- Monday, 07 July 2025 13:06
- Written by David Pipe
Chemical Warfare Special Recognition Award
Leanne and I enjoyed a good trip to France last week and came back with a couple of nice new additions for the team. We travelled over by ferry from Portsmouth to Caen overnight on Monday and had time to look at all the horses on Tuesday while the unraced two-year-old stores were being sold and then the horses in training went through the ring on Wednesday. We returned home from Deauville on Wednesday night and the horses were back in the yard on Friday morning. It is a great atmosphere over there with plenty of Brits enjoying the French hospitality.
We purchased Keep Star, who is a five-year-old gelding and is twice a winner over hurdles. He is full brother to Dindin who we had and recently retired. Dindin won thirteen races in his career and just shy of £250,000 in prize money along the way. He had a great attitude and had a good level of form at his best and hopefully this fella can follow in his footsteps.
Best Night, is a four-year-old filly by Night Wish who has been placed on the flat and looks the sort to do well over hurdles. She is from a trainer we have bought well from in the past, with horses such as Night Edition, Koi Dodville and Paricolor arriving from this yard and she looks a similar type who will enjoy racing in England. She is likely to prefer better ground and can run both on the flat and over hurdles and so we will crack on with her while we will get to know a bit more about Keep Star before giving him a short holiday.
These two horses are just a couple of four recent additions to the yard with Parchment being a lovely three year old gelding bought privately from France, having won his sole start over hurdles at Compiegne. He is settling in well at Pond House and will go out to grass for a little break before we look forward to an exciting juvenile hurdling campaign with him this winter.
Morradi – For Sale
Morradi is our fourth new recruit from France and he is for sale should anyone be interested in owning him! He is yet to arrive with us but he will be with us by the end of the week. He finished second at Deauville over 1m1f on Saturday and we put in a successful claim of 25,002 Euros to buy him. He is a nice four-year-old bay colt by Cracksman rated 80 on the flat and he is some decent form in the book. He started his career in Sweden having originally be bought from France as a 60,000 Euros yearling. He was twice a winner over there last summer before being campaigned in France this year. While yet to win in France he has some interesting bits of form and the race on Saturday looked a good one for its grade. The horses we have trained here at Pond house so far by Cracksman have shown great attitudes and have an aptitude for jumping so we hope this one will to! Our sources tell us he comes from a yard he can progress from and he is a nice dual-purpose prospect. We aim to kick straight on with him when he arrives so if you would like to know any further information please do get in touch. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call the office on 01884 840715.
Last Week
Hammer Dan was the best of our select runners last week and he finished a close second at Worcester. While a little frustrating to fill the runner up spot once again you cannot knock his performance and if he settles a little better I am sure he will be getting his head in front next time. Jaipaletemps did not stay over 2m4f and found the ground too quick while Chemical Warfare was not at his best and both of these horses are now having a little holiday. Old Bridge found the opposition a little hot a Newton Abbot but has come out of the race fine which is the main thing.
This Week
This week, is once again looking fairly quiet on the runners front and Ocean Heights will run on the flat at Kempton on Wednesday. Jack Dace rides again and we have added a visor to sharpen him up so I hope he would have a great chance on a course he likes. Keep checking the Daily News on the website for the latest news of the stable runners.
Chemical Warfare – Timeform Award
We were delighted to receive the Timeform Special recognition award last week for Chemical Warfare. He was awards this for his eight wins last season, which was a great achievement. This will sit proudly on his stable door when he returns from holiday.
Busy At Home
While things may be quiet on the track, things are beginning to turn up a gear at home. The first batch of horses are in from their summer holiday while the rest will come in over the coming days. Lots of the staff have now finished the majority of their own holidays and it is full systems go with doing the initial road work with the horses.
June Weather
I am sure you do not need me to tell you, but the weather remains dry and we had just 50mm of rain at Pond House in June. That fell over eleven days and takes the year running total to 395mm. While that is more rain in June compared to 2023 and 2024, combined with a drier May we are now just under 300mm less of total rainfall to this point in the year than we were until the same point last year. While some places had plenty of rain yesterday, we did not really get any and it has been a dry start to July. We will see what the rest of the month brings but we could so with a drop of rain down here!
Schools Out
My children have finished school for the summer, not sure where that time has gone! When Jack returns in September he will be going into Year 11, GCSE year, while Sophie will be in year 9 and Martha will start year 5. They are very happy to have finished school and we have a family holiday to Portugal to look forward to later this month.
