- Saturday, 09 March 2024 07:43
- Written by G Edwards
Royal Mer after his win at Leicester!
It was great to get a third win of the season over fences for Royal Mer at Leicester yesterday. He coped with the drop back in trip to two miles and scored comfortably in the end under a nice ride from Harry Cobden. He travelled and jumped well in behind before being produced to lead at the second last. He idles a little when he hits the front but Harry kept him up to his work and it was a good performance. He is a strong travelling horse who loves soft ground, the heavier the better! It was a great local success for his owner Sam Sutton and I am sure we will look for a similar race going forwards where the ground is suitable and he can hopefully keep progressing. It was nice to give Harry another winner, he has not ridden many horses for us but that is his second winner and important for him in his battle to be champion jockey – especially as Sean Bowen had has a walk over winner on the same Leicester card.
- Friday, 08 March 2024 07:45
- Written by G Edwards
Royal Mer runs today at Leicester!
Today we have four runners, two at two meetings!! We have two runners at Leicester, Royal Mer and Man Again and they are both partnered by Harry Cobden. We also have two runners a bit closer to home at Exeter, Heure De Gloire and Activist. Heure De Gloire runs in the 2.10pm handicap hurdle over two miles and Gearoid Harney rides. She ran well at the course last time out to be third, and she will love the conditions today again. There are only seven runners but it is quite a competitive looking race and she is about 12/1 in the betting. The handicapper has dropped her a couple of pounds, but she is still four pounds above what she won off at Ffos Las earlier his season. Gearoid claims seven off and hopefully she has a good each way chance.
- Thursday, 07 March 2024 07:47
- Written by G Edwards
Shot Boii runs today at Carlisle!
Today we just have the one runner at Carlisle, Shot Boii. It is a long way to travel, but we thought the race looked suitable. He runs in the 4.55pm handicap chase over three miles and Jack Tudor rides. He has run well over fences in recent starts, winning at Hereford, finishing second at Warwick and then running better than the bare form suggests when finishing third at Kempton last time. While he was beaten a long way in the end, he made a bad mistake at the final fence down the far side at Kempton and lost all hope and did really well just to stay on his feet.
- Wednesday, 06 March 2024 07:53
- Written by G Edwards
We were due to have one runner today at Fontwell Worldwide Fury in the Bumper, but unfortunately the meeting was abandoned yesterday after more rainfall left the course un-raceable. This is their second meeting in a row that Fontwell have lost, so they will be hoping for a drier spell, as does our horse as his last two intended engagements have been called off! He holds an entry at Stratford on Monday so hopefully it will be third time lucky for our five year old!
- Tuesday, 05 March 2024 08:06
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Another quiet day for us here at Pond House with no runners today. In Britain, there is jumps action at Lingfield after passing it's inspection this morning and Newcastle, there is flat action this evening at Southwell. In Ireland, they have jumps racing at Thurles after they also passed their inspection this morning.
The Cheltenham Festival is fast approaching and is now just only a week away! Clerk of the course Jon Pullin, is usually in a muddle at this time of the run up to the festival whether to water the course or not, but this year due to the extremely wet weather we've had lately, he does not have that issue on his hands! He expects, the ground could be on the easier side for the festival after a drying week. Four from the last five festivals have started on soft, while the other was good to soft.
- Monday, 04 March 2024 07:52
- Written by G Edwards
There are two jumps meetings today at Plumpton and Southwell, but the stable does not have any runners. We did have entries, but with the weather continue to be wet. We decided these horses were preferred to wait for another day. there is a flat meeting on the all-weather at Wolverhampton while in Ireland, they have jumps racing at Leopardstown.
Over the weekend, Ocean Heights didn’t run to his usual level of form at Kempton for no obvious reason. He travelled towards the head of affairs, but did not really keep going when asked. This was a very rare below part effort from him, but he seems completely fine after the race, and we know he is better than this.
- Sunday, 03 March 2024 07:12
- Written by G Edwards
Today we have two runners, one at Doncaster and one at Huntingdon. First Lord Du Cuet travels to Doncaster to run in the conditional jockeys veterans handicap chase at 3.15pm and Gearoid Harney rides. He has run well the last twice finishing second at Market Rasen and then fourth in a slightly better race at Kempton last time. It is a valuable race for the grade and it is a competitive ten runner field, but he is in good form at home and I don’t see why he can’t be involved in the finish. He is about 8/1 in the betting, will prefer the slightly better going today and with Gearoid taking six pounds off he has a good chance.
