Two Legends Retire

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Wincanton and Market Rasen as well as two all-weather flat cards from Southwell and Kempton.  There is one runner from Pond House today as Percy Street contests Wincanton's 2m5½f handicap hurdle at 2.10pm.  He has some decent placed form to his name but doesn't win as often as his ability suggests he should.  He was fourth last time, not beaten at all far and he is 2lbs lower today - he would have place claims once again under Tom Scudamore.  The owner, Fergus Wilson is in great form following his 1-2 in Ascot's veterans' chase on Sunday.

We held a party at Pond House yesterday to celebrate the career's of Cheltenham Festival winners Moon Racer (above left) and Un Temps Pour Tout (above right) as we announced their retirement from racing.  It will be very difficult to replace two superstars like that, but David does have a nice bunch of young horses coming through.  Daily Mirror racing correspondent Dave Mitchell provided us with a lovely tribute...

Yesterday was a day of mixed emotions for David and the staff at Pond House.

Sad because David, Caroline and Bryan have taken the decision to retire Moon Racer and Un Temps Pour Tout — happy because they both leave training happy and relatively sound.

Had he been built with a Land Rover chassis rather than Ferrari trim Moon Racer would, by now, be a Pond House legend rather than be remembered as a stalwart.

He was an aeroplane as a young horse and who will ever forget the way he got Tom Scudamore out of more trouble than Theresa May to win his Festival bumper - it was the thought of the kitten heels that Tom wears in the car that led me to draw the comparison!

What a talented scrapper Un Temps Pour Tout was — two Cheltenham Festival wins as well a a famous win in the French Champion Hurdle.

They say horses don't always get the owners and trainers they deserve — these lads couldn't have picked better and they can both look forward to long and blissful retirements.

As ever, it's onwards and upwards for the dynamic Pipe and Tisdall axis — it's Grand National day on Saturday and good old Vieux Lion Rouge runs in the race for the fourth time for the pair along with co-owner John Gent.

He will be accompanied by Ramses De Teillee in the big one, so let's hope he can give John and Anne a great thrill while we all wish the best of luck to Tom and David Noonan on the day.

Many thanks for the kind words Dave, they are very much appreciated.

Dave briefly mentioned the Pond House Grand National hopefuls in his tribute.  Did you know that Vieux Lion Rouge has jumped 152 of Aintree's new fences (after three runs in both the National and Becher Chases) on his way to sixth, seventh and ninth place finishes and it would be no surprise to see him run another cracker.  Ramses de Teillee hasn't jumped a Grand National fence in public yet, but he has had plenty of practice over our replica fences at home and has jumped them well.  Roll on Saturday...

*****

I had another good night on the football last night with Wolves and Watford both winning.  It makes watching the matches a whole lot more enjoyable when you have a winning bet!  The only bet tonight is on Spurs to beat Crystal Palace at 1/2.  Manchester City at 1/14 and Chelsea 2/7 so there is no point backing them.

I see that Kevin Bond is the new Southend manager until the end of the season.  He should do a good job and keep them up.  I knew his dad - John was a great West Ham full-back who also enjoyed a spot of racing.  Meanwhile, the manager's merry-go-round continues and it looks like Lee Bowyer could replace Steve McClaren at QPR.  The trouble is that Bowyer is still under contract at Charlton.  Out of the fire and into another one!

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I went to the funeral of one of my mates yesterday.  He died after being hit over the head with a tennis ball...it was a lovely service!  Keep smiling...

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