Chemical Warfare Winner at Newcastle

It has been a good week for the yard with another three winners on the board and what was particularly nice was the manner in which these victories were achieved.  King Turgeon, Chemical Warfare and Walkadina were there winners throughout the week and have now taken us to 24 for the season so far.

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                   Cyfor Malta

Cyfor Malta passed away peacefully on Sunday 27th October 2024 at the grand old age of 31.  He spent his retirement close to the yard with former head lad Dennis Dummet (who sadly passed away this year) and his partner Norma who loved and adored him.  He lived for several years with Miinnehoma, It Takes Time and in recent years, his new best friend was Dynaste.  Dad and I visited him not that long ago and he still looked magnificent but age just caught up with him quite recently.

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We had our 20th winner of the season at Uttoxeter on Friday courtesy of Vision De Maine getting off the mark under rules on chasing debut under Jack Tudor.  Our five-year-old son of Buck’s Boom is a lovely big old-fashioned chasing type and after making a pleasing debut last season in a bumper at Sedgefield behind a useful horse, things did not go to plan afterwards over hurdles.  A summer at grass has done him the world of good and having schooled very well at home we were quite hopeful of a big run and being able to capitalise on his handicap mark.  Everything went very smoothly during the race as he travelled kindly, jumped very neatly and kept on galloping strongly.  He has come out of that race well and while we did have him entered again quickly at Plumpton, we decided not to run him with a penalty.  We will see what the handicapper does to him this week but I hope there is plenty of progress to come from him.

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     Neon Moon Winner at Chepstow

It has been a great week for the yard with three winners since last writing and 19 winners on the board for the season so far.  Chemical Warfare won for the fourth time since joining us and for the second time in recent weeks up at Sedgefield.  He certainly does not seem to mind the long journey and loves the track.  He is versatile ground wise and put in another solid display to win comfortably in the end.  We considered entering him back at Sedgefield this weekend in the Durham National and while we wait to see what the handicapper does to him on Tuesday morning, he would have been some way out of the weights so decided against it.  He has come out of his race well and there are plenty more opportunities for him in the next few weeks. 

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The last seven days have been quite quiet on the runner’s front but very busy behind the scenes back at Pond House.  We had owners and visitors at the yard every day last week culminating in about 60 people here on Saturday for those involved with the syndicates we run directly here at Pond House.  It was a morning well received and some welcome sunshine was an added bonus.  A visit to the local Culm Valley Inn for a refreshment after the stables also proved popular!

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   Chemical Warfare Winner at Sedgefield

We started last week how I would ideally love to start any week, with a winner!  Unfortunately, we won’t be starting this week in the same manner as we were due to have runners at Newton Abbot on Monday but the meeting was abandoned due to waterlogging.  Chemical Warfare made the long journey to Sedgefield last Monday and put up another gritty display to win for the third time this summer with Jack Tudor riding.  He looked in a little bit of trouble leaving the back straight but responded well for pressure before getting to the front, probably a little too soon, idling and pricking his ears on the run in but always just doing enough. 

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Amy - Will be Riding in Wincanton Charity Race

Last week was very quiet on the racecourse for us and it will continue to be so this week with jumps racing still a little limited but things do start getting going a bit more next week.  We have had some rain at Pond House in the last few days but not nearly as much as some places around the country!  The flat meeting at Leicester On Monday was abandoned the day before due to waterlogging with 72mm of rain falling in a relatively short space of time and a lot of courses with fixtures coming up have had dramatic changes in going descriptions.  We made entries at Warwick for Tuesday the other day with the ground described as good to firm, I see this morning they have changed to good to soft following rain over the weekend and conditions will soften further with quite a bit more rain to come before racing.  We did need some rain but like with everything these days we seem to go from one extreme to the other!

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    Oceanline Winner at Worcester Again

We had our fifteenth winner of the season at Worcester last week courtesy of Oceanline winning again under a good ride from Jack Tudor.  He had won at the track over 2m7f on his previous start and had been put up six pounds for that success but that was not enough to stop him and the drop back in distance to 2m4f did not inconvenience him either.  Jack gave him a positive ride, he jumped well and kept galloping.  Things were getting a little tense in the final half a furlong as he was being closed down but he just did enough and we were on the right side of a photo finish.  

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    New Woodchip put on the Gallops

We just had he one runner last week, Ben Lilly who ran on the flat at Goodwood.  This was his first run back for a while as he had picked up an injury and he ran okay on ground that was softer than ideal.  This will have put him spot on for a run over hurdles next though we will be running him again on the flat as well at some point. 

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                 Watching Coldplay

Even though jumps racing has returned from its mini-break, it is still a funny time for National Hunt Racing with some meetings but it is a little sporadic with not a lot going on in between!  There was racing at Worcester on Sunday but this is followed by four blank days with just Bangor on Friday and then Stratford on Saturday and Fontwell on Sunday to follow this weekend. 

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