- Monday, 02 October 2017 15:42
- Written by David Pipe
I was pleased to see Newton Abbot survive an early morning inspection following a soggy weekend and it means that with four runners at the Devon track today (Monday), and another at Stratford it is a busy start to the week. Indeed, with a number of further entries later in the week, following a quiet spell on the racing front it is good to see things beginning to pick up.
- Monday, 25 September 2017 15:24
- Written by David Pipe
There is certainly a mixed bag of weather about at the moment! While the sun has been shining in the south west over the past few days (and is set fair again for the majority of this week) there have been deluges in the north of England and Scotland culminating in the abandonment of Ayr’s feature three day Gold Cup meeting last week as well as Hamilton’s card today. With a similar scenario echoed around other parts of the country too (Huntingdon’s Arab card was lost to the elements on Saturday) we are certainly going to have to keep a close eye on the prevailing ground at the forthcoming meetings.
- Monday, 18 September 2017 14:03
- Written by David Pipe
Without wishing to sound too clichéd, a week is a long time in racing so a year can seem more like an eternity! That is why I was more than a little surprised to look through the calendar this week and realise that it is approaching the first anniversary of our partnership with forward thinking recycling specialists National W&S Recycling Services as our yard sponsors. I would like to take this opportunity to thank proprietor Geoff Thompson and his team for their continued support and look forward to continuing our association for the coming season and beyond.
- Monday, 11 September 2017 15:42
- Written by David Pipe
With just three runners last week it was a quiet one, and while we didn’t hit the bullseye all three picked up prize money and continue to demonstrate that the horses are in good order. I would be lying if I said that the run of placings was anything other than frustrating, although it would be more of a concern if the horses were not competitive. With no jumping this coming weekend it is looking likely to be another quiet week with runners at just Newton Abbot this afternoon (Monday) and at Worcester tomorrow.
- Monday, 04 September 2017 15:07
- Written by David Pipe
With just a handful of runners on the week, it was a quiet one on the racing front, but with both Keating and Buster Edwards (pictured above) acquitting themselves well, we were arguably a little unlucky not to come away with a winner. Nevertheless these encouraging efforts confirm the wellbeing of the horses and I am sure that it is a matter of when rather than if they are successful.
- Monday, 28 August 2017 10:43
- Written by David Pipe
I have just returned from a few days away with the family in Portugal. It was nice to get away before the kids go back to school and things start cranking up with the horses at home. It was a lovely week and great we have come back to equally good weather over here! It has been fairly quiet on the runner’s front with not that much racing to aim at but Lady of Longstone ran better at Newton Abbot to finish fourth at a big price. The handicapper has finally given her a bit of a chance and hopefully she will be able to add to her 6 career wins so far in the near future. Gabrial the Great ran another good race to finish a close fourth at Worcester last Wednesday. He was put up for finishing second last time and off top weight it was a solid effort to only be beaten 2 ¾ lengths. Read more...
- Monday, 21 August 2017 15:56
- Written by David Pipe
It was great to be back racing after the summer break and what better way to kick it off than with a winner at Bangor on Wednesday evening? Aldrin was the one to get us back on the scoresheet when running out a ready winner of the novices’ hurdle, while there were promising runs from some Pond House newcomers suggesting that there is better yet to come...
- Monday, 14 August 2017 15:35
- Written by David Pipe
Although the core season does not really build up momentum until the beginning of October, I will be pleased to see the back of the summer break when jump racing resumes at Newton Abbot and Bangor on Wednesday. We are likely to have runners at both of those fixtures, while we have plenty of entries for the remainder of the week. With the majority of the horses back in from their summer breaks things will only continue to get busier around the yard.
- Monday, 07 August 2017 15:12
- Written by David Pipe
It seems a little ironic that with many of the horses back in from grass; the summer break is now upon us. Still, I am sure you know my views on that subject by now so I will not harp on about it! Despite the lack of action on the track, there is still plenty of work going on behind the scenes as we bid to ensure that the horses are at their peak once the ‘core’ season gets underway once again.
- Monday, 31 July 2017 16:01
- Written by David Pipe
With the mixed bag of weather it makes the job of placing the horses even more difficult than usual. Indeed, we endured 26mm of the wet stuff over the weekend at Pond House, while other places in the locality missed the rain altogether. Consequently we only had one runner last week, although it is looking considerably busier for the week ahead with plenty of runners tomorrow at Worcester as well as a couple of entries at Market Rasen at the weekend.
