- Monday, 27 July 2015 15:26
- Written by David Pipe
With runners at just Worcester and Uttoxeter, it was yet another one of those disjointed weeks last week where there was precious little jump racing to focus on. The week ahead seems to offer a more balanced programme with National Hunt racing taking place from today through Friday despite the excellent ‘Glorious Goodwood’ meeting going ahead on the level. Even so, come Saturday there are six fixtures and not a single jumps card among them, why on earth not?!
- Monday, 20 July 2015 15:07
- Written by David Pipe
Despite there being very little in the way of National Hunt racing, there has been no shortage of newsworthy events over the past seven days, not least the surprise decision by champion flat jockey Richard Hughes to bring forward his impending retirement to after the meeting at Glorious Goodwood next week. As a fan of our great sport it is a shame that we lose the champion jockeys’ from both codes (flat and jumps) within a few months of each other.
- Monday, 13 July 2015 12:52
- Written by David Pipe
Kings Palace & Broadway Buffalo
Enjoying their Holiday
It was a quiet week on the racing front last week and I enjoyed a few days in Portugal with the family. It was nice to recharge the batteries as it's now back to work the horses starting to come back in from their summer holidays. I am not sure quite where the time goes as it only seems like 5 minutes ago we were turning them out!! They have all done well though, have put on a nice amount of weight and we have a good starting point to begin training. Now starts a few weeks walking and trotting before we get them back on the gallops again. It is great to have a mixture of all the old favourites plus a few new faces to look forward to as well. Of course we are continually looking to add to the team through the sales and monitoring what becomes available in the private market. If you are interested in joining Pond House as an owner in any capacity we would be delighted to hear from you.
- Tuesday, 07 July 2015 09:58
- Written by David Pipe
It is that time of the year again when the jumping program becomes increasingly fragmented. With four days between jumps fixtures from Wednesday of this week and another four days without National Hunt racing next (not to mention a full week in August) it is all very stop-start. I have mentioned it before and I am sure I will mention it again - for the life of me I still can’t see why these blank days are not grouped together in order to give the horses, jockeys and staff alike a little bit of a break.
- Monday, 29 June 2015 15:22
- Written by David Pipe
Although looking like a quiet week on the domestic runners front, there is still plenty to keep us busy over the coming weeks. One or two of the horses have already had their summer breaks and are now back in while others will be going out very shortly and while all this is going on, it is an ideal time for some yard husbandry, making sure that everything around the yard is good working order, tidy and above all clean.
- Tuesday, 23 June 2015 06:46
- Written by David Pipe
What a great week last week with Royal Ascot taking centre stage. Pair that with a couple of winners for the stable over the sticks and several other notable performances and all in all, it must be considered a productive one. With another French foray on the cards over the coming few days, the ‘quiet’ summer jumping season has been anything but…not that I am complaining however as anyone knows me will testify, I would much rather keep myself busy.
- Monday, 15 June 2015 16:02
- Written by David Pipe
Following on from our spectacular success in France the previous weekend, it was down to earth somewhat with a handful of runners on the domestic front. We seemed to have a touch of thirditis (which I guess is even worse than that terrible plague, seconditis!) whereby five of our eight runners filled the third spot in the winners’ enclosure. Nonetheless a good victory from grand old campaigner Street Entertainer at Worcester punctuated this somewhat frustrating run and kept us at the top of the trainers’ standings for another week, albeit at this early stage.
