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After such a brilliant first season with David in charge at Pond House we thought it would be hard to repeat, but I think you will agree that he has more than surpassed his debut season. With two Cheltenham Festival winners, a Grand National winner and a host of other big Saturday successes to his name, it has gone better than he ever could have dreamed of. Although slightly down on winners numbers wise, we did reach the magic 100 on the final day of the season at Sandown courtesy of Mous of Men. Prize money however has been fantastic. With earnings over £800,000 up on last season and totalling nearly £2½ million it just goes to show the quality of races that we have won and what a great foundation David is building to ensure many more years of success. All this has meant that David has finished in second place behind Paul Nicholls in the trainers championship, one place better than last year. David could not have achieved all this success without the support of all his loyal owners, jockeys and the great team back at Pond House for which he is most grateful. The 2007-2008 National Hunt Season has been, as always, a terrific spectacle for so many reasons and now as the horses and ourselves are looking forward to our summer holidays it is a good time to draw breath and reflect on just how well things have actually gone. Scotland Yard - The First Winner of the Season
June was a little quieter with six successes but it did include a valuable victory for Tamarinbleu who made the long trip to Perth worthwhile, winning the 3 mile Perth Gold Cup under Andrew Glassonbury. Tamarinbleu’s achievements have been one of the many highlights of the season. After this win he went on his summer holidays before returning to action in December. His pillar to post ride from the front by Denis O’Regan, who was deputising for the injured Tom Scudamore, in the Boylesports Gold Cup was an awesome display. Under a hefty weight he jumped his rivals into the ground and came home strongly over 2 miles 5 furlongs and he never saw another rival. If these two big race successes were not enough this remarkable horse showed the very classy Twist Magic a clean pair of heels over 2 miles in the Victor Chandler chase at Ascot when ridden by Tom Scu. A truly amazing set of victories over a variety of distances. This earned him a rating of 167 which rates him as one of the best chasers in the country, a real star of the Pond House season.
As the winter horses returned from their summer breaks at the end of July the winners were still ticking over and during this quiet period of National Hunt racing we had still managed to reach 34 winners by the end of September. October is when jumps racing starts to get going and Sainte Kadette was victorious at the first Cheltenham meeting of the season. Things really kicked into gear in November and our first real big success came in the Haldon Gold Cup when Pablo Du Charmil was given a superb front running ride at Exeter by Tom Scudamore to beat some very useful rivals. Just a few days later the yard was celebrating further success when Abragante won the Badger Ales chase at Wincanton under a very canny ride by Timmy Murphy just getting up on the line to prevail.
During November Acambo made a winning debut over fences at Ascot and consequently he was one of the leading fancies for the Arkle. Unfortunately he suffered an injury which ended is campaign prematurely. There are always great levellers to all racing highs and Acambo and Well Chief being ruled out for the season was a big blow for all concerned, but they will be back! November ended with a double at Newbury which included a success for the little filly Soliya who had four wins to her name during the season. Other multiple winners included Prince De Bersy (3 wins), Brousse En Feux (3), Very Cool (3), Ashkazar (3) and another outstanding performer of the season, Lough Derg who also had three wins. ‘Douglas’ had an absolutely amazing season finishing top hurdler and second overall in the Order of Merit series behind Kauto Star. This competition went right down to the wire at the end of the season and was great reward for showing a consistently high level of form. Having run with great credit and being placed early in the season he gained a few nice points before he returned to his favourite track, Ascot and beat the best staying hurdlers around in the Long Walk hurdle under an enterprising ride from Tom Scu. He showed this was no fluke when giving away lumps of weight to rivals over 2m3f again at Ascot. He looked beaten turning for home but a never say die performance from horse and jockey saw them get up to win close home. I think that it was from this point we started to think that maybe he could win the Order of Merit title and he was campaigned accordingly. Putting as disappointing run at Cheltenham behind him he put in another truly remarkable display in the Spirit hurdle at Fontwell. Having looked to have absolutely no chance down the back straight he once again showed the true courage which has seen him warm the hearts of many fans throughout the season. He sprouted wings and battled back from an impossible position to beat high class horses Elusive Dream and My Way De Solzen. He ran another cracker at Aintree over three miles and after the National meeting he was only six points adrift of leader Kauto Star. With nothing to lose and Doug in flying form at home, he made the trip to Ayr to run in the last race of the series the Scottish Champion hurdle over two miles, a trip of at least half a mile short of his best. Once again he did not let his supporters down and ran a good race without finishing in the points. This tough and genuine little horse has done all connections proud this season.
December saw the winners flowing in and the 50th of the season was Brousse En Feux at Hereford ridden by our yard amateur Danny Cook. This formed part of a double on the day and we had two more doubles before Christmas and they were big ones at that! David had a brilliant Cheltenham in December. Over the Creek won a valuable handicap chase on the Friday while we won both feature races on the card on Saturday. Tamarinbleu won the Boylesports Gold Cup while in the very next race Osana put up a magnificent front running display in the Grade 1 International Hurdle. Osana had finished second on his seasonal reappearance in the Greatwood hurdle at Cheltenham in atrocious conditions in November and this scintillating performance saw him vying for favouritism for the Champion hurdle. He went straight to the Festival and again performed very well finishing second to Katchit. He was then second on his final outing at Aintree, capping another fine season. He is a very exciting horse for next season whether he goes chasing or stays over hurdles.
The following Saturday produced further big race success from Vodka Bleu who returned to form with a fine win at Ascot along with Lough Derg’s victory in the Long Walk. By the end of the year we had reached the 66 winner mark and Vodka Bleu continued the New Year as we had left the old, on a high, winning at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day. January also contained some big race wins with another high profile double at Ascot and An Accordion added more first class success the following week. He won the Skybet chase at Doncaster under Johnny Farrelly. Our lightly raced gelding battled on well to deny Ungaro and went to Cheltenham as one of the pre race favourites for the William Hill handicap chase. He did not disappoint and stayed on strongly up the Cheltenham hill to give Tom Scu his first Festival Winner and David is second ever. An Accordion is a lovely old fashioned chasing type and it is hoped he will improve again after a summer break.
A double on February 1st at Chepstow was the first of nine winners this month which was capped off nicely with Lough Derg’s win at Fontwell. As the countdown to Cheltenham really began in March the horses continued in fine form with Tango Royal winning a big Saturday race at Newbury and Ashkazar winning the Imperial Cup at Sandown. Ashkazar is a lovely four year old gelding who was an impressive winner at Sandown. He then went on to try and win the same bonus that Gaspara completed 12 months earlier when taking part in the Fred Winter juvenile handicap hurdle at the Festival on the first day. He ran a brilliant race but was just denied to finish second. He is a tremendous prospect for next season.
The Pond House string contested three races on the opening day at Cheltenham and two fine seconds was capped with An Accordion’s brilliant victory. Not a bad start to the week! As we all know the second day of the Festival was abandoned due to the destruction caused by high winds. This led to an unprecedented move to reschedule all the races, which meant a bumper 10 race card on the Thursday and nine races on Friday. It was fantastic effort by everybody concerned to ensure that no races were lost and all credit must go to Cheltenham and their staff. Mind you, it was pretty hectic in the Pond House office on the Wednesday morning I can assure you! Our runners headed to Cheltenham early on Thursday and the day started well with Over the Creek finishing second in the four mile National Hunt chase. The performance of the day from our runners was Our Vic’s impressive display in the RyanAir chase. Fitted with blinkers for the first time ‘Vic’ jumped from the front and led them a merry dance under Timmy Murphy and stayed on strongly to win. His performances this season have been outstanding. He started his campaign with a good run in the King George at Kempton finishing second to Kauto Star. He had another good second at Cheltenham in January behind Knowhere where he just failed to stay out the trip, before his win at the Festival. This would have finished the season on a high by any horses standards but he probably saved his best to last with a thrilling win in the Totesport Bowl at Aintree where he just got up on the line to beat Kauto Star by a nose. It has probably got to be a career best effort and having looked beaten turning in he rallied gamely under a great Timmy Murphy ride. A phenomenal horse who will again be contesting all the top races this season.
Back at Cheltenham we did not have any more winners and although we did suffer the very sad loss of top hurdler Whispered Promises, Cheltenham was a great success for David. With two winners and three seconds, this was a fantastic achievement and purely highlighted David had got his team to the Festival in peak form, for which he must take great pride and credit. The same can be said for Aintree as these few days went very well for the yard. Even though we took a smaller team to the National meeting, the horses ran extremely well. As mentioned earlier, Our Vic’s success on the first day got the ball rolling but he was supported by some fine runs from I’m So lucky who finished second as well as Lough Derg who also ran well. David only had two runners on the Friday and Tamarinbleu ran another great race to finish third behind top chasers Voy Por Ustedes and Master Minded. Then came Saturday, the big day, Grand National day. There was a great deal of excitement and anticipation in the yard that morning as everybody knew that all of our five runners in the big race could easily run well and be in with a chance of getting placed, even though you do need a lot of luck. Osana kicked off our day and ran well finishing second to course specialist Al Eile in the Aintree Hurdle. Then came the main event. Let me tell you it was very hard keeping an eye on all of our runners but they all made it over the first few fences! Milan Deux Mille led the field displaying an excellent round of jumping for a circuit before running out of steam. Madison Du Berlais and Joaaci were fallers but thankfully both have emerged unscathed. Vodka Bleu did not like the National fences much and was pulled up but his stable mate Comply or Die was the opposite and absolutely loved his experience. Given a peach of a ride by Timmy Murphy he was always up with the leaders and jumped from fence to fence (although there was a little scare at the third if anyone spotted it?!). The rest shall we say is history and I think you will have all read the dozens of pieces written about the World’s greatest steeple chase. A once in a lifetime experience and believe you me we have still not come down to earth at Pond House, and let’s hope we don’t for a while yet!
Comply or Die, a nine year old gelding nursed back to peak health by David after two years off through injury. A magnificent training performance. A winner of three hurdle races and three chases as well as finishing runner up in the Royal and SunAlliance chase in 2004 he was a high class horse. Fourth in the 2005 Hennessy he suffered a tendon injury and was not seen on the course again until at Cheltenham in October 2007. After a couple of quiet runs when he was a bit ring rusty he showed us all his old sparkle finishing second in the Tommy Whittle at Haydock. A trip to Newcastle in February saw a fantastic performance where he carried top weight to victory in the Eider chase over four miles. This led to him being made one of the favourites for the Grand National and he was delivered to Aintree on the day in tip top condition. Well done to David and the team for a truly incredible day which will live long in the memory. The days following the National are a bit of a blur as everybody wanted a piece of the horse and David! Now the dust is just staring to settle and we have had time to reflect it is still quite unbelievable. A big thank you to everyone for all your congratulations cards, emails, faxes and messages it is very much appreciated. Work continued as normal in the yard and the winners continued throughout April. Mamlook won well at Ascot and Its Tough made an impressive debut at Worcester. On the penultimate day of the season we had a double with Le Beau Bai winning at Newton Abbot and Royal Rationale winning at Chepstow. On the final Saturday when David Johnson was crowned Champion Owner for the sixth time, his colours were carried to victory by Mous of Men to gain the landmark 100 winners.
The 2007-2008 season has bee a tremendous success for David and the Pond House team. David has attracted a number of new horses and owners which can only bolster the Pipe team for future years and for which he is most grateful. David will continue to work hard throughout the summer to recruit new stars, so if anyone is looking to purchase a new horse feel free to give him a ring and have a chat. As with last season our 100 winners have been ridden by no less than 14 different jockeys. Stable jockey Tom Scu has partnered 44 of our winners, Timmy Murphy 20, A P McCoy 13, our conditional Johnny Farrelly 10 and our amateur Danny Cook 3 amongst them. We have also just heard that Danny has been selected as the British jockey to take part in the Fegentri series which means he will get to go all over Europe and ride. Well done and good luck to him. Of the 100 winners they have come from 65 different horses, while David has also had 76 second places and 79 third places. Thank you all once again for all your support over the last season and here’s wishing everyone a successful year and good health. We look forward to seeing you all racing very soon. |
