- Friday, 23 November 2012 08:06
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Sadly Ffos Las failed to pass it's inspection this morning - hardly surprising really when you consider that parts of the track are underwater! We are still left with some good jumping action at Haydock and Ascot as well as an all-weather flat card at Wolverhampton. The stable has runners at the remaining National Hunt fixtures - Barney Cool, The Pier and Dan Breen run at Ascot, while Gevrey Chambertin (pictured above) travels up north to compete at Haydock. Gevrey Chambertin is the full-brother of Grands Crus and he goes in a hot-looking novices' hurdle where four of the seven runners won last time out - this is the race that I am most looking forward to seeing this afternoon.
- Thursday, 22 November 2012 08:03
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Well, there is good news and there is bad news! I will start with the bad news - following torrential rain around the country the jumps fixtures at Wincanton and Hereford have unsurprisingly been abandoned. The good news is that following an inspection at Market Rasen this morning the meeting goes ahead so we will have some National Hunt racing to look forward to, however I bet the finishes are going to look like they are filmed in slow-motion! There is also an all-weather flat meeting taking place at Kempton this afternooon.
- Wednesday, 21 November 2012 08:41
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It has been absolutely pouring with rain in the west country overnight and this morning we have woken up to scenes that I have not witnessed before. There is flooding everywhere and the journey to work for several of our staff has been pretty tricky. I am pleased to say the majority of our staff have made it in safely and the work continues! At 7.30am this morning we recorded 46mm of rain and it was still pouring!! Todays jumps meeting at Warwick has been abandoned but Hexham does go ahead. There are also two all weather meetings on the flat at Kempton and Lingfield.
- Tuesday, 20 November 2012 08:11
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There are three meetings taking place this afternoon - two over jumps at Fakenham and Folkestone as well as a flat card on the all-weather at Southwell. I have only ever visited Fakenham the once, many years ago. To be honest, I wasn't even sure where Fakenham was until Martin told me that it was just past Ipswich...I soon found out that it was quite a long way past Ipswich! Martin never was very good at directions! Fakenham is quite a tight left-handed track with a friendly atmosphere - we were made to feel most welcome and I would recommend it to anyone planning a visit.
- Monday, 19 November 2012 08:02
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Well, as you would expect it was a great three days at Cheltenham's Open Meeting and the yard had a great time of it with four winners and a further three seconds. For me Dynaste was the pick with the way that he dismissed a very high class rival in Fingal Bay, although Our Father (pictured above) was also very impressive on his chasing debut under an enterprising ride from Timmy Murphy. It looks to me as though David has a very nice crop of novice chasers to look forward to for the remainder of the season. Old favourite Swing Bill rolled back the years to win the amateur riders chase for the second successive year while Goulanes looks a very useful young recruit.
- Sunday, 18 November 2012 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There are just two meetings taking place this afternoon and the obvious highlight is the final day of the Paddy Power Open meeting at Cheltenham. It isn't a bad card at the other fixture, Fontwell however as they host their Southern National...the really good news is that both meetings are televised on Channel 4. The stable has several runners at Cheltenham this afternoon His Excellency, Close House, Kazlian, I Shot The Sheriff and The Liquidator - some of you with good memories may remember that Martin used to train a horse called The Liquidator a few years ago...he was very useful so let's hope that the same is true of his namesake!
- Saturday, 17 November 2012 08:08
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It was another amazing first day at the Open Meeting for the Pond House team when Dynaste and Swing Bill book-ended the card with fantastic victories. Dynaste looked like a top-notch prospect when landing the novices' chase in facile fashion from well regarded Fingal Bay. He did receive 5lbs from the favourite yesterday but I don't think that made the slightest bit of difference. Grands Crus won this contest twelve months ago and Dynaste also looks very exciting. Swing Bill rounded off the day with a signature gutsy performance in the amateur riders race, following-up his victory of twelve months ago and providing jockey Mikey Ennis with the thrill of a lifetime.
