This is the time of year that the Pond House string normally gets into full-stride with the Open meeting from Cheltenham at the end of the week, it is always a date that is circled on my calendar. Sadly we were dealt a blow earlier in the week when one of our hopes, King’s Socks was ruled out of the BetVictor Gold Cup. It is disappointing but we should still be well represented at Prestbury Park this weekend. Meanwhile, a high profile success at Aintree at the weekend once again illustrated the highs and lows of our sport.

While the first success of the week did not arrive until Saturday we had a number of number of creditable performances prior, not least from La Vaticane who finished runner-up in the Listed mares’ chase over three miles at Market Rasen on Thursday. This was a pleasing reappearance not least because she met with very significant interference as the winner jumped across her at the final fence and she was arguably an unlucky loser. She is the type to improve for the outing and she certainly deserves to go one better shortly.

I was delighted by the reappearance effort of Un Temps Pour Tout in the BTRC Hurdle at Aintree on Saturday. A 2m4f hurdle race didn’t necessarily provide him with his optimum conditions, although it came at the ideal time for a prep run ahead of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury in three weeks’ time. Tom Scu set a sensible gallop aboard our seven year old and he kept finding in the straight without Tom ever having to get too serious with him. The run will have helped bring him on and I am looking forward to Newbury where his chase mark of 158 should put him on a nice racing weight.

After flying with us to Aintree, Caroline Tisdall was able to celebrate our winner along with a few fireworks on Bonfire night. As you can see from the photograph, she managed to grab the best seat in the house alongside my mother, father and Sophie!

Looking to this week, it is a slow start with no runners today (Monday) or tomorrow, but things build up to a crescendo by the weekend with Cheltenham’s Open meeting starting on Friday. We are strongly represented in the amateur riders’ chase on the opening day with five entries and recent Aintree second What A Moment is an intended runner at this stage with Richard Harding booked to ride. Father Edward, Top Wood, Alternatif and For ‘N’ Against are also engaged.

Ballynagour will likely be our only runner in the BetVictor Gold Cup on Saturday. He was in good form when last seen in the summer, finishing runner-up in two valuable handicaps. He holds no secrets from the handicapper but I am hopeful he will run a decent race.

Champers On Ice holds a couple of entries at the meeting and I am looking forward to him tackling the larger obstacles this season, although he would appreciate a fair bit of rain before I would consider running him. Meanwhile, Moon Racer has an entry in the Grade 2 novices’ hurdle on the Sunday and he could well run there. He has pleased me since his Perth victory over Ballyandy and will continue to be a difficult horse to beat.

There was some sad news from across the Irish Sea on Sunday when it was reported that Willie Mullins’ triple Cheltenham Festival winner Vautour had been put down after sustaining a broken leg in a paddock, while they also lost leading Hennessy hope Avan Tout at Naas. It is an enormous blow to lose any horse – they become very much a part of the family, and to lose two high class horses on the same day must be devastating and I feel for all involved…a great loss to our sport.

Finally, I would like to add my best wishes to the many others after the terribly sad news that flat jockey Freddy Tylicki has been paralysed from the waist down following an awful fall on the all-weather at Kempton recently. Our thoughts are with him and his family at this very difficult time and we hope that he continues to improve. It illustrates the dangers these brave jockeys face every time they sit aboard a horse for our entertainment.

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