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RECENT TEXT TIP WINNERS INCLUDE: ***5 Year Old Irish Point to Pointer For Sale***
This five year old is by
outstanding jumps sire Old Vic and
Citrus Stars At Goodwood! MCP and Carol have been up at Goodwood for the last couple of days and it really was a glorious time for them. Junior ran a very good race to finish second in the Goodwood Stakes on Wednesday, and yesterday I steered them and all my readers in the direction of Citrus Star who won the 7f handicap at the rewarding odds of 8/1 - I hope a few of you were on!
Illustrious Blue was a worthy winner of the
Goodwood Cup yesterday afternoon - he is something of a course
specialist having now won seven times at the Sussex track, including
over seven furlongs! He really is an admirable and versatile
performer, although perhaps some of the gloss was taken off the race
when Ascot Gold Cup runner-up Age of Aquarius broke down and had to be
taken from the course in a horse ambulance. Hopefully this is not
the last we have seen of him on the racecourse. ***** I see the Formula One circus rolls into Hungary this weekend. I cannot understand how anyone could possibly use the sport as a betting medium following last week's race in Germany. The result certainly appeared to be contrived and the team in question was fined for using team orders - I think I will be watching something else instead this Sunday...maybe a re-run of Eastenders or something! 30th Jul '10
Junior Goes Close At Goodwood! Junior put up another good performance at Glorious Goodwood yesterday afternoon when a brave runner-up in the Goodwood Stakes. Our Ascot Stakes hero was beaten only 1 1/2 lengths behind Ghimaar despite being 8lbs worse off with that rival from the Royal meeting. He stuck right on until the end over this marathon trip of 2m5f and it will be really exciting to see him back over obstacles at some point. ***** Watching the race after Junior, The Vintage Stakes I was amazed to see the well backed favourite, Crown Prosecutor carrying the colours of David Johnson. It turns out that DJ had not swept to purchase the promising two year old, but instead the colours of the Sangster family and Sam Sangster had been mixed up to accidentally match Mr Johnson's. The clerk of the scales had not noticed the discrepancy, and then to make matters worse his quote that he "checked him as he appears in the racecard" is also inaccurate - the colours appeared as they should have in the Sussex track's racecard! 29th Jul '10
Super Somerset! David and MCP went to the 20Twenty match at the County Ground in Taunton for the Somerset versus Northants game. There were plenty of spectators present including former Somerset and England paceman Andrew Caddick, and Somerset and India opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar. There was also a number of owners and racing enthusiasts at the match and David was kept busy talking for much of the evening. It was a great match and a fantastic result with the local team progressing to the semi-finals on 14th August - come on you Cidermen! ***** Some of my contacts at the top yards have told me of some of their horses to follow that are working well at home. I am told that Henry Cecil's Breeders' Cup winner Midday has been working well on the watered gallops during the last couple of weeks. Henry will have her spot-on for a repeat attempt in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood on Saturday. Chris Wall's Citrus Star looked to be unlucky in running last time out at Epsom, and has apparently been burning up the gallops since that run. I understand that he could run tomorrow and could make amends for his last outing. The Richard Hannon trained Libranno won a Group 2 contest last time out, but seems to have improved again since. He is an intended runner in the Richmond Stakes on Friday and he should prove difficult to beat. From the same yard, Royal Exchange is understood to be in good order and he is entered in a nursery at Goodwood on Friday. 28th Jul '10
Glorious Goodwood! I see that the Channel 4 Racing team have made an interesting signing for the Glorious Goodwood Festival that gets underway this afternoon. Rugby player Matt Dawson will be joining the team to go behind the scenes and learn more about our sport. Whilst in principle it seems like a good idea, I would have thought someone who has a bit of an idea about racing would have been a better host. Off the top of my head I am thinking along the lines of snooker player John Virgo - John used to own a decent sprinter called Jokist. Someone like John would certainly know the right sort of questions to ask, what is more he would be able to do it in a light-hearted and amusing manner. I think the signing of Matt Dawson is a bit like getting Gok Wan to go behind the scenes of a rugby match - the scrums would certainly be interesting! ***** I had a quick look through the jockey's championship this morning and I see that Paul Hanigan is maintaining his lead at the top of the table. He is now sixteen winners clear of Ryan Moore, and it is starting to look like a difficult task to pull that back. Could it be that we have a northern jockey winning the championship? Whatever next, a northern team winning the Premiership?! 27th Jul '10
Remembering The Hurricane I read with sadness, that snooker genius Alex "Hurricane" Higgins passed away on Saturday night - he was only 61 years of age. The word genius is used far too easily and far too often, but Alex truly was a genius. I met him a few times when I was doing table tennis exhibitions at the Pontins Holiday Camps when he stood in for Ray Reardon. Alex was a somewhat controversial character of the baize, but I can only speak as I find, and when I met him, he was very quiet and polite. Like all geniuses, Alex had another side to his character, but to me, he was responsible for bringing the sport of snooker to the general public. I still vividly recall Alex winning his second World Championship in 1982 after beating Ray Reardon 18-15 and I recall him beckoning his wife Lynn and daughter across the arena to join him. Alex was often seen on the racecourses, and started out working for Eddie Reavley when he was a youngster. I like the quote from Higgins' biographer, Sean Boru "snooker didn't make Alex, Alex made snooker". He was the people's champion and will be missed by many. ***** Those people that follow our free-to-view daily tips will have been happy on Saturday following an amazing 164/1 double. Golden Shaheen was the successful first leg when scoring well at 10/1, before Castles In The Air completed the double at the rewarding odds of 14/1 under Richard Hughes. Earlier in the week, we also gave 25/1 winner, Daytime Dreamer. These selections do not cost a penny, and can be found on our "daily tips" page. ***** I see that it is round the world yachtsman, Philip Hobbs' 55th birthday today. According to the Racing Post, he is a racehorse trainer and has trained Flagship Uberalles and Rooster Booster, but I would think that he has probably trained a few more than those two! Many happy returns Philip. 26th Jul '10
Weekend Jottings! There was a fascinating piece in the Racing Post yesterday about Sir Mark Prescott. He has some wonderful yarns to spin and they aren't all racing related, indeed, he would be the perfect guest to have on a chat show. Sir Mark is a real character, but even so he is also a stickler for tradition and everything has to be done correctly - he would be a great trainer to start out with if you were a youngster wanting to learn the ropes in the racing industry. ***** I see that a number of the racecourses are taking advantage of the good weather that we have had this summer by lining up bands to play after their meetings. Carlisle play host to Jedward after racing today - you may remember that they were those two young twins that appeared on the X Factor (they had put their fingers in an electric socket to get their hair like it was!). I'm not sure I would have been advertising them - afterall, they do want to get as many people as possible through the turnstiles! Brighton have a band called The Fabulous Fug Band on 5th & 6th August. Lead singer is Charlotte Woodman, daughter of Sussex trainer, Steve. I hope that the compere has not had too much to drink when he announces the band's arrival! Anyway, it should all be good fun so get along and go if you are local to the area. 25th Jul '10
Many Happy Returns Mark! I notice that it is Mark Perrett's 48th birthday today. Mark was a greatly underrated jockey and MCP used to put him up quite a lot - in fact, he would be one of only a handful of jockeys to win at the Cheltenham Festival and the Royal Ascot meeting (on the same horse, Balasani). Balasani was a very good stayer on the flat and over hurdles, and he was owned by Mark Smith, who is now a professional gambler (and is hopefully reading this). Having ridden on the flat, Mark Perrett used to be able to do a very light weight in National Hunt races. I remember carrying his saddle when he rode Run For Free in the Scottish National at Ayr - the valets had told me that they had to steal some lead off of the roof of the local church to put in his weight cloth and I don't think they were joking! Run For Free was a brilliant horse, but he could be a bit of a monkey at the start - I was charged with making sure that he got away okay in the Scottish National, along with Alistair Lidderdale (who is now a trainer in his own right). Anyway, sure enough Run For Free was messing about and was duly left about 75 yards before he eventually started, and I am not exaggerating! I still remember to this day, Alistair started to run to find MCP - I told him not to hurry as I knew the guv'nor was not going to be in the best of moods! Despite the burden of top-weight and giving the rest of the field a huge start, Mark kept persevering on Run For Free and the pair eventually grabbed the lead and went on to win one of the most extraordinary races I have ever seen. I told Alistair that we could now sprint to find MCP, who could now congratulate us on a job well done! Anyway, many happy returns to Mark - I guess I still owe you one for saving my bacon that day! 24th Jul '10
Stating The Obvious! I notice that the Professional Jockey's Association doctor has suggested that the dry conditions might have played their part in the number of top jockey's that are currently on the sick list. At present there are twenty top class jockeys on the sidelines - I am certainly not the brightest, but if I had to fall off a horse, I would sooner fall onto soft ground rather than firm ground. The doctor has been in that position for 18 months and has come up with the above - perhaps the PJA should have just asked the jockey's opinions, or even my own?! ***** Whenever I read a newspaper, there always seems to be another football manager cashing in a big cheque for being sacked from their club! If someone is sacked, it is usually because their performance was not up to expectations, so why on earth should they be entitled to these massive compensation payouts? Besides, no sooner have they received their golden handshake, then some other chairman is offering them another job. I see that Sven Goran Eriksson is 9/4 favourite to be given the manager's job at Fulham. Sven's name seems to come up in conjunction with just about every job that is on offer, but can anyone tell me the last time the Swede actually enjoyed any considerable success in the recent past? If he accepts the Fulham job, I really feel that he is on a hiding to nothing - Roy Hodgson did a magnificent job there and anyone will struggle to follow his achievements. 23rd Jul '10
Worcester's Old Warriors! Did anyone see the 4.20pm at Worcester yesterday afternoon? I was amazed to see that the winner and second, Marked Man and Keltic Lord were both fourteen years old! I can't remember the last time I saw a couple of veterans fighting it out in a finish like that - the third home, Thyne Spirit was a positive whippersnapper by comparison at a mere eleven years of age! Also at Worcester, I was amazed to see Mycenean Prince's starting price of 10/11. There is nothing extraordinary about that price until you consider that the horse had never won on the flat or over hurdles from sixty-four starts! Having said all that, A P McCoy had never ridden him before and the pair duly obliged by four lengths. The horse is entered up again at Uttoxeter on Monday, let's just hope for connections sake that A P is available again! ***** I hope that some of you phoned the Pipeline yesterday morning - those that did were rewarded with three winners at odds of 9/2, 5/2 and 9/4. To benefit from this great information, simply call 0900 3900 900 from 8am (calls charged at 60p per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). We were also in good form with our free-to-view daily tips yesterday with 25/1 winner Daytime Dreamer - to check out today's selections simply go to our daily tips page from 11am. ***** Looking at the cricket scores yesterday, I was saddened(!) to see the Aussies bowled out for 88 against Pakistan. In reply their opponents were 148 for 3 - the Australians are normally the first to give us a bit of stick, so it is a shame to see their proud cricketers struggling! 22nd Jul '10
Many Happy Returns! There are two birthdays to celebrate in the yard today. The first is Bathwick Tyres' Wayne Clifford, our yard sponsor and the other is Gino Paletta. Wayne is a sensible businessman who is always polite and helpful and along with his wife Sarah, contributes massively to racing with his sponsorship at race meetings up and down the country. On the other hand, Gino is one of those people that if you bump into him in a bar, you know it is going to be a late night, and you could end up anywhere! We stay with Gino during the Grand National meeting and it normally takes a few days for me to recover! Happy birthday gentlemen! ***** I had a letter from Jack Berry on behalf of the Injured Jockeys' Fund yesterday. It said that they are going to build a complex for the injured jockeys and that people can buy a brick for £50 and have their name or their horses' name on the brick. Jack went on to say "Chester, it would be an honour to have your name engraved on one of the bricks". Jack certainly knows how to get money out of people and he does a fantastic job helping to raise money for the IJF - if you are interested you should be able to find further details on their website - tell Jack that Chester sent you! 21st Jul '10
Moore The Merrier! What a nice position champion jockey Ryan Moore finds himself in. As if being stable jockey to Sir Michael Stoute was not good enough, Ryan finds himself picking up plenty of spare rides for Richard Hannon - not a bad yard to have on standby! Seven of Ryan Moore's last nine winners have been for the Hannon stable, while he has also completed an Enlgish/Irish Oaks double on Snow Fairy for the Ed Dunlop team. Even so, Paul Hanagan is still 14 winners ahead in the jockey's championship. Hanagan's retained stable, the Richard Fahey yard have been in sparkling form with 94 winners to date, and it should set the championship up for an exciting finale as Moore tries to close the gap on the northern based jockey. Paul Hanagan has had a stellar season and yesterday broke through the century mark with a treble at Ayr, what is more his winners have come at an impressive strike rate of 20%. Add Richard Hughes into the mix as well and we are in for an exciting climax to the season on the level - it's going to be close and I wouldn't like to call which way it is going to go. ***** We schooled a few over fences yesterday morning, including recent Worcester hurdle winner Frosted Grape, who was partnered in her work by Danny Cook. As you can see, she jumped nicely for Danny and could be out again fairly soon. 20th Jul '10
No Win Situation! I think that it is about time that something is sorted out with this non-runner rule. Yesterday at Newton Abbot the well backed 5/1 chance Deadline was deemed to be a runner in the 2m3f handicap hurdle, but he refused to race and took no part whatsoever. Even so, he was under starters' orders at the time and therefore judged to have competed. It is punters who lose out as they did not get a run for their money - afterall, if you can't win, how can you lose? Perhaps there should be some sort of cut-off point after about forty or fifty yards and if any horse doesn't cover that distance of ground, it should be deemed a non-runner? If that sort is rule is not employed officially, maybe some of the bookmakers would take a view and incorporate it? I am sure that it would certainly attract more customers if there was this kind of insurance policy against "non-runners". ***** I notice that Musselburgh had an attendance of 1,500 people for their harness racing yesterday. It sounds as though the Scottish course went to quite a bit of trouble to put the event on, and even had a race for sporting personalities, it is just a shame that the day was not better supported. When I was in Sweden harness racing was a massive sport with big prize money and plenty of spectators - in fact, it was probably bigger than the flat or jump racing. 19th Jul '10
Weekend Jottings! The stable has runners at my local track, Newton Abbot this afternoon and the ground should be perfect following some midweek rain. At present the course are describing the going as good (good/soft in places), and with a £10,000 hurdle up for grabs, the prize money looks good for a Sunday jump card in the middle of the summer. ***** I see that Raymond Mould has put up a £15,000 reward for the return of the Cheltenham Gold Cup that he won with Charter Party in 1988. The trophy, along with several others, was stolen from his home last Wednesday. I just wonder, what would you do with the Cheltenham Gold Cup if you stole it? You couldn't display it or sell it, so what's the point? If anyone broke into my house, they wouldn't find any of my old table tennis trophies - they are all boxed up and in my loft. Having said that, they are all worthless and are a complete pain as they used to require cleaning all the time. The only cup that is left out in my house now is a trophy for a "Miss Lovely Legs" competition that my wife won at Butlins many years ago (and I mean MANY)! Anyway, I should get away with that one as the long-suffering Mrs Barnes still doesn't read my blog! 18th Jul '10
Quality Action From Market Rasen! There is some great jumping action at Market Rasen this afternoon for their Summer Plate meeting. The good prize money on offer has attracted quality fields and in the Listed chase there are sixteen runners with bookies going 6/1 the field. David has five runners at the meeting today and I am looking forward to watching all the action. ***** It seems to me that the champion of any tournament should be the best player...reasonable enough, but surely every player should be afforded equal opportunities and that was certainly not the case in The Open yesterday at St Andrews. If you had an early round you were at a massive advantage as the winds blew first round leader Rory McIlroy away later in the day. Tournament officials even stopped play for about an hour as the ball was oscillating around on the green. The new leader, South African, Louis Oosthuizen was back in the clubhouse on twelve under par before the winds had started. To give you some indication of how bad conditions were, Tiger Woods (who would normally drive a ball well in excess of 300 yards from the tee) could manage only 230 yards yesterday. I know that with the game being played in the great outdoors, it is subject to intervention from the elements, but with today's technology, you would think there would be some way of playing around the weather to ensure that everyone gets a fair crack of the whip! 17th Jul '10
Magnificent McIlroy! What a round of golf from Rory McIlroy at The Open yesterday. His round of 63 was the lowest opening round score in the history of Open Golf, which also equalled Paul Broadhurst's course record which he set in 1990. He seems to be a nice lad, and I was fascinated to hear him being interviewed afterwards - he put his amazing score down to the easy conditions. Now, anyone that plays golf will know that it doesn't matter what the conditions are, you still have to put the ball in the hole, and that is never easy! McIlroy is the new 10/3 favourite for the tournament with Tiger Woods now available at 9/2. If the winds and rain picks up (which they normally do at St Andrews), it only takes one bad tee shot to post a big score so I wouldn't want to getting involved at short odds. ***** I was pleased to see that common sense prevailed in Harry Findlay's appeal against his ban from racing yesterday, instead Harry was handed down a £4,500 fine. Harry wasn't stopping horses and wasn't cheating anybody, so the original ban was bordering on the ridiculous - all it would have taken was for someone to have a quiet word in Harry's ear and all this negative publicity for racing could have been avoided. I am delighted that the ban has been overturned - racing cannot afford to lose it's owners, and it certainly can't afford to be without characters like Harry who contributes so much to the sport, not just financially, but with his flamboyant personality. 16th Jul '10
Low-down On Lower! Now that Jonothan Lower has left us, a number of people have said that there must be some interesting stories to tell from his 27 years at Pond House. I certainly know of a couple of interesting stories involving the former jockey, but I am sure that I couldn't divulge all of them! I remember Jonothan riding at Aintree's Grand National meeting in 1996 - we had been staying with a friend of mine at a pub in Chester, and all I can say is that the landlord was very hospitable! When we woke Jon up the next morning, his first words were "Where am I?" - we filled him up with coffee and sent him out to ride a treble! I also learned never to challenge Jonothan to a bet. One of our owners found that one out the hard way when he bet him that he could not eat ten cream crackers in two minutes...In less than two minutes Jonothan was picking up a monkey! Anyway, Jon was a very solid jockey (I don't mean in terms of weight...or do I?) and was an excellent schooling jockey with a good brain. He was quickly able to tell you about a horse, what they needed and if they had any problems. He was a great asset to the yard, and really helped David and MCP enormously. As for the other stories, including the one involving a dress...they will have to keep for another time! ***** We enjoyed a nice winner at Worcester last night when Frosted Grape easily won the mares' novices' hurdle under Tom Scudamore. Talking of fillies', you will also see below a picture of David with a few young ladies that he met in the parade ring last night. It looks like a good night was had by all! 15th Jul '10
New Job! We have just heard news of one of our former Pond House members, Or Apple's. He has been competing at BE90 level eventing with his new owner Sue Burnell. His dressage is apparently improving all the time and his absolutely loves show jumping. He is very keen in the cross country but once he gets a bit more confident with the combination fences they plan to move up to the BE100 level with him. We are pleased to hear he is a pleasure to have at his new home and although he sometimes gets a bit excited he always tries his best! It is great to hear how are former inmates are getting on in their new careers and he is pictured competing in the show jumping at an event a bit earlier this summer.
Tiger Woods is 7/1 to win the Open Golf at St Andrews and the bookies are pushing the price out and trying to get people to back him. He did win on this course in 2000, 2005 but as you know with all sports, you have to be 100% on the job to have any chance of success at this level. With all the off the course activities going on I am pretty sure that Tiger's mind will not be 100% on the golf. If you go through the golf selections at the back of the Racing Post today there are about 20 selections. I am amazed that they are not betting on what trousers John Daly will be sporting! I think for an each way bet you could say clowns! I believe that Justin Rose at 25/1 each way and Steve Stricker at 45/1 each way could be some good bets and I can't wait for the action to start at the British open tomorrow! 14th July '10
Fixing The
Fixture List! I do enjoy listening to the punters in the betting shops in Brixham. We have a Ladbrokes and a William Hill, and the pair are just twenty three feet apart door to door - I cannot believe that either of them make a profit, but they both have plenty of machines in them and that is probably what is keeping them going. Anyway, a couple of the punters were discussing last Sunday's racing, and they suggested that the average man on the street was only able to go racing on a Saturday or Sunday. It had also not gone unnoticed that last Sunday there were no fewer than three jump meetings on and no flat, and so far this week there were four flat meetings on Monday and Tuesday and not a single National Hunt fixture. It seems to me that the race planning committee should be looking to put on a more balanced fixture list giving the customer the choice of flat or jumps meetings - it just seems like common sense to me, or am I missing something? So you can see, betting shop punters are concerned about our sport and do hold meaningful discussions rather than just talk about the page 3 form! I think that the Racing For Change commission would do very well to listen to these people and various internet forums and implement some of their suggestions - afterall, these people know and care about the future of racing. 13th Jul '10 Farewell To Jonothan Lower It was the end of an era on Saturday when Jonothan Lower finished work after twenty seven years of service at Pond House. Jonothan had been at the yard since leaving school at the age of sixteen and has been of invaluable assistance down the years. He took out his conditional jockey's licence in 1984 and was crowned champion conditional jockey in the 1986/87 season. During his career in the saddle, Jonothan rode 267 winners, including two Cheltenham Festival successes in the 1989 Supreme Novices' Hurdle aboard Sondrio and the 1995 Triumph Hurdle on Kissair. In 1996 he completed a fantastic treble at Aintree's Grand National meeting on Silver Shred, Tragic Hero and All For Luck, while he also landed big race wins in the Welsh (High Knowl, 1987)and Scottish Champion Hurdles (Sayparee, 1990) to name but a few. Unfortunately Jonothan was diagnosed as an insulin dependent diabetic in 1996 and after a prolonged and intense battle with the Jockey Club, he became the first diabetic jockey to be granted a jockey's licence in Great Britain, although the abundance of restrictions imposed made life awkward. He retired from race riding in May 1998, but stayed on at Pond House as school master, teaching all of the younger horses to jump and his experience and horsemanship have played a significant role in the success of Pond House. Jonothan has now gone to work with his brother in his motor home business near Taunton, and we would like to wish him every success and happiness with his ventures for the future. 12th Jul '10
Spain Reign
In South Africa! I watched the World Cup Final between Spain and Holland last night on television, and as usual, the big finale didn't live up to it's star billing. I think if it had not been the final, Holland would only have had eight players on the pitch. They were very lucky it was an English referee as he was very lenient with a few of the fouls. Nevertheless, the Spanish were definitely the best team in the latter stages of the tournament, and they finally put the match away in extra time. If you had £10 on FIFA's highest ranked teams you would be showing a profit of £65.59, so in the next World Cup in four years time, I would recommend that anyone just backs the highest ranked teams. ***** I am told by my mate that went to Silverstone yesterday that the queues to get into the Northampton track were horrendous. It wasn't much better coming out by the sound of it, as it was quite late yesterday evening when I spoke to him, and he was still making his way home! I am sure the cars on the tarmac inside were going much quicker. ***** Imagine retiring as a jockey before deciding to make a come-back. Well, that is what Lee Newman has decided to do - it wasn't so long ago that he stood on the scales and weighed-in as 13-13, the scales said "no coach parties!". Amazingly he has now got his weight down to 8-9 - rather than ride horses, perhaps he should sell his diet plan? I am sure there would be plenty of people out there looking for those sort of results. 12th Jul '10
Weekend
Jottings! I had often wondered whatever had happened to 1980's pop sensation Rick Astley...it transpires that he must have got lost in Wales (or was that Bonnie Tyler?). Anyway, the Lancashire legend has been found somewhere near Chepstow, and he will be playing at the racecourse on 12th August. ***** It's another great sporting weekend, with the World Cup Final taking place today between Spain and Holland. It just shows how good the Spanish team are, that the likes of Fernando Torres is struggling to get into the starting line-up. Spain are 6/5 to win in 90 minutes play, while they are 4/7 to lift the trophy. I think there will be a few goals scored, and I am looking forward to the match. One way or another, there will be a new name on the trophy tonight. Some of my mates have gone to Silverstone today for the British Grand Prix, in fact they left at four o'clock this morning...they really must be motor racing enthusiasts. They sit in the stands and watch the cars go flying past them at high speeds fifty two times and then they go home again! They tell me that you have to be there to appreciate the spectacle of it, but Formula One is not a sport that I have ever managed to get too enthusiastic about, I must be missing something! 11th Jul '10
Hughesie's
Busmans Holiday! It seems a strange course of action to me that Richard Hughes is taking a few days off in order that he does not incur a ban which would rule him out of Glorious Goodwood. It is true that Richard rides the Sussex track (particularly the straight mile course) like a dream, but I cannot think of any other sport where a sportsman takes time off rather than competing. I know that footballers are sometimes taken off the pitch by their manager after they have been cautioned so they do not get a red card and suspension, but it is not like taking a week off! "Hughsie" will be going over to India to ride in their Winter Derby. He says he has adapted his style so that he now challenges on the outside rather than waits for the gaps to open - getting the balance right is becoming something of an art form. In this glorious sport of ours you get banned for trying to hard, but you also get banned for not trying hard enough! One thing is for sure, I think connections of Starspangledbanner will be pleased that they were allowed to keep the race after his win in yesterday's July Cup. He "went slightly left" to secure a place on the rail in the early stages, but managed to cause a fair bit of interference in behind. Henry Cecil had a 1,000 Guineas taken away from him for less earlier in the season. Nevertheless it was a great performance from the horse and connections to follow-up his fantastic success at Royal Ascot last month. 10th Jul '10
Taking The
Peas! Watching Newmarket's July meeting on Channel 4 Racing this week, I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the film of Henry Cecil in his garden. I knew that Henry was devoted to his roses, but what I didn't realise was that he had some pretty special vegetables too! Yesterday he showed viewers his peas...what is so special about that I hear you ask? Well, these peas came from seeds recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings by Henry's stepfather, Boyd Rochford. It was a fascinating programme, and a shame that it was not on for longer. The Richard Hannon team continue in unstoppable form, and they enjoyed another double at Newmarket yesterday. Libranno looked to be something of a surprise winner on his debut, but there was certainly no fluke about his success in the Group 2 contest - he is now a 33/1 shot for next year's 2,000 Guineas. I would be interested to know how many two year old's Richard Hannon has in training - I have been told that it is somewhere around a hundred, and there are certainly some good ones among them! I will certainly be watching with interest this afternoon as his two year old filly, Date With Destiny makes her debut this afternoon - she is the only offspring of the brilliant George Washington...what a valuable commodity she could end up at the paddocks one day! 9th Jul '10
Thornton Out
For 12 Months You have to feel sorry for poor old Robert Thornton. The terrible fall that he had as the Paul Nicholls' trained Hell's Bay ducked out at the second last in the beginners' chase at Newton Abbot on Monday could leave him on the sidelines for up to twelve months. His injuries did not initially seem too bad, but further scans revealed that he had extensive ligament damage to his right knee. It was just one of those racing incidents that you cannot prepare for...listen to me, you would think that I was a jockey who has had plenty of falls. In fact, I only had one fall, broke my wrist and have never sat on a horse again since! Let's hope that "Choc" can get back in the saddle again as soon as possible, he is a very good jockey and it will be a big blow to the Alan King yard. ***** I thought that Music Show was a very impressive winner of the Group One Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket yesterday afternoon. I expected him to run around the paddock swinging his arm in a circle like he used to do when scoring a goal for England...now there's a novel idea - England scoring a goal! ***** I have sharpened my lucky pin lately, and it is clearly paying dividends as callers to the Update Line will have found out. Not only would you have been pointed in the direction of 8/1 winner Abergavenny on Monday, yesterday callers were rewarded with a 9/1 winner. The Update Line is available from 10am on 09060 400 901 (calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). 8th Jul '10
Tiger Talk! What an experience it must have been for AP McCoy and Mick Fitzgerald to play golf with Tiger Woods at J P McManus' pro-am tournament. I bet Fitzy was putting Tiger right with a few golf tips! There were three teams tied at thirty under par and the winning team was at thirty-three under par - I think the handicapper had better take a look at some of the scores posted. I have played golf with Mick Fitzgerald and he normally plays wearing a mask, that is all I will say! It is a great event and has raised over €55 million for charity since starting in 1990. ***** On the flat, Paul Hanagan has now forged twelve winners clear of champion jockey Ryan Moore and Richard Hughes in the title race. It looks like Hanagan is going all out for his first championship and that gap will take some pegging back, especially if his retained stable, Richard Fahey keeps firing in the winners. It has been some time since we have had a northern champion jockey (I would think that Kevin Darley was probably the last one), the jumps championship is likely to be a little more clear cut - AP just keeps galloping on! 7th Jul '10
Swing Bill's
Newton Abbot Success! Carol and the old girls' had a good day at Newton Abbot yesterday. The 2.45pm race was named the Northtown School Old Girls Beginners Chase, and David duly followed his mother's instructions to win the race with Swing Bill! It was some training performance as the grey gelding was having his first outing in over 1100 days. There was quite a nasty incident in the race when the Paul Nicholls runner ran out through the wings at the second last fence. Quite a few of the old girls turned up (and I mean old in the nicest possible way!) and they had a wonderful time, judging the best turned out horse, leading Swing Bill back into the winners' enclosure and presenting the trophy. Below you will see a few pictures of the girls, and their celebrations after Bill's victory!
Conditional jockey Hadden Frost enjoyed a winner at Newton Abbot yesterday when partnering Detroit Red to victory in the mares' novices' hurdle, leaving him just one more winner to ride out his claim. Hadden, who enjoyed his first Cheltenham Festival success aboard Buena Vista in March, has recently been named as Henrietta Knight's retained jockey for the coming season although he will also continue to ride out for us here at Pond House. It is an exciting opportunity for him, and we wish him every success. ***** Many happy returns to one of our travelling head lad's, Bob Hodge, who is 41 today. Bob has been at Pond House for many years, since arriving from Mary Reveley's yard. Some of you may remember that Bob was a jockey, and partnered a couple of popular horses Cab On Target and Melottie to victory...I know it's true because Bob showed me one of those old black and white cine films with no sound! Only joking Bob - Happy Birthday! ***** I see that Martin Richardson, the man who tackled armed robbers in a betting shop in Leeds has picked up £2,000 reward for his efforts. Looking at his picture in today's Racing Post, I wouldn't like to get into an argument with him! Anyway, well done Martin - a real hero. ***** I see that a camel has been cloned in Dubai...I bet there are a few male camels out there who have got the hump - or in quite a few cases they haven't (that's one for the boys)! ***** Finally, I hope that a few of you phoned the Update Line yesterday as you would have been pointed in the direction of 8/1 winner Abergavenny. To benefit from this great information, simply call 09060 400 901 from 10am (Calls charged at £1.50 per minute at all times, helpline 01884 840715). 6th Jul '10
Northtown
Day At Newton Abbot! If you were to take a look through the card at Newton Abbot this afternoon, you will notice that the second race is called the Northtown School Old Girls Beginners' Chase. Carol has sponsored the race in honour of the girls reunion taking place at the course this afternoon - those people attending the races have been warned! I must admit though, I did think that it was a funny race for them to sponsor - afterall, I don't think there are too many beginners among them! Anyway, I am sure the girls and everyone else attending the races will have an enjoyable afternoon. I notice that there are punters complaining about the cost of a day at the races. They had to pay £18 to go racing at Sandown, and a further £6 to buy a portion of sausage and chips. I stopped on the M4 yesterday to buy 2 Diet Cokes and a sandwich - that came to £8. It seems to me that all of these catering firms just rip off us silly punters - I certainly won't be stopping at the motorway services again anytime soon, and I dare say that Sandown have probably lost a race goer. ***** Rafael Nadal looked different class to his opponent in the men's final at Wimbledon yesterday afternoon, winning in straight sets. He is already only 15/8 to win next year's title as well - that still seems very short to me, remember it was only 12 months ago that he missed the tournament with tendonitis in his knees. I wonder where all of the tennis supporters that have been to Wimbledon for the past fortnight will go now? Wimbledon seems to be one of those social events that gets the crowds out of the woodwork. 5th Jul '10
Weekend
Jottings! There is plenty of top-class flat racing action next week, with the July Cup meeting at Newmarket starting on Wednesday. There are a couple of Group One races to look forward to, including a clash between Lillie Langtry and Special Duty - that should prove a real mouth watering prospect. On Friday we will see if Starspangledbanner is as good as he looked last time out in the headline fixture, the July Cup. ***** Horses bite at one end and kick at the other! Newmarket trainer Michael Bell was reminded of this last week when his superstar filly Sariska gave him both barrels on Friday. Bell said that it shows that she is in good form - personally, I would rather she worked very well on the gallops to show me that she was in good form! Touch wood, my only injury came when Baron Blakeney stood on my foot when I was saddling him one day - one of the wags said "it's a good job he only has light alloy racing plates on!" - try telling my poor big toe that! I try to put a brave face on things, but the trauma of nearly losing my nail still haunts me now. ***** Why don't racecourses stick to just six race cards like they used to do in the good old days? If they kept to that format, I am sure there would be big savings - do we need to have eight races on a card?...As far as I am concerned the answer is no! 4th Jul '10
Murray
Misses Out On Final! So, Andy Murray falls short again in the big one...Rafael Nadal looked to be in a different league to Murray as he won in straight sets 6-4,7-6,6-4. It seems to be another case of our press hyping up our sportsmen and then knocking them down. I feel for Murray, in the same way that I felt sorry for Tim Henman a few years ago - there would be Hen-mania each year around this time, and then everyone would start knocking him...so Henman couldn't win Wimbledon - so what?! He reached the semi-finals four times in five years - not exactly abject failure. I just hope that Murray is treated a little better by those on-lookers, afterall Murray is still only young and there will be plenty more opportunities for him. The bookies are up to their old tricks again, with Ladbrokes going 9/2 that Murray wins Wimbledon 2011 - does anyone ever take these odds?! ***** The flat jockey's championship is looking more interesting than it has done for a year or two. Normally you would think that Ryan Moore was a certainty to win, but Paul Hanagan is making a real fight of it. The northern based jockey is taking in two meetings a day and is firing in plenty of winners to keep himself just ahead of Moore. It helps that his retained stable, the Richard Fahey yard are having such a good season, but I could see this championship going right down to the wire. If you had back all of Paul Hanagan's mounts this season, you would be showing a profit of over £33 to a £1 level stake at SP. Another statistic that I find interesting, is that Frankie Dettori has ridden more winners this season for Mark Johnston than he has for his retained stable of Saeed Bin Suroor! I hope that you have been listening in to the Pipeline this week. We have enjoyed no fewer than TEN winners in the last four days, including a four-timer yesterday! To benefit from this great information, simply call 0900 3900 900 from 8am (calls charged at 60p per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). 3rd Jul '10
Man V Horse! I was watching the man versus horse race at Kempton yesterday afternoon and to be honest it was more of a non-event than I feared. The man (Olympic silver medalist, Jamie Baulch) was receiving a 20 yards head start, yet he was still no match for the thoroughbred as it passed him like he was stood still. Apparently a rematch is on the cards over a longer distance, but I can still only see one result - remember, I have stood close to our gallops and there is no way that you would beat one of them up the gallops. I sit alongside MCP in his four wheel drive, and he struggles to get past our gallopers (and remember, Martin drives like a Grand Prix driver)! ***** While watching young Sam Twiston-Davies ride a finish a circuit early at Perth yesterday, I was quite surprised by how many people approached him to console him - I bet the two punters that had a grand on his partner, Hermoso were not feeling quite as sympathetic. Sam did walk the course before racing, so there is little excuse for the error and he now picks up a twelve day ban. Nonetheless, Sam is a promising jockey and he is only young, so I am sure that he will learn to count! 2nd Jul '10
Falling
Prizemoney! Looking through today's paper, it looks as though there is going to be a cut in the number of fixtures next year, as well as prize money being reduced in preparation for the fall in levy contributions from bookmakers. There is talk of a reduction in prize money in the Derby, and to be honest, will it really make much difference to the great race? Just think how much your horse is potentially worth if he reaches the frame in the Epsom Classic. Newmarket trainer, Michael Bell is right when he asserts that if prize money is reduced from the bottom end again, soon it won't be worth turning up. Yesterday there was a race at Worcester worth £1712 - that's not going to pay for many month's training fees! Just look over in France...there were three claimers at Maisons-Laffitte yesterday, with the poorest of those races worth a shade under £8,000! It begs the question, do we need a Tote monopoly? I for one, hope not as I do like to know what price I am getting about my selection. These big bookmakers protest about the amount of money they have to pay into racing through the levy, but most of them have many other investments - hotels, holiday & leisure firms etc. Where did the money come from to fund these ventures?...from their profits from racing of course! To me, it is not a question of racing holding out the begging bowl, it is more a case of getting what is owed to them from these greedy bookies! 1st Jul '10
Hooray For
Henry! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the articles about Henry Cecil in the Racing Post. There have been so many highlights, that the series could go on for some time! What is even more incredible though, is that I don't think that I have ever heard anyone say a bad word about Henry, and that speaks volumes about the man. It doesn't matter where he is, Henry will talk to anyone. I was fortunate enough to stay at Warren Place with MCP a few years ago now - it was a great weekend. I stayed in a room with literally hundreds of models of the Follies Girls dancing! Henry was a most accommodating host, and he even decided that he was going to cook us dinner. I still remember him walking into the house with a couple of small quails, but the vision that will long stay with me, is of Henry chasing the dog to get one of the quails back! It was a privilege to have been there, and one of my most treasured possessions is a picture from that weekend of myself with Henry, Martin and AP. 30th Jun '10
England 10/1
for 2014! If you were Fabio Capello would you resign from your position as England manager?...The answer is a resounding no, of course you wouldn't - you would be hoping for the "tin tack"! Afterall, just think of all the compensation you would get if you were shown the door - you have just signed a contract extension...it's getting better by the second! What's even more amazing to me, is that the directors who are responsible for the hiring and firing of these managers at club and international level are never held to account for their appointments. The bookies are up to their old tricks again, and Hills are offering only 10/1 that England lift the World Cup in four years time, while Ladbrokes and Bet365 are offering a mind bogglingly generous 12/1! Surely they must be the worst bets of all time? My choice for England manager would have to be Harry Redknapp - the trouble is that the FA may not like Harry's way as he is not always one to tow the party line. ***** Below, you will see a picture of Tom Buckley (middle son of Eddie and Sarah, who both work at Pond House) and his pony Foxy after landing three wins and a third place at the Knowlestone Horse Show at the weekend. They beat 15-20 competitors in each class, including two foot jumping competitions. Tom won a head collar and rope, grooming equipment and a voucher. However good he is on horseback though, I am told that he is a better golfer...move over Tiger Woods! 29th Jun '10
You Know
What I Mean Harry! Well, it's all over for another four years and it's time for England to start rebuilding. Yesterday was one of the worst performances I think I have ever seen by an England team, and to make matters worse, in the post match interview the manager said that the team had played well. All I can say is, he couldn't have been watching the same match as the rest of us! I am not sure that his grasp of the English language is good enough for our players to understand what he wants. To be honest though, the team got what they deserved for not putting away the USA or Algeria in the group stages. Our defence was clueless - it looked as if they didn't know what to do, or where they were meant to be. The scoreline of 4-1 flattered England as the Germans should have put in seven or eight. I think part of the problem is that the manager's system is wrong and he should take the blame and resign. Let's get a manager that our players can understand - maybe Harry Redknapp could take a few English lessons and become the new England manager! I know where there are some cheap flags for sale. 28th Jun '10
England v Germany! I would think that it will be very quiet this afternoon at about 3pm. Of course, this afternoon England take on their old adversaries Germany in the last 16 of the World Cup - let's just hope that at about 4.45pm the country is very noisy with people celebrating! To be honest, I am not sure that either team is playing to their full potential at the moment, although at least England are improving. Having said, that they really couldn't have played a lot worse! Let's hope that it doesn't get as far as penalties - I really don't think my nerves could stand it! And besides, our record when it comes to penalty shoot-outs is dreadful. ***** We have five runners today at Uttoxeter, including Minella Four Star in the 3m4f Summer National. It is always a keenly contested race, and MCP won it in 2003 when Jurancon II held off Spotthedifference in a thrilling finish. Interestingly, the race used to be run over the marathon distance of 4m1/2f, but was shortened in more recent years. 27th Jun '10
Northumberland Plate Day! It's one of the big staying flat handicap races of the season at Newcastle this afternoon - the Northumberland Plate (or Pitmen's Derby as it is also known). MCP won the race twice in the past with Tamarpour in 1991 and Far Cry in 1999, and David tries to replicate him today with Chester Cup winner Mamlook. Stan James have a great advert in the Racing Post entitled "Pipe Dream For Mamlook" and they advertise our charge at 8/1 - it would be a dream come true if he wins, the last horse to complete the Chester Cup, Northumberland Stakes double was Attivo in 1974. ***** Time to wax lyrical about A P McCoy again...does the perennial champion jockey even need half of his tack?! I was watching him ride a finish aboard Tempsford yesterday afternoon at Market Rasen and it was not until they showed the replay on television that anyone noticed that he had lost one of his irons! Predictably Tempsford won - I am sure A P will be walking on water next! ***** Graham Smith is really praising Matt Chapman in the Racing Post this morning. He must either be watching a different channel to me, or watching with the volume and colour turned down! I see that Matt won the broadcasters World Cup of Racing (an opinion poll) on the Post's website - I would imagine that the orange one will be dining out on that for a while! In fairness, Matt is never afraid to voice his opinion and he seldom sits on the fence - keep it up Chappers! ***** It's been a glorious couple of weeks, and it is hard to believe that this time last year we were about to enter the wettest spell that we had had in over ten years. As such, David decided to dust off the camera and take a couple of snaps of the horses on the gallops. While he was down there he managed to get a nice shot of Swing Bill working in company with Openditch, and Quaddick Lake who was doing a solo gallop under Danny Cook. 26th Jun '10
Italians
Join The French In Economy Class! There are certainly some peculiar results in this World Cup. First it was the French who were put out in the group stages (and sent home economy class!), and now the Italians following their 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Slovakians - that's the last two holders of the World Cup knocked out in the group stages! I guess that on the face of it then, England haven't done so bad in making it through to the last 16. Brazil at 4/1 and Argentina at 9/2 look bets to me, and I will be having an interest on them. Of course, I would like to see England lift the trophy, but if either of my bets come off it will certainly cushion the blow! ***** I was fascinated by a story in the Racing Post where a bookmaker claims that his pitch is worthless. He states that he lost money at the Derby meeting, and I can recall a similar conversation I had years ago with a bookie at my local track, Newton Abbot. I asked why he didn't just pack it in, and the reply came, "I can't, it's my living". 25th Jun '10
What A
Relief...Or Is It?! Well, at least England qualified for the next stage of the World Cup yesterday with their 1-0 win over Slovenia, so at least all those shops and garages still have a chance to sell of all those flags that are left over! England looked much the better side for prolonged periods of the match, but they are still having problems scoring goals, and that could cost them dearly...if they had managed to convert just one more of their numerous chances yesterday, their path through would have been much easier. Instead they now take on Germany in the next round, and assuming they get through that, probably Argentina in the quarter finals - as usual being an England supporter is an emotional rollercoaster! William Hill make England 8/11 favourites to beat the Germans and that looks to be very short to me. Still, at least the nation should be happy for a few more days anyway.
Another notable sports story came yesterday
at Wimbledon when the match from court 18 between John Isner and
Nicholas Mahut broke numerous records, including match duration, games
played, aces served etc. Indeed, the match will hopefully reach
it's conclusion today (the third day of play) after they came off last
night with the score at a staggering 59 games apiece in the deciding
set. They have currently played for ten hours, and in that time,
you could fly to America and the best part of back again in the time
they have been on court. What is more, both men have served almost
100 aces - I think whoever gets through, the bookies will be looking to
take them on in the following round!
COME ON
ENGLAND! There could be a lot of sad faces this afternoon...England's must win match against Slovenia kicks off at 3pm this afternoon, and I reckon most of the nation will come to a grinding halt to see it. I wonder how many people will be feeling ill today and pull a sickie from work?! David isn't willing to risk that one, and instead has kindly given his staff the afternoon off to watch the match. I see that some of the odds compilers are offering prices of around 11/4 that Capello will be gone from the England managers job by midnight. How many other jobs do you know of where you can bet on someone getting the boot (the Prime Minister is the only other one I can think of)?! Personally, if I was England manager (and thankfully I'm not!), I think I would rest Wayne Rooney - he looks tired and is not the same player that was so brilliant for Manchester United all season. I would bring on Joe Cole as we need some skills in the side, and he is certainly a player with a bit of trickery - what is more, he hasn't had a busy season for Chelsea and should certainly be fresh. I can hear all of my mates that support Utd going potty right now, they think that Rooney is the best thing since Junior!
I hope that all of the flags are still
flying tomorrow. Anyway, I notice that the 4.55pm race at
Salisbury is called the "Come On England Handicap" - let's hope they
don't have to change it to the Come On Home England Handicap!
Sports
Personality Award?! The hype surrounding the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award has started again, and I see that following England's lack-lustre start to their World Cup campaign, Tony McCoy has been promoted to favouritism at around the 9/2 mark. Whilst his amazing achievements should have been enough to clinch this award countless times over, I think that it is the sports editors who have a big say in where the trophy goes. In fact, there is a good chance that AP will not even make it into the shortlist of the final ten, much like last year (and the year before, and the year before...I am sure you get the picture). ***** I see that flat jockey Alan Munro lists cleaning his house as one of his favourite ways of relaxing. If he came down to my mate's house in Brixham, he would be in a permanent state of relaxation! Mind you, Alan also listed karate as one of his favourite past times, so someone could get the chop! ***** What a performance from Irishman George McDowell to win the US Open at Pebble Beach. The television cameras do not really let you know how fast those greens are - if you are a golfer, it is like putting on the lino or tiles on your kitchen floor! 22nd Jun '10
Bookies In
Royal Ascot Blood Bath! The bookies claim to have taken a pounding over Royal Ascot week, and Victor Chandler's spokesman Neal Wilkins went as far as claiming it was a "blood bath" and that they had lost on 24 of the week's 30 races...mind you, they never tell you when they have had it off and the poor old punters lose. The results at the Royal meeting are supposed to have cost the betting industry tens of millions of pounds, but before you go dipping into your pocket to assist the poor bookies, it is worth remembering that they are going to bet at all five meetings this afternoon, so there must be a few sov's left in their satchels! ***** I see that it is Julian Wilson's 70th birthday today. His father, Peter Wilson was The Daily Mirror's top reporter in the days when I used to play ping pong. He was the man they couldn't gag, and he followed the England team all over the world. He was a great reporter and he always told the story exactly as it was. Anyway, many happy returns Julian! 21st Jun '10
Wimbledon is Coming.... With Royal Ascot over for another year and everything appearing to go smoothly it is now time for Wimbledon and watching the lady tennis players and seeing what outfits they have nearly got on, especially the Williams sisters! I am a big tennis fan and I cannot wait for the action to get underway although I am not sure how I am going to fit everything in, between the tennis, football and maybe some racing! I see Musselburgh was a sell out crowd of 7,500 people for racing on Friday evening. They moved ladies day to a Friday and it attracted a big crowd. Maybe we should have more ladies days and just knock the racing on the head?! It is amazing to hear that Carlisle will be opening a new million pound suite named after Lester Piggott. The great man will be there at the opening ceremony which will be on the 45th anniversary of Lester winning the Cumberland Plate on Costmary. It is also the date of England's last group match against Slovenia on Wednesday! I see Kempton is warming up the crowd on Wednesday with a race between Olympic athlete Jamie Baulch and a racehorse over 100 metres. It will be a great spectacle and really interesting to see the result although I think my money will be on the horse! I hope you are all enjoying a great Sunday. 19th June '10
Woeful
England I am sorry to mention the football, but I feel I have to get this off my chest! What a terrible performance by England last night, only a draw with Algeria. It looks to me like a hard season in England has caught up with a lot of our players. Rooney is not the same player as he has been for Manchester United or is he carrying an injury? Heskey is a centre forward who cannot score goals or control the ball! Lampard and Gerrard both look tired and Barry does not look match fit. Lennon and Wright-Phillips simply do not look good enough. Why does Capello not play Joe Cole? He is the only player who can create goals and he has also not had a hard season with Chelsea so should not be tired. It seems to me that the manager has frightened the lives out of the players and they are scared to play. I think we should still qualify but we have to improve and quickly! I read on the back of the sun today that Rio Ferdinand was quoted as saying " we've got the players so can win the World Cup", he must be watching a different game to me! I see that MCP's favourite drink, Pimms, is top of the list at Royal Ascot this week. They have sold 8,000 bottle over the last few days and I guess we have had a lovely week of weather for people to enjoy a glass or two in the sunshine! They should be up the house on a Saturday though, 8,000 bottle does not seem a lot to me! It is the last day of the Royal Ascot meeting this afternoon and what a wonderful week of racing we have enjoyed. I am sure the action this afternoon will be a perfect climax to the week and we finish off with the longest race of the entire meeting, the Queen Alexandra stakes. David did have Mamlook entered in the race but decided to wait with our Chester Cup winner who may run at Newcastle next week in the Northumberland Plate. There is no jumping action today but we do have three runners at Hereford tomorrow. Babe Maccool returns from a break, while Regain Du Charbonneau makes his chasing debut. Ryeman was a winner of a 2 mile Hunter Chase last time out for trainer Andy Jackson and he makes his debut for Pond House in the 5.50pm race. Check back here on Monday for news of how our Hereford runners get on. 19th June '10
A Rite Result In The Gold Cup! What a fantastic victory for Rite Of Passage in the Ascot Gold Cup yesterday. The achievement is all the more remarkable when you consider that Dermot Weld's year old gelding has been beaten at the last two Cheltenham Festival's. One bookmaking firm make him only a 25/1 chance to win the Ascot and Cheltenham Gold Cup's - those generous bookies love giving you a chance (I don't think!). It didn't look like a vintage renewal of the race, and there were a few in there that patently did not get the trip - even so, you can only beat what is put in front of you. It's been over twenty years since Dermot Weld has enjoyed a Cheltenham Festival success, and Rite Of Passage could be a lively Champion Hurdle hope. ***** I had better wish Brod Munro-Wilson a happy birthday. Brod, who keeps up-to-date with our website, is 65 today - many of you will remember him as the rider of The Drunken Duck. In fact, Brod always looked like the one who was drunk! Many happy returns Brod! ***** Let's get behind England tonight as they try to get their World Cup campaign back on track following their disappointing draw against the USA. Tonight they take on Algeria, and our boys are general 2/7 shots to beat their opponents. This should be like buying money, and if I had a spare seventy grand, that is where it would be going! Come on England! 18th Jun '10
Fabre Has
The Last Word! Just how good is Goldikova? No fewer than nine wins at the highest level mark her out as a truly amazing mare, and yesterday her form was franked in no uncertain terms when the Andre Fabre trained Byword won the Prince of Wales' Stakes. Goldikova beat him in convincing fashion in France last time out, and he certainly impressed yesterday under young jockey Maxime Guyon, who himself looked decidedly useful in the saddle - he certainly got the maxime-mum out of the horse! I thought Mark Johnston was cutting a dash in the fashion stakes at Royal Ascot yesterday. He was sporting a pair of yellow, blue and green tartan trousers (he has put on a few pounds, so was unable to fit into his normal trousers) - I thought they were great. Anyway, it just made me wonder whether he would be sporting a kilt today?...especially as it is Ladies' Day. Talking of Royal Ascot, those of you who take a look at our Daily Tips page will have been rewarded with a fantastic 173/1 double courtesy of Invisible Man (28/1) in the Royal Hunt Cup and Timepiece (5/1) in the Sandringham. These tips are completely free to view and are updated before midday each day. ***** With Wimbledon just around the corner, I notice that the All England Club have banned those hooters that sound like swarms of bees. Can you imagine what would have happened if they had been around in John McEnroe's day?! I know where he would have put them (and I don't think the spectators would be able to sit down!). 17th Jun '10
Junior Lands
Ascot Stakes To Emulate Pipe Senior! What a day yesterday with David training his first Royal Ascot winner with Junior in the Ascot Stakes. Our seven year old was bought at the sales recently, and was having his first start since landing a chase at Taunton in April - I wonder how many Royal Ascot winners have had a preparation like that before?! Seb "all action" Sanders gave him a fine front-running ride, making it a real stamina test and he had the opposition in trouble from a long way out. Obviously everyone is delighted by the success - Carol looked thrilled, Martin sounded thrilled, and George Malde looked as though he had been celebrating even before Junior had won! We are also particularly pleased for the new owners, Middleham Park Racing, especially as this is their first horse in training at Pond House. It was a fine training performance from Pipe Junior, who has had the horse for less than a month and was emulating his father in winning this famous race. David now joins an elite band of trainers who have enjoyed success at the Cheltenham Festival, Grand National and Royal Ascot - not bad in only four years!
It was a great day's racing all round at Ascot yesterday with a fabulous performance from Goldikova, while Richard Hughes was brilliant aboard Canford Cliffs and Strong Suit, and Junior put the icing on the cake at a rewarding 17/2. We had a great day on the Pipeline as well, with no fewer than five winners (including Junior), so to benefit from this first class information, simply call 0900 3900 900 from 10am (calls charged at 60p per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). Equiano was the impressive winner of the King's Stand for the second time in three years yesterday for Michael Hills and Barry Hills. The jockey said, "someone beeped a car horn at the three pole and he went even faster" - surely now he will be looking to carry a fog horn instead of a whip in future races?! 16th Jun '10
Royal Ascot
Begins! Today sees the start of the Royal meeting at Ascot - it is a meeting that I have attended several times in the past, but to be brutally honest, I would sooner be at a wet Exeter meeting in December. I know I sound like a grumpy old man, but my main gripe about Ascot is getting about. There are so many people aimlessly milling about that have absolutely no interest in racing, it makes me wonder how many other meetings some of these people attend throughout the remainder of the year. I suppose Royal Ascot is a bit like Wimbledon - one of the places to be seen. Wimbledon is always packed, yet if you were to go to any other tennis tournament in England you hardly get any crowds at all. We have one runner, Junior in the Ascot Stakes this afternoon - it is a race that the stable has a rich history in, following the wins of Right Regent, Sweet Glow, Balasani, Riyadh and Sinndapour. ***** I was watching the racing from Sedgefield yesterday afternoon, and I nominate Graham Lee for the ride of the week for his effort on Stand Clear. The mare made a terrible mistake which resulted in his saddle slipping. Graham had to rearrange his tack and then rode a great finish to win by a head - if you backed the 2/1 favourite, you owe Graham a drink! 15th Jun '10
World Cup
Woes?! Well, England have kicked off their World Cup bid in spectacularly unspectacular fashion! A 1-1 draw with the USA does not exactly smack of 2010 World Cup winners, especially when you look at sides like Argentina and Germany who were very impressive. The only comfort seems to be that England should have little trouble qualifying from the group stages as Algeria and Slovenia (also in our group) looked even worse in their match! Even so, at a (miserly) best price of 9/1 to lift the trophy, I won't be rushing out to have a bet on our boys just yet! ***** I don't know Harry Findlay, but it seems to me that racing cannot afford to lose people like him. Following on from his six month ban from running his horses and from setting foot on a British racecourse for laying his own horses (despite the fact that he was a net backer) Harry is suggesting that he will give up owning horses altogether. Harry owns lots of horses, and is involved in numerous other partnerships, and if he were to take all of those away from their trainers it would have a huge impact on British racing and could potentially result in a loss jobs at grass roots level -the stable staff. As far as I am concerned, I think that the six month ban is excessive and lacking in common sense. I understand that Harry is to appeal against this ban, but regardless of the result I hope he continues to own horses in this country - it will be a very sad day for our sport if he were to quit. ***** We have been in excellent form on the Pipeline, on both the main line and update line last week. Over the weekend alone, we pointed you in the direction of no less than seven winners at prices of 4/1, 3/1, 3/1, 9/4, 5/4, 6/5 and 8/11(as well as a 12/1 place). To benefit from this excellent information, simply call 0900 3900 900 from 8am for the main line (calls charged at 60p per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715) or 09060 400 901 from 10am for the update line (calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). 14th Jun '10
Weekend
Jottings! I see that after all the excitement surrounding the coverage of stewards' inquiries, it has been decided that such footage is just not feasible. Apparently there is too little time to consult the parties involved - I really don't see what the problem is, surely a small camera placed behind the stewards would not be a logistical nightmare? Anyway, I think it would make for fascinating viewing - I am sure there would be some amazing stories that the jockeys and trainers concoct. When a conditional jockey is called in front of the stewards, the trainer or his representative must also be in attendance. I have been in the stewards room myself - I had better stop there or I might get in trouble and have to do some lines, or stand in the corner! ***** What a summer of sport we are going to have with the World Cup, Wimbledon and of the course The Royal meeting at Ascot that begins on Tuesday. I am sure there will be the usual variety of weird and wonderful betting opportunities on offer, such as the colour of the Queen's hat - you may also be able to find prices about the top jockey at the meeting, as well as some horse races! 12th Jun '10
AP OBE! Tony McCoy has received a much deserved OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. The fifteen-times champion jockey was already an MBE, so I guess this is kind of like a promotion!...will he be known as AP MBE OBE?! Anyway, for all that he has achieved I think that he deserves a knighthood (and let's be honest, he is more likely to receive that than the Sports Personality of the Year Award). During his spell with Martin, AP was champion jockey eight times and posted some mind-blowing statistics. In those days, I would travel with him quite a lot and I remember an occasion when we were supposed to be flying from the meeting at Chepstow to go on to Wincanton afterwards. Anyway, we were grounded by fog in a field (where the farmer had obviously just been muck spreading!) somewhere before Wincanton and it was clear that we were not going to make the second meeting. AP had the hump, and so he started to change out of his riding gear and put his bag on the runner on the outside of the helicopter. Almost inevitably, his bag fell on the floor and all of his clothes landed in a pile of muck...he glared at me and said "you just laugh". I couldn't help it - I was in hysterics, it was one of those great moments and it is just a shame that there were not more people there to see his face! ***** England begin their quest for a second World Cup tonight against the USA and let's hope there are a few goals to liven the tournament up. Just remember, quite a few of the American players play in Europe, so I don't see it being a cricket score. 12th Jun '10
A Spot Of
Bother! I see that Jamie Spencer has chickenpox and missed his intended rides yesterday. You used to hear of lots of people getting this, but I certainly have not heard of anything like as many recently. Maybe when Jamie starts riding again he will have his own dressing room, or even his own paddock - let's hope that the doctor's are spot-on when they give him the all-clear! Tom Scudamore was down to ride out yesterday morning and we managed to get a couple of shots from the gallops. Tom partnered recent ex-French winner Daliarose in company with Quarry Town, while below you will also see another recent arrival, Ryeman working alongside Weather Permitting.
After months of hype and build-up the Football World Cup is upon us, and it all kicks off this afternoon with the hosts South Africa against Mexico. You will know where to find me over the coming few weeks - planted firmly in front of my television set! 11th Jun '10
Come On
England! It's not long until the start of England's campaign to start the football World Cup, indeed, the tournament begins tomorrow and I can't wait! It was my wife's birthday yesterday and she has booked for a group of us to go out on Saturday night, but when she phoned around to invite people she noticed that all of her female friends were available, although most of the husbands were not as keen...I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that it is England's opening match against the USA?! As you can imagine, I have been in touch with the restaurant to try to arrange some coverage of the match. If it is not possible I can see quite a few of us disappearing to the pub next door! I see that some of the firms are offering odds of around 10/1 that Wayne Rooney will pick up a red card. A lot of teams will be trying to wind him up and I have heard that some of the referees will not tolerate any swearing - I have heard of worse 10/1 shots! I see the headlines in this morning's Racing Post state that there are distinct possibilities that the Epsom Derby could move from it's Saturday slot to the Friday. Personally, I am not sure how that is going to help to rekindle interest in the great race or generate extra levy. I do agree however that something needs to be done (about racing in general, rather than the Derby in particular) as new figures suggest that the total amount available to racing from bookmakers levy is some £14.5 million lower than originally forecast. Who is going to face the brunt of this?...the owners of course, whose horses will be competing for less and less money, while more and more fixtures are put on. 10th Jun '10
Great Prizes
Up For Grabs! There are some great prizes up for grabs at the Macmillan Cancer Support Dinner, including items that anyone can bid on. What about two days of golf for four people around Woburn, including an overnight stay and dinner (donated by the Duke and Duchess of Bedford)? There is also a visit to the Coolmoore Stud and Ballydoyle Racing Stables and also two days racing at the Curragh on Guineas day 2011, including flights, accommodation and meals provided by Coolmoore. Jim McGrath will be taking bids on 07768 312879 up until 6pm on Friday - you can see the full list of prizes by looking at the Macmillan website. I enjoy looking through the list of birthday's that are printed in the Racing Post - they have all sorts of racing personalities in there from trainers to jockeys and owners, but today we have Clive Gibbs who is 63 today - he is a Newmarket cabbie! Incidentally it is my wife's birthday today - perhaps I should get the Post to put hers in next year?! We are enjoying a fine run of success on the Pipeline at present, and we had four winners on the main line (0900 3900 900 available from 8am, calls charged at 60p per min at all times) and a further two on the Update line (09060 400 901 available from 10am, calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times)- that's six winners from nine selections!
Battle Group
A Jolly Good Winner! The stable were in winning form again yesterday at Newton Abbot when Battle Group won the handicap hurdle in decisive style. Given a fine waiting ride from Tom Scu, he produced the 100/30 shot at the second last to win comfortably. One of the part-owners, James Langridge is responsible for one of the Racing Post's quotes of the day - "they ought to call him Harry Potter" - I think he was referring to David! Anyway, so long as the horses keep winning, I don't think David will mind what you call him (so long as it is not Rodney!).
One of the things I noticed at Newton Abbot yesterday was how short the run-in was after the last hurdle - if you made a mistake, there was no time to recover. There was plenty of rain throughout the day, and it has continued again this morning - I am sure there will be plenty of changing going. Just make sure to keep an eye on the ground if you are going to have a punt. Ffos Las have come up with a novel idea of combating the low sun problem they had at their last meeting - they are going to start their meetings earlier! I can't believe so many courses have the same problem - afterall, the sun has always been there! Tom Scu was here to ride out this morning and we schooled a few over fences. Below you will see pictures of bumper winner Regain du Charbonneau, Back To The Wind, recent chase winner Mous Of Men and Quarry Town and recent acquisition Minella Four Star all jumping the Pond House fences. 8th Jun '10
Lucky Quay
Hacks Up At Hexham! The long journey up to Hexham paid dividends on Saturday when Lucky Quay won the first juvenile hurdle of the season in facile fashion. Our gelding really jumped well and had his rivals in trouble from a long way out to score by 22 lengths under Johnny Farrelly.
What a couple of day's for flat champion jockey Ryan Moore. On Friday morning he had not ridden a British Classic winner, and by Saturday afternoon he had ridden two! Ryan completed the Oaks and Derby double, and for a flat jockey, I don't suppose it gets much better than that. Derby winner Workforce really must be some animal, to win flat racing's biggest race in such fashion on only his third ever start. His official winning margin of seven lengths is the joint-third longest in history (alongside Troy and Slip Anchor) and the time was a course record. Workforce certainly looks to be up there with the best of them. My lucky pin has been in good form again, with five winners from seven selections on our Update Line over the weekend at prices of 6/1, 3/1, 15/8, 13/8 and 6/5. You can benefit from this great information on 09060 400 901 after 10am (calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). 7th Jun '10
Something for the Weekend I see that the race tracks are trying all sorts of promotion to attract customers. At Pontefract on Monday evening it is singles night! Are you interested in a traffic light sticker system? I suppose red means stop, amber means start to go and green means see you in the morning?! Let me stress that this is my interpretation though and not the courses! Newmarket starts its Friday night concerts with an X-factor bill on 18th June. It has sold 76,000 tickets for the seven event series and its already sold out for Spandau Ballet (25th June), Simply Red (16th July), Madness (6th August), and Westlife (13th August). This is sold out in the main enclosure I mean, you can still get tickets so give the course a ring for more information. By the way, there is also horse racing on as well!! David has no runners today but we will have some action on the flat and over jumps on Monday. Pond House will have runners at Newton Abbot and Mutual Friend runs on the flat at Pontefract with Jimmy Fortune in the saddle. Check back here tomorrow for more news of our runners and how we got on at the weekend. I cannot believe that England have drifted out to win the World Cup because Rio Ferdinand is not playing. How far would we have drifted out if Wayne Rooney was not playing?! Let it be said that if we cannot find another centre half, we have no right to win the World Cup! Most centre halves are tall, can head the ball and can kick people! You don't even have to be quick, take John Terry, he is certainly not quick, ladies apart, but is a good centre half! Seriously, Michael Dawson will be fine as a replacement, come on England! 6th June '10
Cracking
Start to Epsom Fame and Glory looked different class to the opposition in the Coronation Cup at Epsom yesterday. It was the fastest time of the day and he won the race easily. Jamie Spencer gave a good interview after the race and even though he was disappointed at not winning he said he was beaten by a very good horse. So that begs the question, how good was Sea the Stars?! It looks to me like Fame and Glory is a real stayer as he has galloped all the way to the line and got the 12 furlong trip no problem, which some people were concerned about before the race. He truly is a magnificent horse and I can't wait to watch him run again. I thought Ryan Moore gave Snow Fairy a great ride to win the Oaks and achieve his first Classic Winner for trainer Ed Dunlop. I am sure however there will be plenty more to come for Ryan. I see that Jordan (Katie Price) was at Epsom yesterday, I reckon she probably gave a couple of pointers to the punters! She had people following her around all afternoon, I wonder if they were here supporters? David has four runners today, two at Hexham and two at Worcester. It is the first three year old hurdle race of the year this afternoon at Hexham and Lucky Quay is our representative. He has only ever run once on the flat but has been schooling well at home and in a race where jumping will play a key factor, we are hoping that he runs well. Acambo is our other runner who has travelled up North. He won on this track before and there is some good prize money on offer in this handicap hurdle and it has attracted a competitive field. Raslan and Estate both run in the 3.35pm race at Worcester. Raslan needs to improve on recent runs but estate was a winner at Ludlow last time out. The handicapper put our gelding up a stone for winning so life will be tough but we are hoping all our horses run well today. 5th June '10
A Slight Delay The whole meeting at Lingfield was sponsored by an off road motor firm yesterday and the public were allowed to try the vehicles out in the middle of the track. There was a slight problem however as one of the drivers put a vehicle in the ditch and banged their head! Well they did say they were off road! Racing had to be delayed while the ambulance crew attended to this poor chap. It also meant that racing at Newton Abbot was held up so that races did not clash. This was a good idea so we could see the races without a split screen, well done to the stewards for sorting that one out! I do hope the driver was ok. Helen Wood ran another sound race to finish second at Newton Abbot yesterday. She just did not quite have the pace to go with the winner from 3 out but kept on all the way to the line. Our mare has been in fine form of late and she has achieved one win and three second places from her last four races since coming back from an injury which kept her off the track for nearly two years. We are pleased to report that both of our runners from yesterday are fine and well this morning. There is no jump action today but we are busy sorting out the weekend where we have entries at Hexham and Worcester so check back here tomorrow for news of our runners.
Sir Mark Prescott had a nice winner at
Hamilton last night, Bona Fortuna, who was winning his second race
within a week. He only had to be pushed out by Rosie Jessop and on
his way back to Newmarket Sir Mark has found a nice race for him at
Doncaster today. Bona Fortuna is 4/9 to win and Seb Sanders is now
on board the three year old. I think this one is the type to run
up a nice sequence of wins now the ball is rolling. Then Sir Mark
will probably send him off to Newmarket sales in October for the jump
boys to fight it out as to who can buy the gelding by Mark of Esteem.
He looks like he will make a lovely hurdler one day but for now I am
sure he will be wining again this afternoon.
Happy
Birthday Phil! I see in the paper that it is handicapper Phil Smith's 61st birthday today, I thought he might have dropped himself a few years! Phil came to stay at Pond House a few years ago and MCP had all the people he could find at Pond House to interrogate him. We fired questions at him all night and in the end he went out to his car and came back with the form books to explain why all our horses ratings were so high! David was very young back then and he went and got his Mr Men books! It is amazing that times have not changed, these days he just nicks son Jack's Mr Men and Thomas the Tank books instead! Anyway, when Phil was at Pond House MCP put a blow up doll in the bed he was sleeping in, it turned out to be a very good evening! I never have asked MCP why he owns a blow up doll, it is like the one in Only Fools and Horses! It is a lovely sunny day at Pond House and we captured a couple of photos of horses up the gallops this morning. Quarry Town, Openditch, and Quaddick Lake. They have all not run for a while but it shouldn't be too long before we see them on the racecourses again and they all looked in fine form this morning. Racing takes place at Newton Abbot today and David has two runners, Helen Wood and Racingisdreaming. Helen Wood has been in fine form of late winning her penultimate race over hurdles at the track last month and has also finished second in a chase last time at Perth. Racingisdreaming has to improve on recent outings to figure in his race but he does have good form on the flat in France. Tom Scudamore rides both of our runners and it should be a great afternoon's action. 3rd June'10
Bits and Bobs Following yesterdays piece about Sir Nicholas Abbey it is interesting to hear that he is now a non-runner in Saturday's Derby because of a muscle injury. Johnny Murtagh will now almost certainly ride Jan Vermeer and is generally 7-4 favourite. Woodlark Island ran a good race to finish third at Ffos Las night. It was a slightly farcical race in the fact that while the horse were gathered at the start it was decided to remove the three flights of hurdles in the home straight due to the risk caused by the low sun. This meant that there were only three hurdles jumped in the entire race so it was nearly a flat race! They do seem to have a problem with the sun at this track as I remember in one of the other evening meeting a similar thing happened. I do hope the race planning look at this when deciding about holding future evening racing at Ffos Las as I realise that we cannot predict the weather but it is supposed to be jump racing after all! We have two runners at Fontwell today. Regain Du Charbonneau ridden by Tom Scudamore and The Pious Prince with Johnny Farrelly on board. Both horses do have to improve on recent form but fingers crossed they will run well. Quite a few people would have got there fingers burnt backing which 23 players Capello would pick for his World Cup Squad. The big shock was of course Theo Walcott missing out on the plane to South Africa. The Arsenal man was backed at a low of 1/33. My thoughts are that Walcott has not improved over the last couple of seasons but the two players who I would have left out are Shaun Wright-Phillips who has had quite a few chances already and Emile Heskey, a centre forward who does not score many goals. You just have to look at the facts, he had only scored 7 goals in 58 appearances for England where as Wayne Rooney has got 25 goals in 60 appearances and Peter Crouch has 21 goals in 38 games. I would pick Crouch so we could see more pictures of his girlfriend Abbey but maybe that is the wrong reason?! 2nd June '10
Countdown to
Derby Day The Derby betting seem up in the air at the moment. The one time favourite Sir Nicholas Abbey is now as big as 9/2 with the firms and is still drifting. I know that trainer Aiden O'Brien said that he did not work well with Midas Touch but I cannot believe that this is the only reason he has drifted so much. It will be interesting to see what stable jockey Johnny Murtagh rides. My money would be on the new favourite Jan Vermeer. The price of Fame and Glory for the Coronation Cup at Epsom on Friday has also shortened up, so he must be alright and it will be interesting to see what happens later in the week ahead of Derby Saturday. Pauillac stepped up on recent form and finished second at 25/1 in the 3m6f race at Cartmel yesterday. He was beaten by ten lengths but at least it was an improvement on recent form figures. Let's hope he is encouraged by this effort and he shows a similar display next time! The yard continues in good form and we have just the one runner today, Woodlark Island at Ffos Las this evening. Our four year old put up a very determined display to win at Towcester last time out, making it three wins from his last five starts. Tonight will be tougher but we are hoping he runs a good race. 1st June '10
Sunday Double The stable continue in good form with all the horses running well. David had two winners yesterday, Mous of Men and Soliya. I thought Tom Scu gave Mous of Men a good ride at Uttoxeter and he got the ride as he had done all the schooling at home on our seven year old. He was a bit novicey at a few of his fences and I must say he did look beaten coming to the last but Tom did not panic like I did from the armchair! In the end he even won a little cheekily and our gelding will have learned a lot from this experience. Soliya bounced back to form with a bold front running display at Fontwell and won by 16 lengths. Our mare was given a great ride by Hadden Frost and she never saw a rival as she jumped very well and led them all a merry dance. I do hope the handicapper does not over react however as it was just nice to see our mare return to some form.
On Saturday David's horses ran well at Cartmel without winning. Mutual Friend was just beaten by Thumbs Up who was the Donald McCain nap of the night. Bathwick Breeze also ran well under top weight of 11st 12lb over fences and just finished out of the frame. We have two runners today, Monreale at Towcester while Pauillac runs at Cartmel. 31st May '10
Weekend Jottings! There seem to be plenty of advertisements for personal registration plates with a racing theme in yesterday's paper. There was a good one for racecourse commentator Graham Goode - 89GG - the trouble is, it costs £4,300! I did notice another one FLU773R - it says price on application, so I probably can't afford it! Anyway, I must be missing something - what does FLU773R stand for?! A lot of the racecourses are putting on extra events during the summer in order to attract more customers through the turnstiles. Some of the courses are organising live bands and acts, and my local track, Newton Abbot have Will Young performing in July. They have also taken the unusual step of sponsoring a greyhound race - The Gymcrack Puppy Championship at Hall Green. In fact, Newton Abbot used to have a greyhound flapping track in the middle of the course, and I remember once taking a dog that had won at Walthamstow to the course. The trouble was, the dog was different class to his rivals and ended up almost lapping the opposition - we never won any money and the dog was put back on the train and sent back to the 'Stow! Talking of promotions, I see that Ffos Las are having a boys' toys night out on Tuesday. They will have a golfing pro on hand, and if we have any runners there, our staff will all be found at the golf stand! One of our lads was told by a pro to take six inches off the end of his golf club - it wouldn't help his swing, but it would be easier to get in the dustbin! Let's finish off today with another of David's finest. I am talking of course, about another award winning photograph from the gallops. This time we have Lucky Quay and High Holborn, a nice pair of three year old's that haven't been at Pond House all that long. Hopefully they will be running in the first juvenile hurdles of the season.
Many Happy Returns MCP! It's MCP's birthday today and Britain's winningmost trainer shares his big day with among others, David Donk. If I was called that, I would change my name to Donny (there has got to be a joke in there somewhere!) - anyway, many happy returns to the old maestro. I see that Sir Mark Prescott's horses have started winning. As far as I can tell, Sir Mark's horses seem to get going late, but when they start winning his is most definitely a yard to follow. That brings me to an old story that I recount from time to time, so if you have heard it before I apologise. I remember going to see Sir Mark many years ago and he showed us a horse that he had for sale. When I asked why it was for sale, Sir Mark informed us that it's 96 year old owner was making room for a two year old she had just purchased. Wittily (or so I thought) I replied, "has she bought it for the future?!" but Sir Mark, who was smoking the biggest cigar you have ever seen (in fact, I think he probably needed planning permission just to smoke it), dismissed my answer with one of those sideways glances that let's you know you have overstepped the mark! Anyway, Sir Mark is a great trainer and particularly astute. Now his horses have hit a winning streak, you would be astute to keep on the right side of them. David has been up to his usual tricks with the camera again, and we have a couple more pictures from yesterday morning's gallops. As you can see, the weather has certainly taken a turn for the worse since these photographs were taken - indeed, I understand that we are not likely to see the sun again until the middle of next week. Pictured below are Quarry Town and Swing Bill, and Acambo and Babe Maccool. 29th May '10
Competing For Peanuts! It is well publicised that with the drop in funding from the levy that there is going to be less prize-money on offer. Personally speaking, I would have thought that the way to combat the fall in prize-money would be to reduce the number of meetings on the race program. Just look at today for instance, there are no fewer than six meetings in England! I think a break between seasons (on the flat and over jumps) would be good for everyone in the sport - it is a system that used to work well, so why can't it work again? When there was a break in the jumping season's, the first Newton Abbot meeting was always greatly anticipated, whereas now the seasons just seem to merge together. I am sure that the jockey's would benefit from a holiday, and the same could be said of the stable staff and horses (not to mention a few punters!). Just look at
yesterday's racing, where you had the likes of Henry Cecil and Michael
Jarvis winning races at Wolverhampton for little over £2,000. As
far as I can see, the problem is that some owners like to see their
horses running almost everyday - in fact, I think that some would run if
a Snickers bar was put up to the winner! The trouble is, as long
as there is this much racing splitting such little prize money, the
races will continue to be worth peanuts.
Stewards Inquiries To Be Televised I see that for the first time, television cameras are to be allowed into the stewards' room during inquiries. It will certainly make for interesting viewing - I have been present in the stewards' box myself, and I have to tell you it is very much like being stood in front of the headmaster during your school days. Anyway, the cameras will be present at the Derby meeting at Epsom, and with a tricky and unique track like that, viewers should certainly get to see what normally goes on behind closed doors. Talking of stewards...did you hear the one about the jockey who was banned for excessive use of the whip when he didn't actually have a whip?! That was exactly what occurred at the Curragh on Saturday when Ronan Whelan received a three day ban, despite dropping his whip as he left the stalls. The young apprentice was given a three day holiday, until his guv'nor, Jim Bolger intervened. It was later revealed to the stewards at a second inquiry that the jockey had dropped his whip and the original penalty was finally overturned. ***** Despite 6mm of rain overnight, it has been another glorious morning on the gallops, and today we have a couple of shots of Painter Man and Bathwick Breeze, and Raslan and recent acquisition Pemberton on the gallops. 27th May '10
Rain At Ripon! There was a little shower of rain at Ripon yesterday and the going had to be altered to good/soft - it seems that after the recent heatwave the clerk of the course must have turned on the taps. The amount of rain would certainly not have affected the ground that much on it's own, and if you had backed a horse that wanted top of the ground you were out of luck. Talking of Ripon, I saw Yashrid win in a photo finish against Music Of The Moor yesterday, and I would have sworn that Music Of The Moor had prevailed. A few people phoned in to see the print of the photograph. Luckily I could not get a bet on the photo, otherwise I would have done my money. ***** There's a great picture of Barney Curley on the front page of today's Racing Post. They are trying to get him to talk about his betting coup which is reported to have cost the bookmakers £2 million. Barney is saying nothing - I think there is more chance of England winning the World Cup than Barney spilling the beans! ***** I see that Kevin Darley has said, if he hadn't been a jockey, that he would have liked to have been Tiger Woods before he went off the rails...I know a few people that would have liked to be Tiger Woods after he went off the rails! ***** Finally, let's finish off with a couple more of David's photo's from the gallops. Here we have recent acquisition Junior working on the gallops under Johnny Farrelly, and also Armenian Boy and The Pious Prince working upsides under Eileen and Vicky respectively. 26th May '10
Latest From The Gallops! Watch out...someone has let David loose with the camera again! It's another scorcher here at Pond House, so he has the light in his favour! In fairness to him though, he has come back with some nice pictures of the horses on the gallops this morning - of course, I have taught him well! First up we had recent flat winner Sarah's Boy, who was partnered by Jonothan Lower. After him, Soliya worked under Oliver, and Katie exercised Estate. They all went nicely, and did everything that was asked of them. 25th May '10
Beating The Traffic! With the holiday season now getting into full swing, I was stuck in a traffic jam earlier in the week on the M5 near Exeter. It then dawned on me that it was the Devon County Show, so I pulled off the motorway at the services where I knew they had a bookies - as it turned out, there were quite a few faces that I recognised in there...I don't think we could have all been seeking refuge from the jams! Anyway, this particular bookmaker has several shops in motorway service areas, so let's just hope that next time you get stuck in traffic, you are near one of those shops - then the wife won't get suspicious! I notice that it is Rod Millman's 53rd birthday today. Rod was one of MCP's first jockeys and he rode Carrie Anne to victory in a Haydock seller over thirty years ago. I always remember how Rod used to give the best post race reports to connections - the only problem was that his talks nearly ran into the off-time for the following race! Many happy returns Rod! 25th May '10
Placed At Perth! All three of our runners in Scotland yesterday ran creditably to finish in the frame without getting their heads in front. Helen Wood finished second in the handicap chase, and in the process came 35 lengths clear of the third. Sir Bathwick also performed well when finishing second to Ollie Magern in the valuable handicap chase, while Bathwick Man finished third over hurdles. ***** And I thought that Johnny Murtagh had a tough decision to make after Cape Blanco won the Dante the week before last!...The Irishman now has the enviable task of choosing between the first four in the market for the Epsom Derby following Jan Vermeer's impressive win at the Curragh yesterday. I would imagine that he will run one or two of them in the French Derby instead of ours...although, having said that it is not unheard of for the Ballydoyle handler to go in multi-handed - he ran no less than six in the Irish 2,000 Guineas! I would imagine that Johnny has a fair idea of who is the best of them, and which one he will ride in the Epsom Classic. 24th May '10
Three Runners At Perth! The stable has runners at Perth this afternoon - now that's a long drive! In fact, the box left early yesterday morning with our three runners. I once went up to Perth with one of our conditional jockeys, and somehow he managed to miss the great big bridge that you need to cross. I think it's called the Forth Bridge, and how he missed it I will never know! We took six horses up there, and were rewarded with five winners - happy days! To get to Perth you have to go past Gleneagles Hotel and golf course. I remember playing a table tennis exhibition up there many years ago, and there was also a snooker exhibition featuring Ray Reardon and John Virgo. I told Virgo to bring his clubs with him (even though I knew the place was covered in snow) - as you can imagine, he wasn't very happy at dragging his clubs all the way up to Scotland and then not being able to use them. It did amuse me and Ray however! Am I the only one to have noticed that Sir Geoff Hurst seems to be appearing on virtually every other page of the Racing Post advertising a Blue Square product? I can still remember when West Ham won the World Cup - Hurst, Moore and Peters - more happy days! Wouldn't it be great if England can do it again? 23rd May '10
Woodlark Wins Thriller! Many happy returns to Tom Scudamore who is 28 today. With no jump racing on in this country today, our stable jockey can take the day off to celebrate, and why not - he rode a great winner aboard Woodlark Island at Towcester last night, the pair prevailing on the nod in a desperate finish.
There was a real turn-up in the 3.20pm at Catterick with the winner returning at odds of 150/1! The second home was a 40/1 shot and the CSF paid £2837.19 - I wonder if anyone had that forecast? It makes you wonder how a filly with an official rating of 43 can win a maiden, and I will be really interested to see what the handicapper does to her, and the horses that finished well beaten. As I am sure you all know, I am a life-long West Ham supporter but I really am dubious about the appointment of Avram Grant as manager. If you had given back his Portsmouth team the points they were deducted at the start of the season, they would still have finished bottom of the league, so how is he a great manager? It looks to me like the West Ham board have got carried away with the Grant publicity train. Personally, I would have gone for one of the younger managers from a lower division, whoever takes the job, I just hope that the board allows the manager to buy the players he wants and not the ones he is told to buy. The best directors are the ones that you don't know about...or ones that are billionaires! MCP was driving through Taunton yesterday when he saw a huge plane on the parade in the centre of town. He thought that someone had become well and truly lost, but on closer inspection, it was a relative of his, Guy Adams, with Godfrey King and friends advertising the Devon & Somerset Gliding Club which is based in Broadhembury, Honiton. Martin stopped and had a look, and they even offered him a flight - it looks like great fun and a real experience. They are holding an open weekend on Saturday 29th May (which also happens to be Martin's birthday!) and Sunday 30th May - it should be good fun so if you are nearby you should drop in. Further details can be found at www.dsgc.co.uk. 22nd May '10
Mutual A Wetherby Winner! Mutual Friend bolted up over fences at Wetherby yesterday afternoon. It was his first success over the larger obstacles and the fences there take quite a bit of jumping, so it was encouraging that when Tom asked him for a big jump, Mutual Friend was more than equal to the task. I think David will be able to place our six year old to win more chases, particularly when the ground is quick.
While I was watching the racing yesterday, I was treated to another masterful ride from A P McCoy aboard King Of The Castle in the seller. For those who backed the 4/5 favourite, I expect there were more than just a few palpitations. Strangely enough the second, Jimbatai was claimed and this is another that looks like it could benefit from stronger handling. I thought there were a couple at Haydock that looked to be a little unlucky in running and might pay to follow next time out. Gene Autry was given an awful lot to do in the 4.00pm, and Webbow did not get a clear passage - admittedly he looks like the type to find trouble more often than not, but both these horses look to be more than capable of winning soon. 21st May '10
Fare-Well! Yesterday we bade a fond farewell to Well Chief. The ever popular chestnut, who won the Arkle Chase as well as finishing runner-up in the Triumph Hurdle and twice in the Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, was retired after his last run, fittingly in this year's renewal of the Champion Chase. He will spend his retirement with Timmy Murphy, who enjoyed so many wonderful moments on our stable star. "Chiefy" will be turned out with another old favourite, Vodka Bleu and I am sure that they will both enjoy a long and happy retirement. Below are a couple of pictures of Well Chief with his lass Eileen, who looked after him throughout the later part of his career, and MCP and Carol giving him some dandelions.
***** I notice that it is Jonothan Lower's 43rd birthday today. I still vividly remember Jonothan having his first ride at Newton Abbot on To-Pallikari-Mou - it was supposed to be a steering job as MCP just wanted Jon to get his first winner under his belt. However, the horse proved unsteerable around the tight left-handed Devon track and he finished second. MCP was not very impressed until Paul Leach, who was stable jockey at the time had the same problem next time out! Jonothan went on to enjoy a great career in the saddle which included a couple of winners at the Cheltenham Festival aboard Sondrio and Kissair, but my particular highlight was the treble he rode at Aintree's Grand National meeting aboard Tragic Hero, Silver Shred and All For Luck. Even at his advanced years (!) Jonothan still does a lot of the schooling at Pond House, and has been a huge part of the team for 27 years. Many happy returns Jon! 20th May '10
Happy Birthday Peter "Make A Stand" Deal! Many happy returns to Peter "Make A Stand" Deal who is 71 today...or should that be "Blowing Wind" Deal...or maybe even "Mamlook" Deal? Peter is one of those people who has looked the same for the last twenty years (that's much younger than 71!). I can see his wife, Pam smiling as she reads this. Peter has been involved in many successful horses here at Pond House, and his most recent success has come courtesy of Mamlook landing the Chester Cup a couple of weeks ago. Peter is a huge cricket fan, and I am sure that he would have been thrilled to see England winning the World Twenty Twenty Tournament at the weekend.
I was watching the racing from Auteuil yesterday afternoon. The worst prize money in eight races was the claiming hurdle and that was worth just a fraction under £10,000 to the winner, so a Tuesday in France is every bit as good as a Saturday at Ascot! I must admit though, I am not a great fan of the PMU system they operate - I much prefer being able to have a bet with a bookie. I remember years ago, having to pay to get into a bookies, can you imagine that happening in this country?! 19th May '10
Brandy Second At Bath! David was just denied on the flat at Bath yesterday afternoon when Brandy Butter finished second, beaten half a length under Greg Fairley. We were trying to give the winner Spiritonthemount 4lbs so it wasn't a bad performance at all and confirms that our four year old who has shown recent improvement over hurdles, is also an improved performer on the level. ***** What a brave man that Martin Richardson is. He is the chap that tackled and restrained the armed robber in the Leeds betting shop. I was watching the video of the robbery on the television and I couldn't help but notice the chap on the fruit machine - he just kept on playing! Maybe he had a couple of cherries to hold! The robber was sent down for six years, he had been busy as this was the fourth betting shop that he had held up. Martin might be a hero, but he can't expect any special treatment - especially at York racecourse, where he was refused admission until he had found a tie - racing for change...where?! ***** I see that it is Nathaniel Parker's birthday today, and it says that Inspector Lynley is only 48 - how they arrived at that figure is a mystery to me! Nat joins us in our Cheltenham marquee every year, and he is always a big hit with the guests - many happy returns Nat. Happy birthday also to Lesley Graham, being a gentleman I will not divulge the Channel 4 Racing presenter's age. Lesley was down at Pond House before the Cheltenham Festival to film a piece with MCP about his Dorothy Paget collection. 18th May '10
Battle Group Scores At Stratford! The yard continues in good form, and David enjoyed another winner over jumps when Battle Group scored at Stratford on Sunday. Tom Scudamore gave our six year old a great hold-up ride - it was like watching Richard Hughes at his best. The owners are Jolly Boys Outing - weren't they the group of Del Boy's mates from Only Fools And Horses? You know, the group of lads that go on an annual trip to Margate, only for the coach to explode. Anyway, I expect the Jolly Boys had a few jars to celebrate! Casual Style finished second earlier on the card despite still pulling a little too hard for her own good. Even so, she should still be up to winning a similar race. The winner, Bonzeno Queen was backed from 22/1 into 8/1, so there was a bit of a touch landed there.
***** I see that Special Duty landed the French 1,000 Guineas at the weekend. Actually, she was awarded the race in the stewards room - you may recall that the same thing happened at Newmarket a couple of weeks ago. I wonder if owner Khaled Abdullah does the lottery? He certainly should do, the way his luck is at present! I wonder if that has ever happened before, where a horse has won two Classics without actually winning either of them? 17th May '10
Weekend
Jottings! I see that Brian Hughes, Ryan Mania and J P O'Farrell are going to trek the 25 mile journey across the three highest peaks in Yorkshire - surely they could have found a way around them?! Seriously though, the lads are raising money for the Injured Jockeys Fund, which is a great cause. I would have thought that after the walk, they may have to draw some money out of the fund themselves! They will be among a group of 15 and are hoping to raise £10,000 - good luck with that. Speaking of injured jockeys, there were a few nasty falls at Ludlow on Thursday. Three jockeys in particular were in the wars - Wayne Hutchinson will be out of action for two months, Andrew Glassonbury will be out of the saddle for a month and Richard Johnson is on the sidelines for a week, although he will need to pass a concussion test. These flat jockeys don't know they have been born! Today's card at Market Rasen will have a country theme to it. There will be an exhibition of tractors - I need a new one myself, so I might just go along to see what I can plough up! Also among the attractions will be Shetland ponies, falconry and hound displays...oh, and there will be some racing on too! It should be a good day out, so make sure to go along if you are in the area. 16th May '10
Up For The
Cup! It's F A Cup Final day and it's Chelsea versus Portsmouth. As you know David is a Chelsea fan, but sadly for him, he won't be able to see any of it, or Nono le Sage who is our sole representative in the 6.50pm race at Uttoxeter this evening. Indeed, David will have (quite literally) gone to the dogs! Actually, he will be at Oxford stadium on a stag night with an old school friend and his chums for a night at the greyhounds. Anyway, I see that Chelsea are 1/5 to win the match in 90 minutes and 1/8 to win the trophy at any time and to be honest I can't really see any result other than a win for the Stamford Bridge crew. You can get some better value about man of the match - the firms go 11/2 about Drogba and Lampard and 9/1Anelka...surely it must go to one of those three players? Just think - I can lose my money three times in one match! Talking football, there is a great picture of Mick Quinn in today's Racing Post. Quinn scored 54 goals in 121 games for Portsmouth, and I'm sure they could benefit from someone with that sort of goal power this afternoon. Mick always looked like he needed the run to put himself straight - he always carried a bit of condition! 15th May '10
Blanco
Blitzes Dante Rivals! Aidan O'Brien's Cape Blanco was a really impressive winner of York's Dante Stakes yesterday afternoon, the colt winning by 31/4 lengths. The Dante is traditionally one of the best Derby Trials and Johnny Murtagh now has the difficult (albeit enviable) decision of choosing between him and O'Brien's other star, St Nicholas Abbey in the big race at Epsom next month. St Nicholas Abbey is currently a best priced 5/2 favourite for Epsom, while Cape Blanco is second best at 6/1. I wonder when was the last time a jockey had the pick of the first two favourites for the Derby? I don't suppose Aidan O'Brien's second jockey is too worried which won Johnny picks! Jamie Spencer's comments about the ground at York yesterday (particularly down the back straight) were interesting. He said the ground was as firm as he had ever known, and so unsurprisingly there were quite a few withdrawals. A couple of horses came back sore from the first race, and Spencer reckons that the groundsmen at York should have put the taps on sooner. It is not a nice decision for the clerk of the course to have to make - if they overwater people complain, and if they don't water enough people complain...sounds like a no-win situation to me. Who would be a clerk these days?! 14th May '10
Soumillon To Jump To It! I read with interest that three times French champion flat jockey Christophe Soumillon is going to be riding over fences at Auteuil on June 19th. The controversial but wonderfully talented Belgian has already won five trotting races in France, and I wouldn't bet against him landing a success over obstacles too. I still remember Frankie Dettori riding Gold Medal for Martin over jumps at Chepstow in 1992. Gold Medal was an excellent jumper and MCP told Frankie to close his eyes and the horse would school him round! Frankie enjoyed the experience and the pair finished a close 4th, but the Italian has never ridden over hurdles since - I dare say he is too valuable to Godolphin. ***** As previously mentioned on Tuesday, I watched Kojak race at Bath last night with interest. He looked all over the winner approaching the final furlong, but jockey Richard Hughes did not want to go for his stick (having been unshipped from him last week when doing that very thing). When Richard did ask him for some effort he flashed his tail and was caught close home - he clearly possesses plenty of ability, but also more than his share of quirks. It will be interesting to see what happens when a jockey does pick the stick up to give him a backhander. 13th May '10
Newton Abbot Is Just Helen's Cup
Of Tea! I am pleased to say that the stable continues amongst the winners, and last night it was the turn of Helen Wood who scored at Newton Abbot. She drifted from 7/4 out to 5/2, but she always looked like winning despite idling a bit in front, on ground that was probably quick enough for her. It was a nice winner for long standing patrons Tony and Elizabeth King, who used to own My Cup Of Tea (who was successful four times around the Devon track in the late eighties/early nineties). There was a bit of interest in Helen Wood at the subsequent auction, and David had to go to £4,800 to buy her back in.
***** I saw a filly win at Yarmouth yesterday that could be well above average. The W J Knight trained Lucky Breeze bolted up by five lengths - apparently she has been difficult to train and you cannot run her too quickly between races. She is reported to have a few mental problems, but that doesn't seem to slow her down. I have know a few fillies down the years with mental problems, but none of them were able to run as fast as her! ***** Barney Curley is in the news again following another of his gambles. When Barney finally does retire, he will be able to write a great book. I still recall going to Newmarket a number of years ago and seeing Barney and Lester Piggott sat together at the breakfast table - I reckon that could probably be a chapter all on it's own! 12th May '10
Piping Hot! Richard Hughes must be mad (mind you, most jockeys do seem to be a little bit unhinged!) - on Saturday he was dumped on a two year old called Kojak at Ascot, and I notice that he will be back in the plate tomorrow at Bath. Kojak looked the likely winner at Ascot but he swerved badly away from the whip and unshipped his jockey. I will be watching the Bath race closely to see if Richard will pick up the stick again - let's hope he solves the mystery! ***** I always find it interesting to have a look through the hot and cold trainers and jockeys lists. I see that David is currently on the hot list with five winners from his last twenty-two runners at a strike rate of 23%, while Johnny Farrelly heads the hot jockeys list. Johnny has an enviable recent strike rate of 31%, and has enjoyed a cracking start to the new season. I do feel for some of the names on the cold list - it wasn't so long ago that I noticed a trainer who had gone 13 years without a winner - you would be somewhat sceptical if you received a hot tip from him! 11th May '10
Nono le Sage
Wins Again! We enjoyed another nice winner yesterday at Uttoxeter when Nono le Sage bounced back to form to win the conditional jockeys handicap hurdle in fair style. Johnny Farrelly once again looked good value for his 3lbs claim, and he went on to complete a double when he won the concluding bumper on Pure Anticipation at 25/1. Johnny has had a great start to the new season, with five winners to his name already.
***** The team David supports won the Premiership - I won't mention who they are, just to say they won 8-0 on Sunday (mind you their best player is one that they stole from the Hammers!). Didier Drogba scored a second half hat-trick, but he spat the dummy when Frank Lampard would not let him take a penalty. I couldn't believe his behaviour, and if I were his manager I would probably have substituted him at half-time...that's probably why I am not a football manager! If you are not football fans, it was Chelsea who won the league. 10th May '10
Chester Cup What a great week of action we have had a Chester over the last few days with of course our personal highlight being Mamlook winning the Chester Cup. This was only David’s fifth flat winner and was by far his biggest success and something his father Martin failed to achieve although he did come close! Travel Mystery missed out by a whisker in winning the 1989 Chester Cup under Ray Cochrane. He finished a neck second to Grey Salute and MCP also had another second in the great race in 1996. Daraydan partnered by Kevin Darley finished runner up to Merit in this year. It was brilliant David was able to go one better than his dad and Mamlook has been a great credit to the yard both over hurdles and on the flat since he joined the Pond House team. He is a real yard favourite and won a listed hurdle at Ascot last season as well as running well and finishing fourth in the Totesport Trophy at Newbury. He has of course also been brilliant on the flat finishing runner up in the Ascot stakes and the Cesarewitch as well as finishing third in that race in 2008. It was a much deserved win for our consistent six year old an we are all very proud of him. Looking back on other Chester races this week it seems to me that Aiden O’Brien’s runners all needed a run or they may have a small problem. Having said that jockey Johnny Murtagh seemed to give them quite a lot to do in my opinion. Whatever the reason I think the O’Brien runner are one’s to keep an eye on at the moment. I thought Harbinger looked a very useful middle distance performer when winning at Chester on Friday. He is a big striding colt by Dansili who has a bit of knee action so I imagine he probably wouldn’t want the ground too quick. He could make up into a Cup horse and he would certainly make a Champion hurdle contender, I just wish I had a few quid to spare! 9th May '10
Royal Ascot
on the Cards We are pleased to report that Mamlook is in fine form after his triumph in the Chester Cup on Wednesday and has been enjoying some time out in the field but he is not on his summer holidays just yet! He could have a trip to Royal Ascot on the agenda next month where he may line up in the longest race on the flat calendar, The Queen Alexandra stakes. He now has a handicap rating which is too high for the Ascot stakes, a race in which he finished runner up in 2008. David has not yet mentioned Melbourne which is the race Richard Hughes said Mamlook would like! Our conditional jockey Danny Cook received a 22 day ban for bypassing the second last hurdle at Newton Abbot on Gaspara. Danny said he was confused by a flagman who's actions he interpreted as meaning to go round the hurdle. The Disciplinary panel took this into consideration and I think the 22 days were just about right and Danny had no complaints with the decision. The ban will take place from 15th May to 8th June 2010. I do hope you have all been phoning the Pipeline over the last three days?! I have had winners at 7/1, 4/1, 7/2, 3/1, 5/2, 11/8 and 8/13. The numbers to call are 0900 3900 900 (calls cost 60p per min) or the update and jockeys line from 10am on 09060 400 901 (calls cost £1.50 per minute). I hope I don't ever lose that pin! 8th May '10
Arise Sir David! The stable continues in good form with Sir Bathwick winning at Wincanton last night. It was our eleven year old's first win since 2007, and I have to say, I thought he looked magnificent. Benefiting from a positive front running ride by Tom Scu, he never appeared to be in any danger - he handled the ground well and in his present form, I wouldn't be surprised to see him follow-up. One of the commentators became a little tongue-tied during the race when he apparently knighted David! As Sir Bathwick went past the post the gent in question referred to him as "Sir David" - it certainly raised a few chuckles from his fellow broadcasters...and I thought it was just the Queen who handed out knighthoods!
***** I was watching the racing from Newton Abbot yesterday and I noticed a very strange purchase in the claimer. Mix n Match went off at 22/1 and ran out at the third last before being claimed for £6,000 by Sarah Minton. He was still travelling strongly at the time, but it was a fair way from home - I will have to ask Hadden Frost, who was aboard if e thought it would have won. ***** I see that David Elsworth is not that keen on Chester racecourse. He said,. "It's a glorified flapping tracking and I hate the place" - he does have a point I suppose...there seems to be more hard luck stories around Chester than anywhere else. However, following Mamlook's success in the Chester Cup on Wednesday, we can certainly have few complaints! 7th May '10
Magnificent Mamlook Wins Chester
Cup! What a day for David at Chester yesterday as Mamlook landed the Chester Cup in tenacious fashion under Richard Hughes. MCP tried to win the race several times down the years but was always denied - Travel Mystery, who finished second in a photo finish was the closest he ever managed. I thought that Richard Hughes was magnificent - in a race where there are usually plenty of hard luck stories, he made sure that he was not one by bouncing him out of the stalls and tracking the leaders the whole way. When he pulled him out to deliver his challenge he was always just doing enough to hold Tastahil by a head. Richard suggested to David that he enter Mamlook in this race when he met up with him by chance at the Grand National in April, and he was proven absolutely right. Perhaps we should listen to Hughsie a bit more - he says the horse is the perfect type for the Melbourne Cup...fair dinkum! I could just see part owner Peter Deal with one of those hats with all of the corks around the brim!
Sadly, David was not present to witness the biggest flat winner of his career to date - he was at the Cheltenham sales buying future winners. If you are interested in owning a racehorse, we have a selection of horses for sale - feel free to contact us with your requirements on 01884 840715. Of course, any mention of a trip to Australia has a number of the staff smiling - travelling head lad Craig Wylie used to live and work in Australia. He tells me that he is quite big down under...I don't know what he means. Anyway, Mamlook's success has moved David up to 41st in the flat trainers table with four winners from eighteen runners - even ahead of some of the big Newmarket yards such as Marcus Tregoning, Luca Cumani and Roger Charlton - happy days! 6th May '10
A Cool Double! The stable continues in good form with an across the card double courtesy of Monreale on the flat at Newcastle and Very Cool over hurdles at Exeter last night. Greg Fairley gave Monreale a good ride, who got first run on Destiny's Dream to win by 1/2 length, while Very Cool stayed on gamely to win by 1 3/4 lengths at odds of 5/2. Very Cool was a notable winner for owners and breeders Nicholas and Sue Mills - it is their 40th winner as breeders. The most amazing part is that they have bred all of those winners from just two mares. They have a 3 year old half brother to Very Cool at home by St Leger winner Bollin Eric - hopefully he will be joining us at Pond House later this year.
There was a strange incident in the 8.20pm race at Exeter last night. Cappagh took up the running at the last flight and looked a ready winner until he veered across the track and unseated jockey Rhys Flint. Attheraces pundit Luke Harvey thought that it might be the big screen that was flickering quite a lot and spooked the horse - as they approached the last, Luke told his brother to go and collect - he had £20 on him (I wonder who he borrowed it from!). I dare say that Luke will be going on about this one for some time. All the posers will be at Chester races this afternoon, especially the bar in the middle of the course - it seems to attract all of the footballers and their wags! Anyway, we have Mamlook in the Chester Cup and will be hoping that he is not among the hard luck stories that are bound to arise in a 17 runner handicap around here. Remember, you need a low draw around Chester, especially in the sprints. 5th May '10
More From The Gallops! Pictured below, we have a few more shots from the Pond House gallops. Firstly working together, we had Painter Man working in company with Monreale (who runs at Newcastle this afternoon), and Acambo who worked on his own. All went nicely within themselves.
I see it's AP's 36th birthday today. There is no day off for the perennial champion jockey, who is riding this afternoon at Fakenham. Knowing AP, I bet his favourite present would be a winner! Anyway, many happy returns AP! Another sportsman in good form is Irish golfer Rory McIlroy who is 21 today. He has just won the Quail Hollow Championship in America by four shots after carding a sensational 62 on the last day. It was a new course record and some people are heralding it as the greatest final round ever. He is now as short as 25/1 for the Players championship, although it is a big ask to expect him to win back-to-back tournaments in the USA. I will be having a few quid on Woods and Mickelson at odds of 8/1 and 9/1 respectively. Another player making waves is Japan's Ryo Ishikwa, who just shot a 58 on the Japanese tour. If I ever shot a 58, I would ask for some of my green fees back as I would feel that I had been short changed! I think these two youngsters could be the world numbers one and two in the future. I see that the free admission week seems to have gone down very well. Huntingdon had an impressive 387% increase in attendance, while Nottingham managed a 414% rise! Let's hope that some of the newcomers will come back again when they have to pay. 4th May '10
Classic Controversy! What a dramatic Classic weekend. I was watching the 1,000 Guineas on television yesterday afternoon, and as the main protagonists crossed the line, I was delighted as I believed that Henry Cecil had landed his seventh success in the fillies' classic with Jacqueline Quest. Sadly, as I watched the head-on replay, I realised that she would be thrown out in a stewards enquiry. The last time a British Classic winner was thrown out on the day was in 1980 when Known Fact was awarded the 2,000 Guineas on the disqualification of Nureyev. Ironically, it was the same owner, Prince Khalid Abdullah who benefited then as yesterday. The stipendiary steward, William Nunneley said that it was not a hard decision to make, and while I would dearly loved to have seen Henry win another Classic, I think that the stewards probably made the correct decision. ***** Now, where's that map of England gone? It must be lying around somewhere as the people at race planning have obviously lost theirs! Who's idea was it to hold afternoon meetings at Windsor and Kempton today? I would have thought that those attending would normally go to both tracks, so why on earth put them on the same day? Surely both courses will suffer - it doesn't seem to be rocket science, so am I missing something?!
Thoughts for the Weekend! I was sad to read that Robert and Sally Alner are to retire from training this summer. The Alner's have had some lovely chasers down the years, including Cool Dawn who won the 1998 Cheltenham Gold Cup, as well as Harwell Lad, Sir Rembrandt, Kingscliff and The Listener, and they were responsible for over 500 winners. Unfortunately Robert had a serious car accident in 2007. I just hope that they enjoy a long and happy retirement - I cannot believe that they will not have a horse or two around somewhere! ***** Looking ahead to the coming week, it is Cheltenham's Hunter Chase meeting on Wednesday evening. If you are not doing anything, it is well worth a visit - the fashions on display are quite literally out of this world, and I am talking about the men! There are lots of tweeds and big checks to be seen, and even the plus 4's make an appearance! I think these people just keep their suits for these hunter chase cards. If you are thinking of going, it is worth keeping in mind that the favourites have a very good record. 2nd May '10
2,000 Guineas Day! It's 2,000 Guineas day at Newmarket this afternoon, but anyone hoping to visit St Nicholas Abbey in Barbados will have to wait! Guide, Judy Price will be watching the big race at 3.05pm after she learned that the favourite was named after the place where she works - let's hope that she can find a television. I wonder if the bells will be ringing if St Nicholas Abbey does the business? ***** I watch racing most afternoon's on the television, and it seems to me that I have never seen as many unlucky horses as I do when I tune in to watch Lingfield. The horses in the front rank seem to kick for home off of the final bend and nick a couple of lengths and the race is as good as over. Despite this obvious trend, plenty of horses seem to be held up and the jockeys have to wait for something to move off the rails before they are able to make their move - the number of times I have seen these horses denied a clear passage is nobody's business. ***** The free week of racing continues to prove a great success as Doncaster enjoyed a bumper crowd through the turnstiles yesterday afternoon. Indeed, the fixture that would normally attract around 3,000 visitors drew in 9,500 spectators yesterday. Let's hope that they did good business in the bars and restaurants to encourage the courses to participate in such initiatives again. It will be interesting to see how many of their audience they will retain when racegoers have to pay to enter the courses again. ***** Finally, I have another picture from the gallops to share with you. This time it is of an unraced four year old named Yu Tiger who went nicely in his solo gallop. Yu Tiger comes from a very nice family, being out of a mare that was a full sister to User Friendly, who won the 1992 English & Irish Oaks and St Leger, and was a close second in the Arc. 1st May '10
On The Gallops! It was a lovely morning and we had a large string going out first lot. As you can probably tell by the photography(!), it was David behind the lens, and he managed to capture recent winner Estate on the gallops, as well as Bathwick Breeze and Shootin The Breeze who were working upsides. 30th Apr '10
Give Us A Break! I see that AP is calling for a break between National Hunt seasons. You may remember that years ago they had such a break, but I cannot believe that the tracks or bookmakers would be keen to give up any of their fixtures. Apparently Jason Maguire and a number of other weighing room colleagues agree with the champ, but the big question (pardon the pun)...do the jockeys carry enough weight to take notice of what they say?! We have had plenty of rain in the west country over the last couple of days. Just for a change, I am pleased to see it - not only does it save me from watering the garden (the missus has been on about it for a while now), but I have also had a few quid on Seta for Sunday's 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket. Luca Cumani's filly will certainly benefit from any rain, and I am expecting a big run from her. Looking through the flat trainers championship, I see that Mark Johnston has already trained an incredible 69 winners. The championship runs from November 8th 20009, to November 6th 2010 and with a clear run, I wouldn't be surprised to see him reach the 200 winner mark. 30th Apr '10
Free For All! It seems that letting the crowd in free of charge worked yesterday afternoon at Ascot. Almost 20,000 people turned out for they midweek meeting and the course received plenty of positive feedback, including from first-time racegoers who said they would return. When there is a big crowd like that, the atmosphere is completely different as you get a real buzz around the place. You don't need massive crowds for the free entry initiative to be considered a success. Just look at Kempton, who would normally anticipate crowds of around 1,000 - last night they had 2,500 through the turnstyles, and while they may have lost out through gate admissions, I would expect that they more than made up for it over the bar! Not such a success it would seem, is the new decimal odds that were trialled by four bookmakers at Ascot. They described it as a disaster with a loss in turnover of up to 80% - needless to say they will not be repeating the exercise! ***** I see that 76 year old trainer Clive Brittain says "it feels like I've been rediscovered - I've become a 76 year old apprentice!" He also says that he has the best bunch of juveniles ever - maybe that what makes him feel like an apprentice! 29th Apr '10
Notebook Time! I was watching the racing on television yesterday afternoon, and one that I will definitely be keeping my eye on when there's money around for it (especially if running in another seller) is Playful Asset. He finished fourth at Yarmouth yesterday afternoon, beaten only 2 1/2 lengths, and he certainly wasn't given a hard time - he certainly looks capable of winning in this grade. One I will be avoiding is Loyalty - he is only three, but had already been gelded before his first start. He looked anything but keen on his debut yesterday, and the 4/5 favourite never looked like landing the odds at any stage. I think Ryan Moore and Sir Michael Stoute will have their work cut out to win with this one. *****
Did you know that there are fifty miles of
turf gallops in Newmarket and a further seventeen miles of artificial
gallops? Just imagine - it would be difficult for a trainer to
tell an owner that he was having trouble getting his horse fit!
Looking Back At Last Season! There is a great pull-out in today's Racing Post reviewing the 2009/10 National Hunt season. Of course, AP was champion jockey for an incredible fifteenth time, but you really do have to feel sorry for Richard Johnson who was runner-up for an almost as incredible twelfth time. Just think, if he had been born in another era, Richard would have been hailed as one of the all-time greats. Tom Scu had his best season to date with 73 winners, while our conditionals also did very well, Johnny Farrelly finishing with 26 winners, one ahead of Danny Cook on 25. David finished fifth in the trainer's championship with almost £1.3 million in prize money, and over 100 winners, thanks to his great four-timer on the last day of the season. What is equally impressive however, is if you had backed every single one of David's runners, you would be showing a profit of £76.42 to a £1 level stake. Nicky Henderson finished the season with the most winners, and I still firmly believe that this is the way that the championship should be decided. Afterall, it is the way the jockey's championship has always been decided - why not have them both the same? The yard enjoyed a very good time of it last season, but there is never any time to rest on one's laurels and we are already upon the new season. If you are interested in owning a horse with us for the new campaign, please feel free to contact us either via e-mail (david@davidpipe.co.uk) or telephone our office on 01884 840715 to discuss your requirements. 27th Apr '10
Fantastic Four Takes David To 100! What a great Saturday for the yard! I was a little bit worried that we would not reach the 100 winner mark for the season, but in the end it wasn't even close! We went into the final day of the season with 98 winners, and we finished with a flurry and a four-timer (three of them at Sandown). Brandy Butter started the ball rolling at Market Rasen under Rhys Flint, before Ashkazar bolted home by nine lengths at Sandown. Ashkazar had become a little frustrating this season, but he has always been a high class horse (don't forget it was only just over twelve months ago that he was winning a Kingwell Hurdle) and was winning for the third time this season. Mous Of Men followed-up his success of 2007 in the handicap hurdle, before I'm So Lucky won the Grade 2 chase. He has always threatened to win a nice prize over fences, but until now events had always seemed to conspire against him.
So there you have it...a great weekend for Pond House with four winners, 100 winners for the season and now that we are into the 2010/11 campaign we are back to nought and will have to start all over again! 26th Apr '10
New Jumps Season! Today sees the start of the new jumps season and I see that AP is at Ludlow. The champ will not be letting up on the defence of his title I can assure you, even if he is going for his 16th! David does not have any runners today. After a hectic week which included runners in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales on Friday we are having a day to draw breath! David has organised a little party for the staff to help celebrate what has bee a great season for Pond House and which of course included several notable winners with two at the Cheltenham Festival being the highlight.
I see that when flat jockeys reach the age
of 40 they have to take a medical to continue to keep there license.
Frankie Dettori says he hopes to pass his medical and continue riding
for another 10 years! Perhaps the flying dismounts will get less
as he gets older, but I doubt it!
David on the
Morning Line David headed up to Sandown early this morning to appear as a guest on the morning line ahead of today's racing action. I hope you all tuned in?! Gaspara won her race last night at Newton Abbot under Danny Cook but then got disqualified for taking the wrong course. The jockey took Gaspara around the second last flight of hurdles instead of jumping them. There was a horse being attended to by the veterinary team just after the flight and Danny was clearly shaken as he explained that there was a flag man waving a big flag before the penultimate hurdle and shouting at them to go around. Danny said he could have jumped the hurdle had the flag man not been there. The winning jockey Oliver Dayman said "I could see the flag man and there were people shouting but the hurdle was not dolled off. I made a split second decision to jump the hurdle and as a result I suppose I have been proved right". As Oliver said, it was a split second decision. Danny did receive some stick from the crowd but at the end of the day you have to remember that he did not do it on purpose and its all down to a split second decision. Danny will now get quite a long ban to think about it however after the case being referred to the BHA. This is the second time Danny has taken the wrong course in the last 12 months after the incident at Cheltenham with Our Vic. How the luck changed within the next hour as Danny went on to win on Brandy Butter who is owned by MCP. This was the geldings first win over hurdles in the seller but there were no bids in the following auction. The horse was bright and well this morning and had eaten up so will take his chance in the 1.10pm race At Market Rasen. We do have a jockey change however, Rhys Flint will replace Danny Cook in the saddle.
David is now on the 98 winner mark for the season although of course Gaspara's victory would have put him on 99. We have six runners at Sandown today and Brandy Butter at Market Rasen but it will be very hard to get one winner, let alone two! I do hope you enjoy the last day of the seasons jumping action as we have some great action to look forward to 24th Apr '10
Penultimate Day of the Season At the moment we know how a cricketer feels when they are in the nervous 90's! David is on the 97 winners mark for the season and I know you don't get any award for training 100 winners but it always sounds good to say you have reached this milestone in a season. Tom Scudamore has had a great season, having ridden 72 winners. 49 of these have been for David so he just needs the one more to have ridden 50 for the yard. Looking at the jockeys table, AP has ridden 195 winners at the moment which is again another phenomenal season and yet this week he is driving home the winners in Ireland! David did not have any winners yesterday but Shoegazer ran a good race to finish second at Fontwell and all of our returns have returned home safe and sound which is the main thing. We have runners at four different meetings today. Over the Creek kicks off proceedings in the 3.45pm race at Perth and he is looking to build on his recent Exeter success. Ronaldo Des Mottes had a good journey over to Ireland earlier in the week and he lines up in the Champion Hurdle at 5.30pm. This looks a wonderful race in prospect and although it is a big task for our five year old he is in good form and ran a fine race to be second to be second behind Get Me Out of Here in the Totes Gold Trophy last time out. Gaspara and Brandy Butter are our representatives at Newton Abbot this evening and Woodlark Island is our runner at Chepstow. We have a few good chances to have a winner today which will hopefully edge David a little closer towards the 100 winner mark. Tomorrow is the final day of the jumps season with the big jump/flat card at Sandown. The last jumps race on the card is the Bet 365 Gold Cup handicap chase, but I still call it the Whitbread! David is likely to have a few runners tomorrow so check back here to hear all the news from Pond House. 23rd Apr '10
Winner 97 Sure Josie Sure was a game winner at Perth yesterday under Tom Scudamore. Our mare has been brilliant all season and bounced right back to form after being slightly disappointing at Newbury last time. She is a lovely big mare and it was especially great for her Scottish owners who also enjoyed success with Hunterview at Ayr last week. David flew up to Perth yesterday and enjoyed celebrating her win with the owners last night he rells us this morning! Sure Josie Sure had been declared to run again today at Perth but she is now a non-runner after not quite eating up this morning. Later this morning David will fly back down South with Tom Scudamore to Fontwell where we have two runners, Shoegazer and Mi Money. We also have a couple of runners at Uttoxeter this evening with Regain Du Charbonneau and Causal Style who are both ridden by Johnny Farrelly. Check back here tomorrow for news of how they all get on and a look ahead to Ronaldo Des Mottes' run in the Radobank Champion Hurdle at Punchestown. There was a nice article in the Racing Post I saw which I thought was very funny. It said "I see the owner of the last race at Towcester got just over £1500, now we know what they mean by Racing For Change"! I just wonder how many pints of Guinness will be drunk at the Punchestown Festival this week?! I know I would not like to collect all the empties! However the Punchestown Festival seems more sober than the Galway one. I have been to both meetings. I can still remember Punchestown but I cannot remember anything about Galway and I think that tells you everything you need to know! 22nd Apr '10
Birthday
Wishes We had better wish the Queen a very Happy Birthday as she is 84 today. She has twice been Champion owner and I think it is great to have the Royal family so interested in racing. Remember that both Princess Anne and Prince Charles have both ridden in races. In fact I believe that Derek Thompson even rode against Charles at Plumpton and if my memory serves me correctly I believe that Thommo won! David has one runner at Perth today, Sure Josie Sure in the 3.55pm race with Tom Scudamore on board. I remember years ago driving up there with David Bridgwater and a conditional jockey. We took six horses up there and five of them won! We let the young jockey drive most of the way up there but we told him we would split the journey into three equal distances. He drove about 800 miles! I just drove to Bristol and told him we were 1/3 of the way there! Mind you, he did manage to miss that big bridge on the Scottish boarders we were supposed to go over! 21st Apr '10
Off to
Scotland As our lorry again prepares to travel to Scotland for the three day meeting at Perth which starts tomorrow, we have our camera back from Ayr with an photo of our winner Hunterview below.
We are just finalising plans as to what horses will travel to Perth and we enjoy going to this meeting as we are very well looked after and would recommend anyone to visit this picturesque racecourse for some great jumping action. We also have a busy few days ahead with several runners at a number of meetings. We have a runner at Punchestown on Friday with Ronaldo Des Mottes lining up in the Rabobank Champion Hurdle. He sets off on his travels tomorrow and goes to Ireland in good form after his last run where he finished second in the Totesport trophy at Newbury. There are four jumps meetings on the penultimate day of the season on Friday and David has entries at all of these meetings. Bangor, Newton Abbot, Chepstow and Perth all will have National Hunt racing so there is lots to look forward to for us enthusiasts over the coming days although I can assure you that things will be very busy down at Pond House! 20th Apr '10
Two More Winners Hunterview won a good novice hurdle at Ayr on Saturday and he won by 15 lengths under a positive ride from Tom Scudamore. It was especially good for his Scottish owners and it made the long journey even more worthwhile. David could not fly up to Ayr obviously due to the volcanic ash grounding all flights. I wonder if David will run Hunterview on the flat? Remember our gelding was a fair performer for the Jarvis team so we will see what happens in the forthcoming weeks. Timmy Murphy won the Scottish National on Merigo which is owned by his in laws Mr and Mrs Raymond Anderson Green, talk about keeping it in the family! Well done to Timmy and all connections. The yard continued in good form yesterday with Painter Man winning at Wincanton. Our eight year old carried top weight of 12st 2lb less Danny Cooks three pound claim and won the Bathwick Tyres novice's handicap chase. This was a good performance from our gelding who was following up his recent win at Towcester. This also moves David to the 96 winner mark for the season, so we need four more winner in the last six days to reach that magic 100. It will be touch and go whether we can reach this figure but we start off with three good chances of gaining a success with two runners at Plumpton this afternoon and one at Kempton this evening. 19th Apr '10
Weekend
Jottings! Following Friday night's double, his seasonal tally stood at 94 winners, which is obviously just six shy of the magical ton. It would be great to get those final six winners, but time is running out with only this coming week remaining of the current season. It has been a good season and punters have been rewarded for following David's runners with a £53.64 profit to a level £1 stake. ***** I see it was John McCririck's birthday yesterday. "Big Mac" was 70, and I have to say I wouldn't fancy giving him the bumps...you would need a crane to lift him off the ground (only joking Mac)! ***** In their efforts to attract a younger audience to the races, I see that Newmarket have employed Jedward to perform at the July course this summer. You may recall that they were the twin lads from the X Factor that looked like they had put their fingers in a light socket - from what I recall their talent was slightly questionable. Is their booking a good thing or not?...I will leave you to decide that one! 18th Apr '10
Cheltenham
Brace! The yard enjoyed another day to remember yesterday when Gentle Ranger and Ashkazar completed a double at Cheltenham's evening meeting. Gentle Ranger certainly deserved to win again following his exertions at the Festival when coming down when upsides in the 4m amateur chase. I thought he would have gone close that day, and he could go well in one of the National's next season. He is owned by Sarah Clifford, who with husband Wayne sponsor the yard, so we are all delighted for them - a well deserved success considering how much they put into our sport. Ashkazar has been called a few rude names this season, but he was winning for the second time this season when landing the final race on the card in a close finish under Timmy Murphy and in the process taking the stable tally to 94 for the season.
***** Kieren Fallon had a lucky escape in the paddock yesterday. He was kicked (no, not by an owner!) by a horse on his upper right leg and there had been some talk of a break - he was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital at 5.30pm and he walked out 6.40pm. They are either some doctors, or he is one lucky chap - anyway, he is down to ride this afternoon at Newbury. That reminds me - I have been saddling horses for MCP for thirty years and I have to say that I am still afraid of them as one end bites and the other end kicks! I have always been very careful and I have been very lucky never to have been kicked, but while we were staying at Gino's house during Aintree I was persuaded to help feed his donkeys. One of them gave me both barrels and only narrowly missed me...fortunately I am still quite nimble when it comes to avoiding pain! 17th Apr '10
Wigmore Wins
Well! I saw a horse win by an absolute mile at Newmarket yesterday. The horse in question was Wigmore Hall, who I notice had been gelded since last year - if that is the effect gelding has, I know of a few more people who could do with the same treatment! Jamie Spencer was looking around for much of the final furlong, and even top weight of 9-4 could not stop him winning with his head in his chest. Keep an eye on Wigmore Hall, he certainly appears to be on the upgrade - how on earth was he allowed to go off at 10/1?...I don't suppose he will be a fancy price next time. The other impressive winner was Elusive Pimpernel who won the Craven Stakes, which is traditionally a strong Guineas trial. Some bookmakers were clearly very impressed by his four length success and shortened him accordingly to as short as 6/1 for the 2,000 Guineas. Despite the winning margin, I did feel that he had quite a hard race, and with only 16 days to the big race, I just hope that he recovers fully in time. ***** I love Dandy Nicholls quote in today's Racing Post "I went outside, turned the sauna off, put the kettle on, got the scales and threw them in the field!"...he forgot to mention that he then ate the pies (only joking Dandy)! I was in a bar at Newmarket Sales back along when Dandy called over to me and asked what I was drinking. He didn't realise that there was about ten of us on our table, so the bill came to about £25 - I can still see Dandy's face now, it was a picture! 16th Apr '10
Big Spenders
At The Sales! Looking through the results from last night's National Hunt Sales from Cheltenham, I was astounded by the amount of money that some of these horses were making. A Ludlow bumper winner went through the ring for an amazing £200,000 - he was knocked down to Aiden Murphy, who interestingly was also the successful bidder when purchasing him for £100,000 in 2009, now that's what I call inflation! ***** I was saddened to read of the passing of Greville Starkey. He was a great jockey who enjoyed many successes, most notably for Guy Harwood and I find it sad to think that he will be best remembered for giving Dancing Brave too much to do in the 1986 Epsom Derby, and for being unshipped from Ile de Chypre at Royal Ascot, where "laser binoculars" were believed to be the cause of the horse veering drastically in the home straight. ***** I cannot believe that they are going to dig up the pitch at Wembley for the eleventh time since 2007! Apparently they are now getting some experts in to help...wouldn't you have thought that they would have done that already?! It certainly looked to be a bad surface for the FA Cup semi-finals - it seems strange that millions of pounds are poured into the stadium, but only tuppence is spent on the playing surface. 15th Apr '10
Over The
Creek Scores At Exeter! It was good to see our veteran Over The Creek score in such tenacious style at Exeter yesterday afternoon. It was his first success since 2007 and he certainly did it the hard way in beating Dancing Mist by 1 1/2 lengths wit 32 lengths back to Aces Or Better. Tom Scu gave him a very positive ride and fired him at almost every fence and Over The Creek responded every time - it was a great race to watch and I was shouting on our runner from the edge of my seat! We received a lovely congratulatory fax from Michael and Anthea Coate after Over The Creek's win yesterday. He used to be looked after by their son, Joseph, who was so tragically killed in a car accident in 2005. I hope that Joe was watching yesterday, he would certainly have been thrilled by his success. Below is a picture of him in the winners enclosure at Cheltenham with Over The Creek.
It was a beautiful afternoon at Exeter yesterday, but the fog can soon descend upon Haldon Hill and that reminds me of a jockey who was a little naughty over in America...at Delta Downs in 1980 a rider was banned for 10 years when stewards found that he had rejoined a race having hidden in the fog for a circuit! You could probably do the same at Exeter, but I am sure that the result would be the same! 14th Apr '10
News
Round-up! There is a race run in memorial to a former patron of the yard, Percy Browne at Exeter this afternoon. Percy was a steward at Exeter racecourse before sadly passing away a few years ago. He was a lovely man, who rode a few winners, and also owned a few at the yard including Cool Clown and In The Navy. I have a great story involving Percy and David from his point-to-point riding days, but you will have to ask David about that one! ***** I see that it is Frank Conlon's 70th birthday today. Frank was head lad to Henry Cecil when MCP and myself stayed at Warren Place. Frank is a real character and seems to know everyone in Newmarket. He still keeps in touch, and he now works at the British Racing School in Newmarket - he would be a great teacher to have. ***** I see that Howard Johnson is in the wars after a shocking robbery at his farm on Sunday night - he was robbed at gunpoint of a whopping £100,000 in cash. I remember a few years ago (about twenty in fact), that someone threatened to shoot MCP! We had police following us around at Sandown races, and MCP told me to walk closer to him...there was no chance of that - what if they were bad shots?! Anyway, nothing happened. ***** For followers of our Update Line, you would have been rewarded with three winners from four selections, at the rewarding odds of 9/2, 7/2 and 3/1. The line is available from 10am every morning on 09060 400 901 (calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). 13th Apr '10
Latest News
From The Gallops It's been a lovely bright start to the morning, so I took the opportunity to get a few shots of the horses on the gallops this sunny Spring day. First up were Fontwell and Chepstow winner Horsford (Danny Cook), in company with Casual Style (Tessa). They were followed up by Bathwick Breeze who was partnered by Kieron and then Shootin The Breeze (Johnny Farrelly) and Pure Genius (Sophie). They all did three pieces of work and went nicely within themselves.
15th Time
Lucky! What a great story...A P McCoy wins the Grand National at his 15th attempt! I was at the start of the race on Saturday, looking at our National runners and while I was leaning on the rails, AP walked past me on Don't Push It and said that if his mount had not run last time out, he would have been favourite. As it turns out, there was a late plunge on the horse, and he started 10/1 joint favourite. AP said, "after a mile, I wouldn't have swapped him for anything!" I see that McCoy is now as short as 3/1 for Sports Personality of the Year. Those greedy bookies are trying to get some of the money back that they lost on the Grand National. Having said that, 3/1 about a man that didn't even make the final cut last year despite an industry-wide campaign to recognise McCoy looks very short to me. The problem with Sports Personality of the Year is that someone will probably win a hop skip and jump competition in Outer Mongolia down the side of a mountain or some such thing! People who know anything about racing, know how good AP is, and what a nice bloke he is too, but to the general public he is not a household name. Maybe, thanks to Don't Push It he will be, I can't think of any sportsman that deserves the recognition more. Having said all that, he is an Arsenal supporter, so he is far from perfect! Only joking...well done champ, we are all delighted for you. 12th Apr '10
All Over For
Another Year! This week at Aintree, every time I looked around, I seemed to bump into one of racing's larger-than-life characters. One day I saw Ginger McCain, who was the trainer of Aintree legend Red Rum - unsurprisingly he loves the place, and you can tell that he loves the people too! Another of the old brigade to catch my eye up there was Steve Smith-Eccles. He was a great jockey and a great character, you may recall that he famously fell asleep under a pile of coats in the back of his motor, only for someone to steal the car! Every time I saw Steve, he was talking to another of the Scouse ladies! Talking of the girls, it was ladies day at Aintree yesterday, and there was a sell out crowd of over 53,000 people - I wonder why?! Well, the season is nearly over again, in fact there are only two weeks left to go...but don't worry jumps fans, it all kicks off the following day! I think that everyone used to like it when there was a summer break, and the jockeys had a chance to recharge their batteries. I don't think that will ever happen again, the summer horses are in now, and we will soon be back to Newton Abbot for the lovely summer evening meetings and the shorts (don't worry I am talking drinks, so you are all saved!). 11th Apr '10
Bridgwater
Sheepskin To Be Carried In Grand National! A part of Bridgwater will be carried in the World's biggest steeplechase on Saturday! Piraya, owned by lifelong Liverpool supporter Terry Neill, will be sporting a bright red fluffy noseband in the Grand National. The red sheepskin had proven to be elusive until our secretary Gail came across the company Fenland Sheepskin of Bridgwater. They kindly provided us with the material which will be turned into a noseband by our seamstress and expert saddler, Kate Heatherington, and Piraya should certainly not be difficult to spot among the forty runners in the big race on Saturday.
National Day
Is Here! The stable enjoyed a winner at Kempton yesterday when Shoegazer won the 2m5f novices' hurdle under Johnny Farrelly. It was a close thing, and Shoegazer certainly benefited from the mistake of Back At The Ranch at the last - it is nice to have a bit of luck once in a while. Anyway, it was a good ride from Johnny and he has edged ahead in the private race between him and Danny Cook for the most winners this season (25-23).
Buena Vista ran another good race at Aintree yesterday when fourth under Hadden Frost. Maybe the 8lbs rise in the weights from the Cheltenham Festival was a bit too much for him, but it was a decent run nonetheless. It was a good day for lady spotting at Aintree yesterday - if you are in the owners and trainers bar, there are dark windows that are only one-way! Of course, many of the young ladies stand outside arranging their dresses, these are undoubtedly the best seats in the house!
Today it it the Grand National, and it looks like being another gorgeous day. MCP and Carol will be flying up this morning with George and Angie Malde. This is one of the best day's racing of the year and I will be down at the start, watching the runners mill about having their girths checked. Let's just hope there is no false start as it causes chaos - I just don't know why the jockeys are so desperate to go so fast at the beginning of a 41/2 mile race! Hopefully, it will be a Pond House runner that comes back in front, but the main thing is that all of the runners come back sound and in one piece. Have a great day! 10th Apr '10
Strands Of Gold Passes Away It is with sadness that I report that ex-Pond House inmate Strands Of Gold, the 1988 Hennessy Gold Cup winner has passed away peacefully at the age of 31. Strands or “Boysie” as he was affectionately known had enjoyed a long and happy retirement with our secretary Gail Harrison since 1993, and she was with him as he fell asleep for the final time on a riverbank in the sun only a couple of miles away from Pond House. MCP added, “He was a lovely horse, and it was a great thrill to win the Hennessy with him, especially as he had been so unlucky in the Grand National. He enjoyed a wonderful retirement with Gail just down the road from us, and I saw him only a couple of weeks ago, looking happy and well.” Strands of Gold arrived at the yard in 1988 as a very decent handicap chaser, who had finished fourth in the previous season’s Hennessy Gold Cup for Jimmy Fitzgerald. His target was that year’s Aintree Grand National, and the plan looked likely to come to fruition as he led, going easily under Peter Scudamore until capsizing at Bechers Brook on the final circuit. Connections are still adamant to this day, that he would have won… That misfortune was followed by a gallant third only two weeks later in the Whitbread Gold Cup behind Desert Orchid and Kildimo. He was to make full amends for his Aintree fall when landing the Hennessy Gold Cup in November 1988 by an impressive six lengths with a further ten lengths back to subsequent Grand National winner, Mr Frisk. Following a spell on the sidelines Strands embarked on a career in Hunter chases where he won at Bangor under Frenchman Florent Monnier, before Gail and her partner Raymond took him for four runs “between the flags” in point-to-points…he was partnered in those races by a certain Mr D Pipe. On a personal note, I still remember Strands being one of my earlier ante-post wagers when winning at Newbury…I was only 14! He was a wonderful horse, who enjoyed a long and happy retirement – he will be sadly missed by many. 10th Apr '10
Latest From
Aintree! It was a really warm Spring morning at Aintree yesterday and we walked around the Grand National course. We went up to The Chair and took a few pictures of Gino (our host) in front of the fence. Gino is stood in the ditch, and no he is not a midget, the fence is not only wide, it is deep as well. The picture of the group of us below was taken by a couple of very attractive young ladies who just happened to be passing-by, as it turned out, one of them happened to be trainer Tim Vaughan's wife!
Brod Munro-Wilson was there with the connections of Consigliere - some of you older folks will remember Brod riding The Drunken Duck (in fact Brod looked like the one who was drunk with his style of riding)! The results at Aintree yesterday would imply that some of the Cheltenham Festival horses are now over the top. The Gold Cup winner, Imperial Commander did not jump with any fluency before finally parting company with Paddy Brennan, he looked beaten at the time. Sir Alex Ferguson won the big race at Aintree yesterday, and when he was presented with his trophy, he held it aloft like the European Cup! It could be the only trophy that he gets his hands on this season, so I guess he had to make the most of it - that will upset my United mates, having said that, they do enough gloating!
I was watching the racing from Taunton as
well, and was amazed to see two odds-on favourites duck out at the last
hurdle when in command. One of the jockeys, Wayne Hutchinson said
maybe it was the sun reflecting off of some of the cars - anyway,
short-price backers did their money twice at our local track yesterday,
and that includes me!
Off To Aintree! David galloped a couple of our Grand National horses during first lot this morning before flying up to Aintree. The Package Piraya and Comply Or Die looked good in the morning sunshine. I see that Timmy Murphy has plumped to ride Comply in the big one - it would certainly be difficult to get off a horse that has won and finished second in the last two renewals of the race. Timmy passed over the ride on The Package to Graham Lee, who is also a Grand National winning jockey (2005, Amberleigh House) - they both look to have good chances on Saturday.
***** I see that it is the start of the US Masters at Augusta today. I wonder what Peter Allis is going to say - he does sometimes drop a clanger! I can just hear a "he's pulled one into the rough" or "he's playing with a stiff shaft"...you golfers will know what I mean! ***** I will be taking plenty of pictures from Aintree, so keep checking our news page. 8th Apr '10
Aintree
Tomorrow! David will be sending up a select team to Aintree for the Grand National meeting this week. Judging by the entries, we will have some with good chances...it all kicks off tomorrow, and I for one am looking forward to it. The whole meeting is more of a carnival atmosphere than the Cheltenham Festival. The first two days you can walk around quite comfortably and then, come Saturday all hell breaks loose! The place is packed, especially the owners & trainers bar, and you see faces that you only ever see at the Grand National meeting. ***** You may not be a football supporter, but if you were watching the Barcelona v Arsenal game last night you would have seen the best player in the world, Lionel Messi. He looked at least a yard (maybe two!) quicker than the defenders, as he scored his fourth hat-trick of the season, and finished up with an amazing four goals last evening. I wonder what Norman Hunter or Tommy Smith would have done to him - or even Chopper Harris (actually, I think his names give away what Chopper would have done with him!)? 7th Apr '10
Madison Heads for Grand National It has been decided that Madison Du Berlais will not take up his engagement in the Betfair Bowl at Aintree on Thursday but will instead head for a crack at the John Smiths Grand National on Saturday. Tom Scudamore will partner our nine year old in the showpiece after schooling him over our National fences at home, he jumped very well and everyone could not be more pleased with his preparation. This will make a team of five from Pond House in the big race with Pablo Du Charmil being ridden by Danny Cook, Johnny Farrelly riding Piraya and Comply Or Die and The Package with riding arrangements still to be confirmed. We also have Cheltenham Festival runner up Faasel and Over the Creek engaged in the race at the moment but both of these need a few horses to come out to get a run. 6th Apr '10
Woodlark's a
Winner! We are pleased to report that Woodlark Island is in good form this morning and will take his chance at Wetherby today in the 2.15pm race. Our four year old was a winner at Fakenham yesterday in the hands of Tom Scudamore and he then travelled up to Wetherby after racing. He ate his tea, has had a good rest and our travelling head lad reports him to be feeling fresh and well this morning after giving him a thorough check over which included taking his temperature and taking him out for a stroll to stretch his legs. Hadden Frost is in the saddle today as it is a Conditional Jockeys race and Hadden was on board when our gelding won at Wincanton for the first time. He should go well again this afternoon. Our conditional jockey Johnny Farrelly was in good form yesterday riding a winner at Plumpton for Jim Best on Barrel of Fun. I thought the name was quite appropriate as that is what it must feel like for all three of our conditional jockeys at the moment as they keep riding the winners! There is still no decision just yet as to which horse Timmy Murphy will ride in the Grand National. It is a very hard decision to make, do you ride Comply Or Die a previous winner and runner up of the biggest race in the world or do you go for talented The Package who was runner up at the Festival last month but obviously making his debut over the larger fences?! A seven year old has not won the Grand National since 1940 and although it is a very good choice to have it is also a very difficult one! We will let you know any information of Timmy's decision as soon as we hear any news. 6th Apr '10
Grand National Schooling We had Timmy Murphy and Graham Lee at Pond House this morning and they schooled two of our National hopes Comply or Die and The Package over our Grand National fences. Johnny Farrelly was on board Piraya with his owner Terry Neill watching on and all three horses jumped very well and seemed in good form. They are pictured below with Comply or Die leading the trio up the gallops before they jumped on the grass.
Tom Scu won on Painter Man at Towcester yesterday on ground that looked pretty heavy. It was our geldings first win over fences and he stayed on really well up the hill. That was David's 89th winner of the season and a nice winner for Tom Scu and owners David and Elaine Long. I hope that you phoned the Pipeline yesterday as we had four winners from five selections at 3/1, 9/4, 2/1 and 7/4. We had a few winners on Saturday to so we are in good form at the moment. 5th Apr '10
The Week Ahead! I had to chuckle to myself when I read the wit and wisdom column in the Racing Post. They asked if Derek Thompson and Matt Chapman were marooned together on a desert island, who would you feel most sorry for? The answer...the island! Personally, I would have felt most sorry for the suntan lotion! ***** The end of the week sees one of my favourite racing days of the year... no, I'm not talking about the Grand National - I am of course talking about Ladies' Day at Aintree on Friday! It's a very difficult scenario to explain to anyone that hasn't been before, but no expense is spared on the ladies outfits (or their orange tans!). There is a beauty contest and the winner gets the use of a brand new Jag for a year. Mind you, there is normally a scrap going on between a couple of the contestants behind the stands - it truly is a sight to behold. Anyway, I will be making my annual pilgrimage to Liverpool and David and I will once again be staying with one of the owners, Gino. Gino is a church-going Italian, who will have us all in bed by 6pm and he does not approve of drinking (just in case my wife is reading!). Roll on Friday! 3rd Apr '10
This Weekend's Action! I would imagine that all of the turf tracks today are going to be fairly heavy. Our local radio station is still advertising Newton Abbot races that were supposed to be on this afternoon - surely someone should have told them that the meeting was abandoned three days ago?! So, if you live in the west country and you are not yet aware - don't go to Newton Abbot today as there is no racing...just feeding the ducks! ***** One place that racing is taking place is Les Landes on the island of Jersey. I see that Brendan Powell has a runner out there - you would think that it would be a good thing, although you need a horse with good brakes there...otherwise you could quite easily end up in the sea. I went there many years ago when I was playing exhibition table tennis matches for Pontins. ***** We had a phone call from a lady in Norfolk earlier in the week, who owns a mare that used to race for us called Llanelly. Llanelly ran for us back in 1990 and it is good to see twenty three year old being looked after so well in her retirement. We are always pleased to hear of ex-Pond House inmates and feature many of them on our "retired" page on the website.
***** There is quite a difference of opinion between the pundits in today's paper. Tom Segal's headline is "Don't go with the Flo", while Steve Mason says "Salut Flo can wave goodbye to Haydock foes" - let's hope that Steve is right. It looks a tough race this afternoon, but our runner is likely to start as favourite. 3rd Apr '10
Latest From The Gallops! It's a quiet day today with no racing in this country, but the work carries on unrelenting behind the scenes. The horses still need to be fed and watered and exercised, and yesterday we had thirty horses going out during first lot. All of the string were looking really well, especially during the all too infrequent sunny spells. Among them were Cheltenham Festival runners-up The Package and Notus de la Tour, as well as Comply Or Die, Madison du Berlais, Consigliere, Sun des Mottes.
We managed to jump a few over fences and the smaller obstacles and I managed to get a nice picture of Cloud Nine (Danny Cook) and Salut Flo (Tom Scudamore) schooling together over a couple of open ditches - as you can see, they both jumped well. Salut Flo, who is entered at Haydock tomorrow also worked on the gallops upsides Totesport Hurdle runner-up Ronaldo des Mottes. Over at the hurdles, we gave recent ex-French recruit Sun des Mottes a little practice. She jumped well under Hadden Frost. 2nd Apr '10
MCP To Train At Newmarket MCP has decided to take Lester Piggott's advice and move to Newmarket and train on the flat. I still vividly remember, about twenty years ago "The Long Fellow" told Martin that he ought to consider moving to flat racing headquarters to train. We even went up there and looked at a yard on the left-hand side as you go into the town. Anyway, some of MCP's old owners have got together and bought 100 yearlings to bring the legend out of retirement. The former fifteen-times champion trainer is only going to train two year old's - remember he has already enjoyed a Royal Ascot juvenile winner with Atall Atall. ***** The rain has continued to fall in the west country and following the abandonment of Wincanton this afternoon, Newton Abbot have also had to concede defeat to the elements. It's a shame, as Newton always has a good turnout for their Easter meeting - I am certainly going to miss my free Easter Egg! ***** I see that finally common sense has prevailed and the BHA have offered no evidence against Richard Hughes in the case where he is alleged to have cantered a lame horse back to the paddock at Kempton last week. His ten day ban has been overturned - I just don't know why it was allowed to get this far, and why it has taken so long to clear the jockey's name. 1st Apr '10
Well Chief Retires David Pipe confirmed yesterday that popular chaser Well Chief has been retired. One of three of racing’s great chasers from a golden age of two milers (alongside Moscow Flyer and Azertyuiop), the eleven year old son of Night Shift had well documented problems throughout his career, and became almost as well-know for his “glass legs” and prolonged absences as for his outstanding talent. This season however, David had performed wonders to get him to the track on five occasions, and he made a heroic return at Cheltenham in November when winning the Connaught Chase with then reigning Champion Chaser, Master Minded beaten into third place. The reception he received from the public that day would normally only be reserved for winners at the Cheltenham Festival, but that only goes to illustrate the affection with which this gutsy chestnut gelding was held. Only eight months earlier, he had been afforded the same reception when finishing second in the 2009 Queen Mother Champion Chase. That was on the back of an absence of nearly two years, and was widely acclaimed as one of the finest training performances of the season. The packed crowd clearly appreciated the effort, and “Chiefy” was greeted as enthusiastically as the winner. In 2005 Well Chief put up one of the handicap performances of modern times when landing the Victor Chandler Chase from a mark of 176 and he went on to confirm his status in the highest echelons of the sport by finishing runner-up to Moscow Flyer in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, before beating Azertyuiop in the Celebration Chase. Unfortunately, he was to suffer further problems after, and another near two year absence preceded a heroic return when landing the National Spirit Chase at Newbury in February 2007. After this magnificent effort he was sent off as even money favourite to land a much deserved Champion Chase, but sadly he was to get no further than the second fence as he fell (for only the second time in his entire career). It seems that fate has denied “Chiefy” the opportunity to add the championship race that his talent so richly deserved. However, there have been so many good times that it is impossible to look back on his career with regret. Owner David Johnson once said “he has come back more times than Frank Sinatra”, and that bears testament to the sheer guts and resilience of his chestnut gelding and I am sure is just one of the reasons why the racing public took him to their hearts. David Pipe said, “It is a great shame that Chiefy never won a Champion Chase. But, despite the sleepless nights and worry, it has been a privilege to train him – I don’t think I will ever train a horse with more ability. I am sure that he will enjoy a long and happy retirement, he certainly deserves it.” 1st Apr '10
Well Chief Career Record 32 starts – Prize money £631,924
Winning Jockeys: T J Murphy (4), A P McCoy (4), J E Moore (1), T Scudamore (1), A Suborics (1), A Best (1)
Weather Watch! I can't believe the weather - tomorrow is April 1st and it hasn't stopped raining down here in the west country. As you already know Exeter were forced to abandon yesterday, while Wincanton inspect today ahead of tomorrow's card and Newton Abbot plan to inspect on Thursday ahead of their meeting on Saturday - prospects do not look good! A P McCoy has been on to David to see what the prospects of racing this way are - he's back from Portugal and is riding at Hereford this afternoon...I know he loves the sport, but even he has to wish that he was still abroad! The problem with the ground is that many of the trainers have their fast ground horses ready to run, but they have no chance on the prevailing going. It also causes problems for the boys on the flat, especially their two year old's - there aren't many that will want to be running on the rain softened ground. ***** We schooled a few over fences yesterday, including Pablo du Charmil who jumped really well under Danny Cook. Pablo is one of seven entries from Pond House still left in the Grand National at the latest stage. Jonothan Lower has been busy constructing our own National style fences and we will be posting some pics of the horses in action over those shortly.
***** It will be interesting to see what happens in the Scottish National if Denman runs as connections are suggesting. His presence would leave the weights with a distinctly lop-sided look to them - With Denman on 11-12, the next in the weights would be Madison du Berlais on 10-1 and Our Vic on 10-0, the remainder of the opposition would be out of the handicap! 31st Mar '10
Exeter Abandons! We have just heard that tomorrow's meeting at Exeter has been abandoned following persistent rain. The Devon track , that was describing it's going as heavy, had endured 8mm of rain overnight and with further heavy showers today, officials had little option other than to call the meeting off. Newton Abbot, who are scheduled to race on Saturday also have heavy ground at present, and I would imagine that they will not be wanting too much more rain before the weekend. 30th Mar '10
A Grand Day Out! I see that Wincanton racecourse are offering racegoers the chance to watch the Grand National from the comfort of their Kingwell restaurant. They are charging members £30 for the afternoon and non-members £35 - this will include a big screen to watch the race on, champagne reception, three course lunch, an official racecard and even an expert to run through the card beforehand as well as an on-site bookmaker. This is something that I think all of the courses not racing on Grand National day should look into doing.- I would think that the atmosphere will be great - get onto Wincanton and book your seats, I would imagine that it will be a sell-out! ***** There's an interesting new race at Haydock over Easter. It is a £50,000 handicap chase. David has entered ex-French Salut Flo who was so impressive when winning on his British debut at Doncaster. The race is due to be shown on Channel 4, so let's hope it doesn't go to a photo-finish as Watch With Mother follows the racing! ***** Just think, forty years ago 90 winners would have won you the jockey's championship. This season we already have three jockey's with over 90 winners, and of course A P McCoy with more than double that! The winner that year was Bob Davies, who dropped into our marquee at the Cheltenham Festival last week. 30th Apr '10
Larking Around! The stable's horses continue in good form with Woodlark Island winning in good style at Wincanton yesterday afternoon in the conditional jockey's handicap hurdle under Hadden Frost. He seemed to win with quite a bit in hand with Hadden easing our four year old down in the closing stages. As it was a boy's race he can again without a penalty, and you would hope that he would be able to follow-up providing the going doesn't get too soft. Winning connections including William Frewen had been on a stag-do in the west country since Friday, and the stag himself, Harry Lloyd was on hand to lead the winner in wearing a fancy dress horse suit, the picture of which you can see below! It really was an unusual sight seeing a horse being led into the winners' enclosure by another horse!
***** What an absolute farce the Dubai World Cup was on Saturday evening! The race ended in a three-way photo finish, yet broadcaster Channel 4 went off air before the result was even known - if it had been football or even ladies' mud wrestling I bet they would have shown the result! It just goes to show how interested in racing the people that run Channel 4 are - or maybe our sport is just not as big as we would like to think it is? Eurosport were also broadcasting the big race, perhaps we should hope that they take a bigger interest in our sport in future? Incidentally, World Cup winner Gloria de Campeao was a 16/1 winner for our text tipping service, and we followed that up with Woodlark Island on Sunday at Wincanton - to benefit from this great information, simply text PIPE to 84010 (Texts charged at £1.50 per message, to unsubscribe, simply text PIPE STOP to 84010, Helpline 01884 840715). 29th Mar '10
Weekend Jottings! Looking at yesterday's prize money at Meydan, the figures are truly mind-blowing! The World Cup is worth £3,703,703.70 to the winner, while the sixth horse home still pocketed a cool £123,456.79! Some of the lesser races were worth only (!) £1,851,851.85 to the winner, while the poorest race on the card was worth £370,370.37 to the winner...I bet the owner was gutted! Just compare that with our all-weather tracks where you can win £1,300...where are we going wrong? ***** Looking ahead to next week, the trainers at Lambourn fling open their doors for the annual Lambourn Open Day on Good Friday. The Household Cavalry are taking part in a show jumping competition against A P McCoy, Barry Geraghty, Ruby Walsh, Marcus Armytage and John Francome - that should be worth a look on it's own! As usual, the day benefits charity and the Help For Heroes charity is amongst those being supported this year, so do go along as I am sure it will be another enjoyable day.
Hughes Hard Done By! I cannot believe that common sense has not prevailed in the case of Richard Hughes trotting a horse back to the paddock after it was withdrawn. Hughes felt that the horse in question did not feel 100% right and so withdrew it - the vet at the scene said that the horse was a bit short, but he didn't feel that it was lame. Hughes made a judgement call, and were it not for the jockey's (very experienced) opinion, the horse would have run and probably have been well beaten - I cannot believe he was banned for ten days for trotting a lame horse back! His guv'nor Richard Hannon is (rightly) incensed and points to the fact that Ruby Walsh remounted Kauto Star after his crashing fall in the Gold Cup and trotted him back to the paddock. Are the stewards saying that Walsh is a better judge than Hughes?...come on let's have some common sense here, or at least a little bit of consistency! ***** We have been in excellent form on the Update Line with another three winners from four selections yesterday at prices of 10/3, 3/1 and Evens - don't forget to phone 09060 400 901 after 10am (Calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). I get some very good late information so don't miss out! 27th Mar '10
Estate Wins At Ludlow! It was good to see Estate bounce back to form in the 2m5f handicap hurdle yesterday at Ludlow. This was his first success since 2006 and he did it a shade cosily under a confident ride from Danny Cook. He has been running creditably on the all weather lately, and this was reward for his efforts. He holds no secrets from the handicapper, and I just hope that he does not over-react to this success as it would be a shame to have to wait another three years for him to score again!
***** Looking through the cold trainers list, I noticed one poor handler that has gone 4971 days without a winner - that is over 13 years! I know quite a few trainers who would have decided to pack the game in by now, so I suppose I have to admire their persistence! ***** There has been much talk about our team of conditional jockey's following their exploits at last week's Cheltenham Festival, and rightly so, they are among the best in the country. However, I was watching the racing from Ayr yesterday and I was very impressed by a young lad named Dale Swift who won aboard Elite Land - he looked stylish and very strong in the finish, and he still claims 7lbs...keep an eye on this boy. ***** My lucky pin is still doing the business, as those that listen in to the Pipeline will know. We have enjoyed nine winners in the first four days of the week and at some rewarding odds too! The winners include: 6/1, 7/2, 10/3, 15/8 and 7/4 shots, and included one having it's first ever run. This is the time of year that I start to get some excellent information about the unraced flat two year olds. I have some really good contacts in the big flat yards, so to benefit from this knowledge, simply call 0900 3900 900 from 8am (calls charged at 60p per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). 26th Mar '10
Nono Follows-Up! Nono le Sage won with his head in his chest again yesterday, and watching the race it occurred to me that he probably works harder at home! Unfortunately, the handicapper will have his say very shortly and his official rating will take a 15lbs hike - David tells me that he might be going up to Sedgefield on Friday, and if he takes his chance he should be very difficult to beat. The trouble is with such a big rise in the weights, the trainers are almost forced to run their horses.
***** I was watching the racing from Haydock yesterday and noticed that a very well backed horse (a 3/1 shot) bolted before the start of his race and nearly completed a circuit of the track. The vet took a look at the horse and decided that he was okay, so connections decided to let him take his chance. The horse promptly took a walk in the market and was soon tailed off in the race and pulled up. As far as I am concerned, punters most certainly did not get a run for their money. There is a rule about remounting horses that have fallen, and I think that there should also be a rule about allowing horses to compete if they have bolted for almost 1 1/2 miles! There were plenty of punters feeling aggrieved with this result and I can't say that I blame them... the whole affair looked very unprofessional to me. ***** I see that one of the Py Catchers in the Racing Post today is Gentle Ranger. Even Stevie Wonder would have spotted this one running a big race at the Cheltenham Festival last week before parting company with his jockey at the fourth last. He certainly looked like he would be involved in the finish, and can hopefully make amends in the near future. ***** Looking through the ante-post markets, I see that The Package is now as short as 14/1 for the Grand National at Aintree with Ladbrokes, the magic sign...I think they make the prices disappear! 25th Mar '10
More Plaudits For Our Conditionals! I read an interesting piece in the Racing Post this morning that says that the Pipe renaissance is due to the talented trio of conditional jockeys attached to the yard. Messrs Cook, Farrelly and Frost are certainly three of the better up-and-coming jockeys out there, and below you will see that we put a picture of the three musketeers on yesterday! Let's just hope that David can supply enough winners to keep hold of all three of them - between them they have ridden 29 winners for the yard this season, and all are showing a level stakes profit from all of their mounts for Pond House this season. It just shows you how young they are when Tom Scudamore is the old man of the party! ***** I see that the layer's have installed Buena Vista as their 6/1 second favourite for the Dubai Sheema Classic - I would have thought that David would have given him more of a rest after his Cheltenham exertions!...I am only joking of course, the Buena Vista in question is actually Japan's top three year old filly! ***** There was a great quote in the Racing Post from a lady called Amy regarding the impending return of Tiger Woods to the tee: "Tiger coming back - why does it make me feel uneasy when I think I fancy laying him?!" - I wonder what she means?! 24th Mar '10
Three Festival Winning Conditionals! I was on the gallops this morning and I managed to get a nice shot of our three Cheltenham Festival winning conditional jockey's together. I expect the Post's expert John Randall would be able to tell us, but I would be willing to bet that one yard has never had three conditional jockey's win at one Cheltenham Festival before (although Johnny Farrelly's win came aboard the Emma Lavelle trained Pause And Clause). Hadden was aboard Festival regular Buena Vista to win the Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle, while Danny Cook rode Great Endeavour to victory in the Byrne Group Handicap Chase. 23rd Mar '10
Cheltenham Fillies! It has been a cold and frosty morning so I thought I would warm all the gents out there with some of my fondest memories from last week at Cheltenham. I firmly believe that we should be doing more to save the Brazilian rainforest, but we should also be trying to save the Brazilian dancers! These scantily dressed lovely's came past our marquee and I just so happened to be at the front of the crowd with my camera. Having said that, I was nearly knocked over by bloodstock agent and former Pond House jockey Tom Malone, who pushed his way to the front for a better view!
***** I see following his excellent showing at Cheltenham last week, The Package has come in for support for Aintree's showpiece, The Grand National. He is now a 16/1 shot from 20's, let's just hope that he gets in as there are quite a few above him that need to come out. ***** Followers of the Pipeline over the Cheltenham Festival would have been celebrating if they had listened to David's advice. From his three to follow at Cheltenham, he managed to pinpoint his two winners Buena Vista (16/1) and Great Endeavour (18/1). Well done trainer! 23rd Mar '10 Newton Abbot's
New Canteen! MCP was at Newton Abbot yesterday afternoon for their first fixture of the new year. While David did not have any runners at the Devon track, MCP still had an important role to carry out. Indeed, he was honoured to open the new stable lad's canteen at the track. There was a good turnout, and while the ground rode quite soft, the course enjoyed a beautiful afternoon to get their new season underway. Newton Abbot have made considerable improvements to the facilities at the course over the years, and it is good to see some of those improvements benefiting those at the grass routes of our sport - afterall, the sport would not be able to take place without the stable lads. 22nd Mar '10
Change The Championship! I was looking through the trainers' table and I noticed that there are now five trainers who have amassed over £1million in prize money (David included), but I have to say that I still find this a very strange way to decide the championship. If it was done by the number of winners trained, Nicky Henderson would currently be leading. There can be no argument over champion jockey however (which is still decided by the number of winners ridden) - AP is clear on 186 winners, while he also leads with over £2million in prize money won. It is certainly about time that the powers that be thought about putting both championships back to the number of winners - just look at the trainers' table. One trainer has had only one winner, yet he is 28th in the table...it really doesn't make sense! ***** I thought that Kieren Fallon's put down line about the fellow that hit him at Lingfield on Saturday was perfect..."he hits like a girl!", said the former champion jockey. Having said that, there are a few girls in the yard I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a right hook from! On a more serious note however, we cannot have people taking a swing at the jockeys - racing is still one of the only sports where members of the general public can get so close to the stars. This sort of episode needs to be stopped before we have the racing personalities coming out of tunnels or from behind barriers to keep them away from the public. 22nd Mar '10 Sunday Bits 'n'
Pieces On the last day of the Festival there was a Brazilian dance troop outside our marquee. The women were dancing with hardly any clothes on so I am told. I did have a quick look but who should be out there taking pictures, Tom Malone! In fact at one time he even looked like he was in the dance troop! I heard one racegoer say to his friend, they are only women and they will still moan and his mate replied, hopefully, I don't know what he means! I hear they are considering moving the last day of Cheltenham to a Saturday. I must they that surely Gold Cup day could surely not take anymore people has everywhere was absolutely packed on Friday and it was pretty difficult to move around. There was a great photo in the Racing Post during the week of MCP with Dermot Weld and Michael Dickinson. Someone said to me I bet they could set up some plots. Three brilliant trainers. Racing returns to Newton Abbot this afternoon after the winter break and its great to be back at my local track. David has no runners there today but he will have at future meetings. Martin opens the new stable lads canteen this afternoon with Attheraces there to show the unveiling. Hope everybody has an enjoyable Sunday. 21st Mar '10
Fantastic Week The Festival is sadly over for another year, but what a great week. The stable had a close third yesterday with Consigliere in the final race of the meeting and at 16/1 he got a bit of money for the each way punters. The Martin Pipe conditional jockeys race was won by the Emma Lavelle trained Pause and Clause. The winning jockey was our very own Pond House Johnny Farrelly which was fantastic for him. This has meant that all of our conditionals at the yard have achieved their first ever Festival winner after Danny Cook and Hadden Frosts winners on Thursday. It just shows you what a brilliant team of jockeys we have down here and they are all names to keep an eye on for the future. I got a lift home from the races yesterday with Hadden Frost who had Johnny Farrelly as his co pilot, I would have rather walked! I must remember to tell MCP some information I heard while on the way back. Johnny was telling Hadden that he particularly enjoyed giving Martin a hug after winning is race because he was covered in mud and then plastered it all over MCP's suit! It was an absolutely amazing week and David had a great festival. With two winners, three seconds and a third I'm sure he would have taken this at the beginning of the week. All the horses ran well where it is tough to get in the winners enclosure and we are pleased to report they have all come back safe and sound which is the most important thing. Nigel Twiston-Davies had a day to remember yesterday with a treble including Imperial Commander in the Gold Cup A big congratulations to him and his team from everyone at Pond House. If someone asked me how to improve the festival I would say improve the car parks a little. It took us a very long time to get out even with Hadden driving! We can now look forward to the Grand National meeting which begins in just under three weeks time. Have a good day. 20th Mar '10 Wonderful Day 3
at the Festival What a difference a day makes! Buena vista and Great Endeavour both won and Faasel ran a cracker to be second in the Kim Muir, beaten in a photo finish. Buena Vista won the Pertemps final, giving Hadden Frost his first festival winner. When he was coming back into the winners enclosure one of the crowd shouted, show us your teeth Hadden! This was in reference to a fall a few weeks ago when both of his front teeth were knocked out though thankfully they managed to put them back in! He got a great reception and Hadden even thought about doing a Frankie Dettori flying dismount but I am glad he didn't as he can be a bit clumsy and he would have probably hurt himself! It was Buena Vista's first success since 2007 but he has been a grand servant to the yard and his owners and has always been campaigned at the highest level. That was his sixth outing at the Festival so that in itself is an amazing feat to turn up there year after year, let alone to finally win one after being placed on a couple of occasions. Hadden gave him a great ride and he was always up there from the start and he jumped superbly and stayed on well up the hill.
Great Endeavour won the Byrne group plate under a very positive ride from Danny Cook. He jumped well and stayed on strongly to give Danny his first Festival winner. The horse probably will stay further and this was owner David Johnson second success of the 2010 festival after Poker De Sivola won on day two.
It was a great training performance by David to get Faasel to finish second on his first fun back from quite a while off. He is a right little monkey but a very talented one and I think he could probably write a story about himself! He was given a fine ride by Josh Guerrio and he ran on well up the hill and would probably have won in another couple of strides but well done to Donald McCain on achieving his second winner of the meeting. I am pleased to report that all of our horses our well this morning after yesterday and will be enjoying a nice roll and a pick of grass in the paddocks. I managed to get my own back on Nathaniel Parker (Inspector Lindley) in our marquee yesterday. These actors are not so good without a script! No, seriously he was very good and joined in as I put the microphone in front of him unexpectedly and asked him to talk, picture below! We are on the final day of the Festival and how the week has flown by but it is the big one, the Gold Cup, the big show down, who will win, Kauto Star or Denman?! Not long to wait, have a good day. 19th Mar '10
Good Second It was another busy day at Cheltenham yesterday and I thought Notus De La Tour ran a cracker on ground that was probably a bit lively for him. Also to give seven pound to the winner who was probably very well handicapped, Sanctuaire was very good. I wonder what the handicapper will do to the Paul Nicholls trained gelding? Remember he has already raised our gelding by seven pounds before yesterdays race so I could see the winner going up by more than a stone. Well Chief came back from the Queen Mother ok and maybe the years are catching up with him, or maybe he needs a longer trip these days? Anyway he has been a real star over the years and owes us nothing and we are pleased to report that he is in good form at home this morning. They have had no overnight rain at Cheltenham and it has now reached the point where they need to put some water on the track so I believe they will be doing this on the new course ahead of racing. The most impressive winner of the day yesterday was the Colin Tizzard trained bumper horse, Cue Card, so very well done to this team. The four year old gelding bolted up and remember he was only a Fontwell bumper winner previously and normally winners from this track do not go to Cheltenham and bolt up! I wonder what he would be worth if the owner decided to sell him now?! I would say day two of the Festival was another success for the bookies so let's hope this is not the case today! Good luck everyone! 18th Mar '10
So Close... I thought The Package ran a cracker yesterday in the William Hill Handicap Chase. He made up a lot of ground late on and was only just beaten a head by Chief Dan George. That run shows he should stay the distance if he were to take his chance in the Grand National although he does need about thirty or fourty horses to come out to get in the race. I overheard the trainer of the winner, James Moffatt saying a similar thing about his own horse with regards to the Grand National so he may now head for the Scottish National. Our other runner in the race, Comply or Die also ran a cracker and now goes straight for the National. If The Package got in I wonder which horse Timmy Murphy would ride? I have never seen AP McCoy so happy as after winning the Champion hurdle on Binocular, he looked quite emotional. AP has always known how good Binocular is but he has not been showing us all how good he is of late so this win justified AP's faith in this horse. Well done to AP, owner JP McManus, Nicky Henderson and the whole team at Seven Barrows. It was a fantastic days racing to Open the Festival yesterday with some brilliant action and lovely weather and I am sure it will be the same again today so I hope you all have a good day. 17th Mar '10
Here We Go.......! The best four days of racing during the whole year takes place this week, starting today. The Cheltenham Festival begins and when the starting tape goes up for the first race, the Supreme Novices hurdle at 1.30pm the noise is unbelievable, it seems that everyone in Cheltenham cheers! David has a marquee at the Festival for the week and we are completely sold out with 130 people in there each day. We get the jockeys to come in at midday to run through the card and pick out their idea of the winners and Tom Malone often comes in, though we may need an interpreter for him as his accent seems to have got stronger! We usually have a few personalities join us as well and in the past we have had Amanda Barrie (Coronation street) and Nathaniel Parker (Inspector Lyndley). Sporting stars have included golf players David Howell and Robert Cole and football teams including Man City and West Ham so you can see that its one big party! Lets hope we can find some winners although I think it will be a bonanza day for the Irish. Good luck everyone and have a good week! Some of our Cheltenham runners for later this week did their final bits of preparation this morning on the gallops and I was out capturing a few photos before we headed off for Cheltenham! 16th March '10
A Winning
Weekend Heading Into Cheltenham Week! To water or not to water? That is the question. There is no rain forecast at Cheltenham between now and the beginning of the Festival tomorrow afternoon, although there is the chance of some precipitation on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Having walked the course yesterday, Alan King described the ground as dead, but I think that it will ride faster than that. There will certainly be some different results if the ground is good - just look at the weekend when good or fast ground horses were winning again. I also notice that Cheltenham have moved the last flight 70 yards nearer to the finish line. Let's just hope that your selection does not make a mess of it, as he now has less time to recover from a mistake! ***** It was good to see the stable among the winners at the weekend going into Cheltenham week. Lord Tomnoddy won at Chepstow on Saturday under Danny Cook, and he certainly seemed to appreciate the drying ground. Ortolan ran creditably to finish fourth in the same race. On Sunday, Nono le Sage also seemed to appreciate the quicker ground when winning the conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle at Warwick under Johnny Farrelly. The gelding has had plenty of problems so it was a good training performance from David. He will probably need to be turned out again shortly as the handicapper looks sure to have his say. 15th Mar '10
2 Days To Go! There will certainly be plenty of television coverage next week as the final countdown begins to the Cheltenham Festival. The Morning Line will be on everyday from 8.25am, while Atttheraces starts at 8am and RUK at 9.30am. Channel 4's coverage begins at 12.30 each day and then there will be late night highlights, so if you are a racing fan, there will be plenty to keep you busy over the next few days. I see that Frank "It's the way I tell 'em" Carson is at the Thistle during the Festival - that is only a mile away from the town centre. I remember seeing Frank perform at Torquay - I just hope that someone tells him that the Festival is only on for four days...he takes some getting off the microphone. There will be a sell out crowd for the four days with a capacity of over 50,000 people. I will be one of them, and I can't wait! ***** There is a point-to-point at Buckfastleigh on Sunday which starts at 1pm. Admission is £20 per car. In my younger days, I remember that many of the cars I owned didn't cost 20 quid! 14th Mar '10 A Right Old
Gamble! I see that trainer Alan Jones has been referred to the BHA following the win of Hiddensee at Wincanton. His charge landed a right old gamble, shortening from an early price of 33/1, right into 11/4 favourite. The form figures certainly would not have inspired any confidence either - he had pulled up in five of his previous six starts! The trouble is, with so many pulled-up's against his name, it does not look good when there is so much money about for a horse. Hiddensee was rated in the 80's for Mark Johnston on the flat a few years ago, so he was always potentially well treated over hurdles from a mark of 68. Having said all of that, Hiddensee did look to be in a little bit of trouble turning for home, before staying on to beat Petito by 5 lengths. All I can say is, I wish I had been in on the gamble! ***** I have had an ante-post bet on Quel Esprit for the Neptune Hurdle on the Wednesday of next week's Cheltenham Festival. I think that he will go off a fair bit shorter than the 8/1 that is available this morning, mind you you are listening to a man that backed Baron Blakeney ante-post for the Triumph Hurdle at 50/1 before he won at 66's! ***** If you had phoned the Pipeline yesterday, you would have been put onto four winners from five selections! Don't forget that we have A P McCoy on the Update Line this morning from 10am. The champion jockey gives us his selections for next week's Festival on 09060 400 901 (calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715), and tomorrow I will be speaking with former champion Peter Scudamore. 13th Mar '10
Thomas Takes A Tumble If ever you doubted that being a jockey was a risky profession, just look at poor Sam Thomas who was injured in a schooling fall on Paul Nicholls' gallops yesterday. He was airlifted to hospital, where he was found to have a cracked vertebrae and will miss the next six weeks, which obviously includes the Cheltenham Festival and Grand National meetings. I often wondered if jockey's thought of the consequences of a fall at this time of the season, but watching them compete, they still seem to throw their mounts over the fences in a desperate bid to win. If I were a jockey at this time of the season and was approached to ride a horse with an "F" or a "U" next to it's name, I would give it a big swerve - I guess that is why I am not a jockey...bravery was never one of my strong points! Anyway, let's hope that Sam makes a speedy recovery. ***** I see that a couple of our horses have been shortened up for races at the Cheltenham Festival. Notus de la Tour is now as short as 6/1 for the Fred Winter, while Ashkazar is now 8/1 for the Martin Pipe boys' race, while Salut Flo is now 8/1 from 14's for the Grand Annual - let's hope that the markets are correct! Today we have fifteen times champion trainer Martin Pipe giving his selections ahead of next week's Cheltenham Festival and tomorrow we will be talking to perennial champion jockey Tony McCoy. To listen to these two legends simply call 09060 400 901 from 10am (calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). 12th Mar '10 A Good Night For
Fergie! Watching the football last night, I wondered to myself what must be happening at half-time? The players would have been on their way to the dressing room and Sir Alex would probably have been off to his office to watch Attheraces to see his horse win at Wolverhampton. Sworn Tigress was winning for the second time and still looks to be ahead of the handicapper, indeed she is entered up again at Wolverhampton tonight! Anyway, I digress! Manchester Utd were as good as AC Milan were bad. Rooney now looks to be the best player in the world, I just hope he does not get injured because Man Utd and England are going to need his goal scoring power. Milan looked like a team of pensioners and they will need to spend some serious money to get some youngsters on their team. ***** David went up to Cheltenham and walked the course yesterday afternoon. He reported that the ground looked perfect and it was good/soft. I ask again, please don't make it too soft! William Hill's have reported sustained support for The Package in the William Hill handicap chase and they reckon they will be faced with a six figure payout should he oblige next week. Let's hope that they have to pay out! Don't forget to give our Update Line a call to hear Tom Scu's opinions about next week's Cheltenham Festival, tomorrow we will be talking to none other than fifteen times champion trainer Martin Pipe CBE! ***** As you can probably tell by the quality of the pictures below, it was David that was in charge of the camera yesterday morning and after sifting through hundreds of shots I found these two that he managed to get in focus! 11th Mar '10
No Salut At
Sandown! Salut Flo, the ante-post second favourite for this weekend's Imperial Cup handicap hurdle at Sandown will miss the race in favour of a crack at one of Cheltenham's handicap chases next week. This afternoon David confirmed that the ex-French recruit, an impressive winner over fences at Doncaster last week, will instead be left in the Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase on the Thursday and the Grand Annual Handicap Chase on the Friday. Salut Flo will compete with just a 5lbs penalty for his impressive success. 10th Mar '10 6 Days To Go! Just think, if you are going to buy a horse and you have Cheltenham Festival aspirations, don't buy a horse that has a preference for good or fast ground! With the watering system they employ at Cheltenham it is never going to be that sort of ground again. Why do courses feel the need to put so much water on? Of course, you do not want to jar the horses up, but is there really any need to change the ground completely? Noel Meade is one trainer who is concerned over the ground for his ante-post Champion Hurdle favourite Go Native, while Alan Fleming also has concerns over Starluck's chance. If you are watering the ground, I believe that they should be aiming for good ground, not good/soft. If there is any appreciable rain between now and the beginning of the Festival on Tuesday, the ground could come up horrible and tacky. Come on Cheltenham - don't overwater! ***** The Festival handicaps are so competitive, there are bound to be a number of disappointed owners and trainers. Philip Hobbs says that to get a run in the Martin Pipe race (a 0-140 handicap), you will need to be rated around 135. He has nine horses entered, but none of them are likely to get in! Sir Clement Freud once said "being a racehorse owner is the most expensive way of getting in free at the races". If you have an entry in the Festival handicaps, you may struggle to get in at all! ***** We have Tom Malone on the Update Line this morning from 10am giving his views on the Cheltenham Festival, while tomorrow I will be talking to stable jockey Tom Scudamore. Call 09060 400 901 for the latest information (calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715). 10th Mar '10 Ben's Bins! Racing Post assistant editor Ben Newton has been down to the yard to talk to David prior to the Cheltenham Festival, and he joined us on the gallops this morning. We had to stand a little further back than usual to watch the horses on the gallops - as you can see from the photograph below, if we had stood in our normal place, Ben would have knocked the jockeys off with his binoculars!
Chapman To Miss
Cheltenham! There is an interesting article in the Racing Post today called "My Festival" about Matt "Satsuma" Chapman. Tragically, he tells us that he will be watching the entire Cheltenham meeting from the confines of his booth at Attheraces headquarters. I cannot believe that he will not be joining us in our marquee this year to give us his opinions and advice, and to have a go at anybody (and I do mean anybody!) that disagrees with him. We normally only have one microphone on the go, so it can be very difficult to prize it out of Matt's (orange) little fingers. The silly thing is that he probably doesn't need a microphone anyway - even the marquee next door can hear Matt's tips! One thing I will say about Matt though, is that he never sits on the fence...unlike a few of his selections! ***** It was good to see Tanto Faz score in good style at Stratford yesterday. His win has given a significant boost to the form of Dan Breen, who beat him by eight lengths at Doncaster on his hurdling debut. I think it could have been a bit more, so he is one to look forward to at Cheltenham next week. ***** Luke Harvey is on the Pipeline Update Line this morning from 10am giving us his best bets for Cheltenham. Tomorrow we will be talking to former jockey turned bloodstock agent, Tom Malone about his Festival Fancies - Tom is never usually short of something to say! To listen in, call 09060 400 901 (calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times). 9th Mar '10 Cheltenham
Festival Latest... David announced this morning that Madison du Berlais will by-pass his engagements at the Cheltenham Festival and instead go straight to Aintree. Madison, who won last year's Betfair Bowl at the Grand National meeting has finished in the frame on his four starts (including when runner-up in the King George Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day), but has yet to get his head in front this term. He is absolutely fine, but rather than head to Cheltenham he will instead be kept for Aintree where he could aim to defend his title in the Betfair Bowl, or run in the Grand National itself. 8th Mar '10 8 Days To Go! I see that Mick Easterby is fuming about a £140 fine incurred when Nacho Libre went to the start wearing a set of visors instead of blinkers. While it should never have happened, surely the clerk of the scales is also partly responsible? When a rider goes to weight-out, the clerk checks the weight is correct and also the colours and tack, so why isn't the clerk of the scales also fined? With the owner refusing to pay transport costs to the races, Mick finds himself £640 out of pocket, and he won't like that one little bit...I am told that he still has the first fiver that he ever earned! ***** I see that Denman is a drifter in the Gold Cup betting, with a number of firms unable to give away the 2008 winner. If you are looking to have a bet on him, I would suggest leaving it for a little while; not only could the odds get bigger still, there is normally a reason for these drifts. Connections say that it is because of the ground, you will just have to make up your own mind. Talking of ground, I notice that Cheltenham are to start watering their ground today. While Simon Claisse and his team do an undeniably great job of keeping the Prestbury course in wonderful order, I have to ask the question - What is wrong with good/firm ground? There are a number of horses that will be going to Cheltenham that handle the faster ground well, but their chances will be all but scuppered by the additional water. How is that fair? So long as the going is not dangerously fast, the winners should be those horses that act best under the conditions on the day. Bookmakers have already chalked up the ground on the opening day being good/soft as a 1/7 chance. Maybe the fast ground horses should just stay at home?! ***** Don't forget that from tomorrow, we start our build-up to the Cheltenham Festival with former jockey and Attheraces pundit Luke Harvey appearing on the Pipeline. He will be giving us his Festival fancies from 10am on 09060 400 901 (Calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times, Helpline 01884 80715). 8th Mar '10 Imperial Cup
Questions! I see that the Racing Post have started to speculate about what David will be running in the Imperial Cup on Saturday. If you win the big handicap hurdle at Sandown, and then follow-up in any race at the Cheltenham Festival, the sponsors pay out a big bonus. It is something that Martin managed to do with Olympian and Blowing Wind in the past, and David also successfully completed the double with his dad's horse Gaspara in 2007. I was up in the snooker room at Pond House earlier in the week, and I noticed the cheques that are presented to winning connections - they are about 5 feet long and fairly heavy - if you dropped one of those, it certainly wouldn't bounce! David went to Ireland on Thursday to attend a Cheltenham Preview Evening at Waterford. The MC said that David held the microphone a bit like Alvin Stardust (a 70's/80's pop singer for you young 'uns)! Anyway, they were also probing whether Notus de la Tour will be the one to attempt the double - David wasn't giving anything away, but Channel 4 pundit and former champion jockey John Francome wouldn't have any of it; "he's his father's son, he knows what the plot is!" I guess time will tell...only nine days left to the start of the 2010 Cheltenham Festival - I can't wait! 7th Mar '10 Go With The Flo! There was a very nice performance from a Pond House debutant at Doncaster yesterday afternoon. Ex-French recruit Salut Flo turned the 2m3f handicap chase into a procession under Hadden Frost and looks certain to go on to better things. Ironically, he probably won by too far and I don't think the handicapper will be too pleased to have seen him score by 12 lengths from a mark of 118. I would imagine he will be taking a fair hike up the weights after this. It was a first winner in our new horsebox, so at least that has now been christened (with a winner anyway)! Sadly, The Sliotar has been ruled out of action for the remainder of the season. He held a few entries at the Cheltenham Festival, and I thought that he would have had a chance in the four mile National Hunt Chase. It's a tough old game for owner and trainer, and illustrates the highs and lows of our great sport.
***** I would imagine that Nicky Henderson will be facing an anxious wait following news that Punchestowns was found to be lame yesterday. His participation at this year's Festival is now in some doubt, although he has a decent replacement in the RSA Chase in the shape of new favourite, Long Run. ***** We enjoyed a good day on the Pipeline yesterday with four nice winners at prices of 11/2, 4/1, 6/4 and 8/11. To benefit from this top-class information, simply call 0900 3900 900 from 8am (calls charged at 60p per min at all times, Helpline 01884 840715). As if that wasn't enough, subscribers to our text tipping service were pointed in the direction of 3 winners from 4 selections. To subscribe to our text tipping service, simply text PIPE to 84010 (texts cost £1.50 per message, to unsubscribe at any time text PIPE STOP to 84010). 6th Mar '10 Another Case For Inspector Lynley! I see that Enda Bolger is intending to run all five of his entries in the Cross Country race at the Cheltenham Festival. That is bad news for the rest of the trainers as Enda has farmed this race down the years, first with Spot Thedifference and more recently with Garde Champetre. I don't know why they don't just cancel the event and give Enda the trophy! With only eleven days left to the start of the Cheltenham Festival, I am sure that there are many trainers that are at their wits end trying to get their string to Prestbury Park in one piece. After the Festval is done and dusted, it is then more or less straight on to the Grand National meeting at Aintree. It seems that the entire jumping season is geared up to one month of the year. ***** Talking of Cheltenham, I see that Nathaniel Parker has been interviewed for today's Racing Post. He says that he will be coming to the Festival with us and I am sure that I will be seeing him in the marquee. You would think that being Inspector Lynley, he would be able to solve all of the mysteries that the Festival is bound to offer! I am sure he will give me some stick when I am on the microphone in the marquee - he did last year! ***** While I was on the gallops yesterday morning, Notus de la Tour passed me under Johnny Farrelly going nicely. A winner at Plumpton (when partnered by Johnny) on his only start for us, he holds a number of engagements at the Cheltenham Festival, but has been installed by bookmakers as the favourite for the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices' Hurdle. 5th Mar '10
12 Days To Go! We had a couple of runners at Folkestone yesterday and they both performed creditably to reach the frame. Aboukir Bay finished third, beaten only four lengths despite the burden of 11-12 on very soft ground and he looks capable of winning a similar sort of contest. Painter Man was only narrowly beaten by Canni Thinkaar despite the concession of 12lbs to the winner. Unfortunately Painter Man didn't get a great jump at the last and it may just have made the difference as he was closing again all the way to the line. The pair were 13 lengths clear of the third, and Painter Man certainly looks up to winning again. ***** I was interested to read an article by David Ashforth about Jonjo O'Neill. He says that his principal patron J P McManus never asks him for any tips, but simply asks if the trainer is happy with his horses. JP then makes his own mind up. Jonjo rates his best Festival chance as Totesport Trophy Hurdle winner Get Me Out Of Here in the opening Supreme Novices' Hurdle. I wonder if he will tell JP that he is happy with him? While he was impressive at Newbury, Get Me Out Of Here will come up against last year's Champion Bumper winner Dunguib, who for many is the banker of the entire meeting. With less than two weeks to go until the start of the Festival, you can feel the anticipation starting to build...it should be another wonderful meeting! 4th Mar '10 Carvill's Recalled! There is an interesting article in today's Racing Post about Carvill's Hill. He was a real giant of a horse, and he had long been touted as the next Arkle when trained in Ireland through the early part of his career. When he was sent to Martin, there was huge interest in the horse, and his fans turned out in force when we sent him back to Ireland to run in the Irish Hennessy Gold Cup. Our gelding flew from Bristol, and Carvill's Hill was so big that his head touched the roof of the plane and he could not turn around in the aircraft. Indeed, when he touched down in Ireland, he had to be backed down the ramp. As I am sure many of you will recall, he bolted up in the race and the Irish descended upon the winners' enclosure. He was one of those horses that seemed to be public property - the Irish thought he was a real superstar, and every one of them felt like they owned him. Eddie Buckley, our head lad used to ride him at home. He was a real handful (that's Carvill's, not Eddie!) and once he would get to the top of the gallops, he would turn around and take off! You just had to give him his head and let him get on with it. He was a horse of outstanding ability, and I still remember vividly the demolition job he did on his rivals in the Welsh National at Chepstow under top weight. ***** I see that former snooker player John Virgo is 64 today. I used to tour around all of the holiday camps with JV, and I remember getting locked in a bar with him at Warners Holiday Camp on the Isle Of Wight - still, I guess there are worse places you could get locked in. John used to own decent sprinter, Jokist, and he used to like the odd flutter. Many happy returns of the day John! 3rd Mar '10 Latest News From The Gallops! It's been a lovely bright morning on the gallops. It was frosty first thing so the ground was still a little white, but with the excellent light, it makes for great pictures (even if I do say so myself!). The first one past me was Leo's Lucky Star who was partnered by Johnny Farrelly, shortly followed by the unbeaten Chartreux, who was working alongside recent recruit Ortolan. I also managed to get a nice shot of Grand National hero Comply Or Die and I thought that he looked really well as he continued his build-up to Aintree's centrepiece.
Yesterday, it was Amy Coles' 19th
birthday. Amy has been with us for a couple of years now and looks
after Madison du Berlais among others. You can see her below
riding Painter Man with a special rug that MCP had made up for the
birthday people. The rug has embossed on it, "It's My Birthday" in
gold letters, alongside a bottle of champagne.
Many Happy Returns! There are some famous people born on 2nd March. First of all, there is Gordon Elliott who seems to spend more time in England with his horses than he does back home in Ireland! I think he has his own room at David's house, although maybe not now that Jack Pipe is in residence - Gordon always did like his sleep! A name from the past, Lorna Vincent is 51 today. Lorna was one of the first lady jockeys - she rode for Les Kennard before becoming assistant to Mick Channon. Below you will see a picture of Lorna winning aboard one of Martin's horses, Le Dauphin at Newton Abbot in 1978. Le Dauphin was owned by a great old friend of the yard, Malcolm Zadel who has now sadly passed away.
I notice that it is also Harry Redknapp's birthday today. Harry, who is 63 today was one of my football heroes back when he played for West Ham United - I would never miss a Hammers match in those days. I also played in Harry's golf team on the Isle Of Purbeck with Bill Longmuire. Any golfing enthusiasts will know who Bill was, he led The Open a couple of times. ***** I see that a few of the Racing Post pundits are looking through the Supreme Novices' Hurdle for a bit of value against Dunguib on the back of Paddy Power offering to refund all losing bets should the favourite win. One of them goes for David's impressive Doncaster winner, Dan Breen. If you can't get on with Power, at least find a bookie like Bet365 who are offering non runner, no bet and best odds guaranteed. Interestingly, David Johnson nominates The Package in the William Hill Handicap Chase as his best chance of a winner at the Festival. 2nd Mar '10 Looking Back! Looking back at the weekend action, I thought that Madison du Berlais ran creditably enough in the Racing Post Chase on Saturday under the circumstances. The blinkers certainly seemed to light our nine year old up, and he always seemed to be doing a little too much too soon. It is also worth remembering that he was giving weight away to the three in front of him (including 21lbs to the winner) on soft ground. The extra Champion Hurdle trial that was put on in place of the Kingwell Hurdle really did not tell us anything. Second favourite, Treaty Flyer (a 9/1 chance) fell at the fourth hurdle leaving reigning Champion hurdler Punjabi to saunter home by twelve lengths. He probably does more work at home! Having said that, the owners picked up £8,170 for what was effectively a public exercise gallop. ***** If you like a flutter on the ante-post markets, it is worth bearing in mind that Bet365 are offering some great concessions to punters. They have just started betting non-runner, no bet, which means you will get your money back if your selection does not run, and they are also best odds guaranteed, so if you take the price now, the firm will give you the SP if it is bigger. It's good to see them trying to drum up a bit of interest early with these decent offers, let's just hope that some more of the firms follow suit. ***** I notice that it is Roger Daltrey's 65th birthday today. The Who front man shows little sign of slowing down in his old age, and he recently performed what has to be one of the biggest gigs of his entire career, when his band played the half-time show at the Superbowl. It takes me back to the days when I used to get on board my old Vespa GS and go for a ride down to Brighton with all the Mods...there were no crash helmets in those days, we all just cut a dash in our berets! My scooter had more mirrors on it than a newspaper stand! 1st Mar '10
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