We began last week with a winner amid chaotic circumstances at Plumpton which provided a welcome first winner for a high-profile sportsman on our owner’s portfolio. Meanwhile, back at Pond House there was plenty of weather with Storm Angus battering the UK with torrential rain, sleet and even some snow. I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned the driest October in 15 years – the 40mm of rain we endured on Saturday was more than the previous month combined!

Of course, such downpours have meant that the ground has altered from very quick (even unraceable) at some courses to incredibly testing in a very short space of time. With the conditions forecast to dry over the remainder of the week as the storm blows through we are going to have to keep a close eye on the going when identifying our best opportunities.

We started last week with the success of Citrus (pictured above) in the novices’ hurdle at Plumpton but the race was not without incident. When one of the contestants parted company with his rider at the first, the riderless horse went on to cause chaos consistently impeding other runners. Fortunately Tom Scudamore grasped the nettle and opportunistically moved Citrus to the front to avoid trouble in running and he never looked back, holding on well to score by a neck. His victory marked the first jumps success for owner and former England cricketer Craig Kieswetter. We bought Citrus from the Arqana Summer Sales having shown some decent form in bumpers in France and the Kieswetter family purchased him shortly after. Craig certainly seemed to enjoy the experience and hopefully it will be the first of many winners to don his colours.

Meanwhile there were other good performances, not least from Sweettoothtommy who stepped up on his reappearance run when third in the first division of the novices’ hurdle at Chepstow on Wednesday. He wasn’t beaten at all far and more than suggested he should be capable of winning a little race somewhere before too long. Looking to this week, tomorrow we run Daklondike at Lingfield in the novices’ hurdle. We will see how the ground is looking before committing to anything later in the week although Un Temps Pour Tout is an intended participant in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday. He was a ready winner of a nice race over hurdles at Aintree on his reappearance and that outing should have bought him on.

I am satisfied that we have chosen the correct race for him as the Betfair Chase that was won by Cue Card at Haydock last Saturday would have required a significant personal best – to run from his correct mark in the Hennessy is the far more sensible option. Not that the Hennessy will be easy of course, it is a fiercely competitive handicap that will take plenty of winning. I have been happy with Un Temps Pour Tout’s preparation and would not swap him for anything else at this stage.

Stable stalwart Dynaste is an intended runner in the veteran’s handicap chase at Leicester on Sunday. These races for the older generation are a great initiative and I know that they are popular with racegoers who forge an affinity with these great horses who do battle season after season. This is the first time Dynaste has been eligible for such races owing to his hitherto lofty rating and he will have to shoulder top weight. He retains all of his enthusiasm despite now being ten, rising eleven so we will see how he gets on.

It is always nice to know that your work is appreciated and so I was pleasantly surprised to see my name appear as the seventh most effective user of Twitter in horse racing according to a recent RaceBets blog. I enjoy keeping followers of the stable up to date via my website and social media – it is a good way of keeping people engaged with the sport and I think that is vitally important moving forward and I am thankful for a great deal of support.

I have already alluded to the extreme change in the elements over the last week or so, the best example being when I was down the gallops on Friday morning and it began to snow heavily. Fortunately we have the finest facilities which means that come rain or shine (more of the former lately!) the elements will not stop us from exercising the horses. I have a couple of pictures from around the yard to share with you.

  

As usual, for all the latest news from Pond House and any runners do keep up to date with Chester’s Daily Chat or follow us on Twitter @DavidPipeRacing.

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