks to all the jockeys and sorts out a few winners for the viewers at the meeting. I hope you phoned the Pipeline yesterday as I did say Michael Stoute was running his best two year old, Zacinto. He won in a canter and is now favourite for the 2000 Guineas. He is probably better than showed yesterday. Normally they are not fully wound up for their first race but he was very impressive. 5th July 08
Reg Akehurst Its hard to believe that former Epsom Trainer Reg Akehurst is 79, now this was a trainer who could line a handicapper up for a punt. I can remember at a certain time it seemed like every Saturday in the big handicaps on TV Reg would have a gamble landed. A very quiet man, I played golf with him one day at Basingstoke Golf Club, he was very competitive and wanted to win. Not a bad golfer off his handicap, if you know what I mean! Anyway Happy Birthday Reg. I see the Williams sisters will play each other in the Ladies Wimbledon final, they both won their semi finals in straight sets. It seems like money for rope for to me, is their such a shortage of good lady tennis players? I see that Ladbrokes have come up with a bet for the fourteen year old Laura Robson, she is 50/1 to win the Wimbledon title by 2020. She is in the semi finals of the girls singles and might become the first Briton to win that title since Annabel Croft in 1984. 4th July 08
Tom Malone Conditional jockey Tom Malone who has been working at Pond House for five years is returning home to Ireland with his partner Vanessa and their daughter Isla. Tom has ridden over 60 winners, with his best season coming in 2004/2005 when he rode 30 of those. Tom struck up a great relationship with our horse Milan Deux Mille who he rode to victory several times and also completed in this years Grand National after leading the field and jumping like a stag for well over a circuit. This was Tom's second ride in the great race and second time he completed after riding Polar Red around Aintree, but his biggest thrill came from riding Milan over those big fences. Not a bad record round the National course. Milan Deux Mille's owner Fergus Wilson surprised Tom and kindly gave him a large copy of the lovely picture you can see below. This picture was produced by Opl digital and you can check out their website for more details. Tom has been a great member of the Pond House team for several years and he will be sadly missed but we would all like to wish him well on his return home. He will still be riding as well as pursuing his television and commentating career, which he has been making a great start over here, working for Attherraces and commentating at several local point to points. Good luck Tom!
I see that over £30,000 was raised for the Robert Alner fund at a golf day in Calcot. David Crosse was leading jockey while the team event was one by a team that included Richard Hughes and Sylvester Kirk. These two were described as the two biggest Mexicans you have ever seen. For you non golfing experts, that means bandits! It means they were probably handicapped by someone like Sir Mark Prescott, only joking! You tend to find that a lot of the jockeys play a lot better than their official handicap marks and have shots in hand, Carl Llewellyn and Mick Fitzgerald spring to mind! I did say yesterday that I thought Andy Murray had an impossible task against Rafael Nadal. You could see by his mannerisms that he did not think he could win. Nadal looks like the real deal. 3rd July 08
Perth I just wonder what the attraction is for Nigel Twiston-Davies in Perth?! If you did not know you would think it was his local track. You never see a Perth meeting without a Twiston-Davies runner. He has a fantastic strike rate of 35% which is easily the best of trainers who have regular runners at the course. In fact, if you had a pound on all his runners you would be £17.90 in front. I must just say that I have been up to Perth just once for their three day meeting. Maybe I liked it because we took six horses up there and five of them won, maybe that was what I like about Perth! David does not have any runners today at either of the jumps meetings with our next possible runners at Market Rasen on Sunday. It is the French sales tomorrow at Saint-Cloud and David is going over. It is a very good sale with both untried and raced horses so should anyone be interested in buying from the sales give the office a ring on 01884 840715 and have a chat with David. Andy Murray takes on Rafael Nadal today at Wimbledon. I think Nadal is the real deal and is different class to Gasquet who Murray beat on Monday. Nadal is 9/2 on to win today while Murray is 7/2. The other day Murray was 8/11 to win against Gasquet so it just shows you how difficult it will be for Murray today but good luck Andy! 2nd July '08
Well Done Murray! I expect most of the country were watching Andy Murray last night beating Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon. Murray came back from two sets down and a break down to win. It was a cracking match and the crowd got fully involved and gave the Scot plenty of support. It looks like the Brit has won the crowd over and taken on from Tim Henman with the hill being known as Murray Mount. I wonder what Murray's odds were to win the match after two sets had been played? I bet you could have won a mint on him (there is a joke there somewhere, Murray mint!). Let's hope Andy can carry the momentum forward when he takes on Nadal next in the quarter finals. I bet there will be a lot of people camping and queuing already to try and get tickets for Wednesday. I went to Wimbledon several years ago and watched Rod Laver, I recommend a visit if you ever get the chance. National Hunt racing is very quiet this week with only jumps racing at Worcester, two meetings at Perth and Market Rasen on Sunday. We do have a few entries at Worcester and Market Rasen where we might have a couple of runners but otherwise the staff are being kept busy with preparing the yard for when the winter horses come back in from their summer holidays. 1st July '08
World Gone Mad?! Fourty Acers ran well in the Summer National at Uttoxeter. Our eight year old looked to be going well turning into the straight but I'm not quite sure whether he got the four miles. He picked up a nice little bit of place money and I am sure it will not be long before this ultra consistent little horse will be back in the winner enclosure again. Mutual Friend also ran well to finish second and David has his summer horses in fine form at the moment and pictured below are a few of them on the gallops this morning.
I keep seeing the ante-post prices for next season's Cheltenham Festival and see that for the Gold Cup Ladbrokes go 4/6 Denman. I cannot believe they get anyone to back a horse at that sort of price when the race is still nine months away. You cannot get 11/10 with Paddy Power although it is still not a price that I would like to take for a race so far away. When you work in a yard you know all what can go wrong and Denman will probably have a couple of races before the Festival and whenever you race a horse there are always risks. If you have taken the 4/6 good luck! Has security gone mad?! I see that at Wimbledon they stopped a young girl going in with a pair of binoculars! They confiscated them in case they were used for surveillance. It seems ridiculous, what are they going to take away next? They would have probably taken away John McEnroe's racket because it was a dangerous weapon when he threw it about! Has health and safety gone too far?! 30th June '08
Summer National It is a big day at Uttoxeter today, it is the Summer National worth £34,000 to the winner. If you are going to the races allow plenty of time to get there as the traffic will be very heavy. MCP has won this race in the past so let us hope that David gets a good run with Fourty Acers. He has won his last two starts over hurdles and is in good form at home and should have an each way chance in a competitive race. Uttoxeter is a good course with plenty of hospitality boxes and food outlets. It was the late Sir Stanley Clarke who really got the track off the ground and made plenty of changes. Also when you went to the track Stan would greet you with a big smile and couldn’t wait to show you the area of the track he wanted to improve next. He had an infectious way and it rubbed off on everybody around him, we still miss you Stan. David also has two other runners at Uttoxeter. Mutual Friend goes in the first race and is looking to follow up his recent success at Aintree while Rapid Pete is having only his second run over hurdles and is looking to improve on his debut which was at Newton Abbot. David also has a runner on the flat as he searches for his first winner under this code. Wise Owl runs in the 4.40pm race at Salisbury where he is top weight in quite a competitive race. Martin Dwyer is on board and we hope he runs well here. 29th June ‘08
Friday's Action There is a great picture of Royston Ffrench in the Racing Post today. The saddle slipped on Sadeek 50 yards from the line and he was hanging on the horses neck with both of his feet on the same side of the horse. He made a brilliant recovery, a fantastic piece of riding. The jockey got lots of applause from the crowd and also fellow jockeys although he did have to give up the rest of his rides as he had sore ribs. Well done Royston! I see that Leicester had to abandon its last two races yesterday as the jockeys said that the bend was like an ice rink. You would think that they could sort the going out in this day and age, especially on the bend. They seem to build million pound grandstands yet they cannot sort out the most important thing, the ground the horses race on, or is that the most important thing?! I see the winner of the seller at Market Rasen yesterday was bought in for £5,200 and the fifth place horses was claimed for £6,400. This one is an 11 year old who was beaten 20 lengths, am I missing something? 28th June '08
Horsepower! It seems that most of the experts agree that the in foal mare rule would would be ridiculous. Mark Johnson who is a vet as well as a top class trainer has said that when you start thinking about publishing this information everything is becoming a complete joke. As I said yesterday I agree with him that we do not need this information as well as everything else a horse does and does not do. John McCririck seem to be calling for the immediate introduction of this mares in foal rule. However it just seems to me that he always has to go against whatever most of the experts think, probably just to get his name in the papers! We were down at the local pub last night, The Culm Valley with owner William Frewen and we were met by over 200 motorbikes of every description. Some had sidecars and there were some really vintage bikes and also many 'Harley's'. It was very interesting and there was probably more horsepower there than Comply or Die had in the Grand National! It was in fact a meeting of the AJS matchless motorbike club and they put on a special barbeque with a road pig which tasted fabulous. The picture below is of MCP and Tom Scu admiring the horse power with Keith who comes from Barnstaple. 27th June '08
Form Guide I think that soon when we look at a horses form in the Racing Post that each runner will need a page on the latest things that are going on with that horse. I can see it being something like this, blinkers, tongue tie, bar bit, in foal, blood test, droppings, worked on turf, worked on the all-weather, schooled well, did not eat up etc and I am only talking about the jockey! When will it all stop? I know that first time blinkers can improve a horse but a Newmarket vet says there is no evidence a mare will run faster if she is in foal. That is a debate that is currently going on. Should the public know if a mare is running in foal? If you listen to the television it seems that everyone knows she is in foal so why do we need more information put along side the runners in the Racing Post?! 26th June '08
More Winners We had two winners and a second at Newton Abbot last night bringing David's season tally to 20 so far. Indian Pipe Dream kicked off the evening nicely winning the first race under Tom Scudamore. I did say you should forgive him for his last run at Towcester as you do seem to get horses who run below par on that course as there is a very stiff uphill finish of about three furlongs. Newton Abbot suited our gelding as did the step up in trip and application of a tongue strap which all helped. Tom Scu gave our six year old a nice patient ride and he won well and should be able to win again.
I'm So Lucky was our second winner of the evening, jumping extremely well he was very quick over his fences and won like a 1/2 shot should. I thought that it was a fairly competitive novice chase for this time of year and I am sure he will go on to much better things. There should also be more winners to come out of this race as well. Star of Germany could not complete his hat-trick over fences but he ran another good race. Carrying a big weight he travelled and jumped very well but just found one too good. He has improved immensely of late, he is very consistent and there should be more races to be won with him. 25th June '08
Another Body Blow for Owners Star Of Germany has been raised 23lb over fences and low and behold raised 11lb over hurdles for standing in his box. There is only one loser and that's the owner which will reflect on the whole industry. I only hope that horses are dropped as quickly. When they get beat over fences, will the hurdle rating plummet? Amir El Jabal was dropped 7lb over hurdles last week and his chase mark was un altered, there's only one way. What does all this mean? The owners will not pay training fees without a chance of winning. This will affect all middle to low class horses so there will be more sold, prices will decrease and people will realise the down turn. Top class horses will not suffer in the same way. This is only the beginning for the poor owner who pays for everyone's enjoyment. Virtual racing here we come! Star Of Germany is 8 years old and he has only ever won 1 hurdle race. Get on him tonight. 24th June '08
Ground &
Grass It seems quite a few tracks are having problems with the ground. I see that Wetherby who have only had hurdle races there recently said they will hopefully have their chase course back in action in October. I read what they have done to the ground and it seems very complicated to me. "We have got compaction treatments, which involve a vertidrain and an earthquake process - a subterranean piece of equipment which shatters compaction". Its amazing I cannot stop the grass growing on my lawn. At my golf club they now hollow tyne the greens about 4 times a year to help grass grow. The course is on the very top of a cliff and the earth does not go down very far so you get the grass roots turning around and coming up to the surface. The Wetherby people say that they want to stress the grass a little because that pushes the roots down but they don't want to stress it too much. You cannot believe that they are talking about grass. I bet Percy Thrower would not put it in those terms. I see also in the Chatroom in The Racing Post they are talking about bias with the draw in the straight course. The old days were not so bad. A break for the jumpers in the summer and no watering. At least you knew what sort of ground you were going to get. These days with watering you get all sorts of descriptions. Recently I heard a jockey say that it was firm, good and soft in places! 24th June '08
Hats Off
To Her Majesty Congratulations to Her Majesty for having a 2 year old Royal Ascot winner with Free Agent. He stayed on really well over 7f ridden by Richard Hughes and is The Queen's 20th Royal Ascot Winner, her last being Blueprint in 1999.
I noticed that one of her winners was a mare called Almeria in 1957. I have just been reading an interesting book about Harry Carr who was The Queen's jockey for 20 years. I read an amusing story about Almeria and how she was so intelligent. Capt Boyd-Rochfort did wonders to train her and one day when she was being prepared to take on Vincent O'Brien's Ballymoss she dug her toes in so many times on the gallops and refused to budge. The 'Captain' said to Harry Carr there is only one thing we can do, we will have to take her to Ascot next week to gallop, she may be better away from Newmarket. So at the Royal meeting in June Almeria was due to gallop at 8.30 with a lead horse over 1½ mile. Her Majesty was informed and with some guests at Windsor Castle would ride over to watch the work. Beautiful morning, everything in place, Sammy Milbanks riding the lead Michalino was at the 1½ starting gate and Tich Fox assistant starter there with his long tom to crack should there be any problems. There followed the most frustrating and embarrassing 45 minutes of Harry Carr's life: 'Almeria would not move, after 8/10 tries she would not budge. All the time I was aware of The Queen's binoculars trained on me. After losing the battle I got off and made my way across to The Royal Box feeling like a naughty school boy going to the headmaster and thinking of an excuse. I spoke to The Queen who was immediately understanding and put me at ease. There is an old saying. You can take a horse to water but you can not make it drink. This was amended 100 years ago to you can take a horse to water but only Fred Archer can make it drink!' She ran a fine race and finished 2nd to Ballymoss by 3 lengths. 23rd June '08 BIG TIMER TIPPED SATURDAY, 20/1 WINNER! HOPE YOU WERE ON!
Freddie Williams It looks like we have lost the last of the great bookmakers. Freddie Williams has died at the age of 65. This is the bookie that used to take J P McManus's bets. The first bet he took off JP was a £90,000 to £40,000 on Buckside at Cheltenham in 1999 and the horse finished second. They say that Freddie lost more than £900,000 to JP 2 years ago. Do you remember he also got mugged at gun point when leaving the course and was robbed of £70,000. He was certainly the last of his breed, the old fashioned bookie that would stand a bet. Can you imagine ringing up one of the big firms and asking for a £100,000 bet. I would think that they would put the phone down on you. Unless you were a big losing punter. He was a real character and there's not many of them left in the book making world of accountants. Anyway Freddie will be greatly missed by everyone he was honourable, well respected and kind. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. 23rd June '08
Yeats Royal Ascot is over for another year. They got away with the weather for much of the week and ladies could wear all their best frocks. My best memories will be of Yeats winning the Gold Cup for the 3rd time. I know most people do not breed horses to win staying races but the public know of Yeats because he has been around for a while. Let’s hope he stays sound and comes back for a 4th win next year. If he went as a stallion it would probably be as a National Hunt stallion. Please keep him in training he is a magnificent horse. It’s a bit like our jumping stars, they are around a lot longer and the public take them in to their hearts because we see them year in year out. The time is coming up at Wimbledon so we must expect a lot of rain. It always rains during Wimbledon. Let’s hope we do not have Cliff singing again. It would be better to have the French man who sang rain drops keep falling on my head from the Butch Cassidy film. You know who I mean, no not Maurice Chavilali. 22nd June ‘08
Last Day Today is the last day at Royal Ascot. It used to be Ascot Heath a few years ago but now top hats have to be worn. It has been a fabulous week with lots of good races. Yeats was truly remarkable to win 3 Gold Cups and it has been a great week for Aiden O'Brien. Today they really fancy Macarthur in the Hardwicke stakes, to give J Murtagh another winner and win the Top Ascot jockey. Although Steve Drowne is only one behind him with 3 rides to go. He has a good ride on Sakhee's Secret in the 3.45pm race taking on Takeover Target. In the 4.45pm race, the Wokingham stakes, Big Timer is 8lb well in and would have an each way chance. Another nap on the text yesterday. I am still inform and like you hopefully have had a profitably Ascot. 21st June '08
Winners
17 & 18! We had two winners at Towcester last night. Both Avant Gardiste and Herne Bay ran very well and won easily. Tom Scudamore gave them great rides and it was another good evening for the yard.
I must say something about the Gold Cup winner Yeats. He has now won this race 3 times and is one of the great stayers of all time. Did you see after the finishing line he really lashed out with his back feet, luckily he did not catch another horse or jockey, he looked like he meant it. Lets hope they bring this full horse back to try and win 4 Gold Cups or maybe he will become a National Hunt Stallion. I know what I would rather do! We had 5 winners on the Pipeline yesterday. Michita and Yeats were my 2 Royal Ascot selections, Dickie Le Davoir at Leicester and Herne Bay each way at 8/1 and Avant Gardiste at 15/8 at Towcester. Call Pipeline 0900 3900 900 from 8am calls cost 60p per min and the update line 09060 400 901 from 10am calls cost £1.50 per min. Also if you get the text tips to your phone we had South Central 11/4, Yeats 11/8 and Colony 11/2 so we had three winners out of four, a 56/1 win treble. Can you afford not to take the text tips. To subscribe text PIPE to 84010 . Texts cost £1.50 per message. To leave the service text PIPE STOP to 84010. 20th June '08
Winner
16! Another positive ride from Tom Scu who made all on Black Anshan at Worcester yesterday. Tom only had to keep our 6 year old up to his work and he won by 3 1/2 lengths. He is an Irish point winner so his future looks over the larger obstacles. Mind you he can win some more of these staying hurdle races first.
When I watch the BBC I just wonder if they are more concerned with the fashion. Lets remember Royal Ascot is in fact a horse racing meeting. Sometimes on the BBC I have my doubts. They even have a cat walk with models coming out wearing the latest fashion. Is the draw so important. I quote Frankie Dettori after Bankable got beat. 'All the front runners were stand side and I had a bad draw. The first 3 home were drawn 4, 1 and 5 and I was drawn 25'. Trainer Luca Cumani said ' Its a shame a course like this has such a draw bias'. If we are not careful the draw at Ascot will become as important as it is at Chester racecourse. Low numbers win. Surely Dettori and Cumani know what they are talking about. I hope you are phoning the Pipeline. We had 4 winners on the line yesterday, that makes it 10 in all so far this week. We had 3 text tip winners yesterday including a 13/2. 19th June '08
Winners
14 & 15!! There was a big crowd at Newton Abbot last night and we had a good time with 2 winners. Star Of Germany absolutely bolted up under Tom Scu and it looks like he could easily follow up. Mind you I did think that they went a bit quick and Tom just picked them off when they got a bit tired. Leo's Lucky Star won the hurdle race. I thought it was a decent race for this time of year. Tom held this one up and came through to win ok. He might have just idled a bit in front. Tom Scu looks stronger in the saddle and is riding with a lot of confidence. My wife backed the first winner at 22/1 so she was gloating for the rest of the evening in the box. We had the yards sponsor Sarah Clifford of Bathwick Tyres there, in fact she excepted the prize for Star Of Germany as the owner Mr Roger Brookhouse was not present.
Mamlook ran a cracker at Royal Ascot and only just got beat a head by Missoula. Ryan Moore held our 4 year old up to get the 2m 4f trip. He gave it a good enough ride. Probably coming wide might have cost him a bit of ground. It would have been a good story if David's first flat winner had been at Ascot. 18th June '08
The
Ascot Stakes I was looking at the trainers in the 4.55pm race at Royal Ascot and it looks more like a jump race with 11 of the runners being trained by National Hunt trainers. MCP won this race in 2002 and 2003. These long distance races on the flat were always races that MCP targeted. David is trying to continue the family tradition and has Mamlook running in the race with Ryan Moore on board.
If you are going to Royal Ascot allow plenty of time as the traffic is normally very congested and you also need some time to look at all the fillies in their best summer outfits! I watched Tiger Woods win the 18 hole play off for the US Open yesterday against Rocco Mediate. He now only needs 4 more majors to catch up Jack Nicholas. If any of you play golf you will know what a difficult sport it is, so Woods must be the greatest sportsman on the planet. Some of the putts he made on the 3rd round were unbelievable, if you have played golf in America you will know how slick those greens are. Anyway lets enjoy Tiger and lets hope that he comes over for our open, the real test! 17th June '08
Winner
13! Quarry Town ran well and won by 18 lengths with Tom Scudamore on board over fences at Stratford yesterday. He was our 13th winner this season.
This warm weather seems to be making the jockeys weigh in light. I see another jockey weighed in light at Stratford yesterday. Frankie Dettori did the same at Sandown earlier in the week. They put it down to the hot weather. I can understand the jump boys losing weight, they have normally got plenty to lose especially when they are quite big and heavy. It would seem strange then for the flat boys to weigh in light has most of them are struggling to do the light weights. Anyway Paul Moloney picked up a 3 day ban at Stratford for the offence. Ryan Moore looks a fair bet at 3/1 to be Royal Ascot Top Jockey. I know he has never ridden a winner at the royal meeting but at the moment there's no jockey riding better and he has the backing of the Stoute team. 16th June '08
Photos There have been some great pictures in The Racing Post recently, taken by their chief photographer Edward Whitaker. Saturdays was a photo of all the stretch limos in Ascot car park. There looks to be hundreds of them. Edward comes down the yard from time to time and takes photos of the horses. The last time he came he told me to buy a much better camera for taking photos of the horses jumping on our schooling gallops. I have now got a Canon 400 D EOS and as you can see when we put the action shots on the website they are much clearer. Anyway Edward was very helpful. I don’t think at the moment he has got any competition but who knows what will happen in the future.
I see some of the firms are offering non runner, no bet at Ascot. Also ¼ odds on a place all races so make sure that you bet with the right firm. There’s a great advert in The Racing Post from a top hat shop. Toffs-R-Us, so if you need a shiny top hat for Royal Ascot go and look at their site. 15th June ‘08
Winner
12! I thought that Tom Scu gave Mutual Friend a cracking ride at Aintree last night. As you know he can be a bit tricky, he always travels well but does not always go through with his effort. Tom held on to him and kept putting him behind the other runners. When he asked him to go and win his race he did it nicely. I don't think that he knew he had a race. Also the price was good, forecast slightly odds on in the Racing post, he touched 13/8 against in shops, so it was a good night for the yard.
I was talking about selling races the other day so it was good to see 13 year old Redemption win the claimer at Market Rasen. I know he has been a lot better than a claimer in his younger days. He had to be ridden out by Paddy Brennan to win and beat the younger favourite L'oudon by 1 1/4 lengths. He was trained and owned by Nigel Twiston-Davies and rated 112 so I don't think he can win a handicap off that mark so its claimers he can be competitive in. At the end of the race he was claimed for £6,000. 14th June '08
Happy
Birthday Scu!! Star Of Germany won very easily at Fontwell yesterday and could easily follow up maybe in slightly better grade. I also thought that Wise Owl ran a good race to be second to Panjo Bere. The Gary Moore trained runner was rated better than us over hurdles but Wise Owl jumped very well and surely will find races over fences to win.
Its Peter Scudamore 50th Birthday. If you have got a Racing Post go to page 61 and you will see there is a Happy Birthday wish from the team at Pond House. Great Jockey, I put him just behind AP in my list of jockeys that we have had at Pond House. If you had punted one you always wanted Scu to be on it especially from the last fence or hurdle because he was very strong in the saddle. Anyway Happy 50th Scu and where did they get that picture from? It was not after you just got of High Knowle, now that's another story! Peter Scu when he retired was the most successful jockey in the history of National Hunt racing.
His career total of 1,678 winners was the highest ever achieved by a jump jockey. He was champion jockey a record 8 times. The previous best was Gerry Wilson and John Francome who each took seven titles. Of course this has now been surpassed by the great AP McCoy but it was a magnificent achievement by anyone's standards. Scu's first winner for Martin Pipe was Hieronymous in the Oyster Novices' Hurdle at Haydock on 2nd March 1985. Throughout his career he rode a total of 792 winners for the Pipe yard. 13th June '08
Selling
Races There are six races this evening at Fontwell and can you guess which two races have got the most runners in?! Well, it is the selling handicap chase with 11 runners and the selling handicap hurdle with 16 runners. It is quite unusual for a course to have two selling races on the same card but it just shows that there is a need for them. There are a lot of horses about which are rated low or older horses that are not showing there true form and these are the only type of races that they can be competitive in. These days they seem to be very genuine selling races and there seems to be less horses claimed or sold at the auction which is held after the race. Years ago we would look at every selling or claiming race to see if there were any potential stars in the field but you certainly don't get any Make a Stand's running in claimers anymore. I would think that he will be the last ever claiming horses to win a champion hurdle. 12th June '08
Royal Ascot It seems that the papers are full of the build up for Royal Ascot. I must say that it is not my favourite place to watch racing from (I look like a penguin in a top hat and tails!) You get lots of people who have no interest in the horses and just have picnics in the car parks and never move. I don't mind them because they do not get in the way of the real racing people. Why can they not have 2 Royal Ascots. One for the posers and one for the real racing people. Why not have a Royal Plumpton and tell them that they have just changed the fixture and place one year. MCP used to line up horses to win at this fixture. He won over 5 furlongs in The Windsor Castle with Atall Atall (Paul Edd |
