Percy At Ascot

          Percy Street Runs at Ascot

Today we have one runner on the flat at Ascot.  Percy Street runs in the 1.30pm handicap over 1m6f with Finley Marsh on board.  This is a more realistic race for our seven year old whose last two runs on the level have been at Royal Ascot in the Ascot Stakes.  He actually ran really well two years ago in that race and although he finished unplaced he was not beaten many lengths when Oisin Murphy was riding.  He has some useful form on the flat in his younger days and although he is a bit of a quirky character he does possess a fair amount of ability.  The Roger Varian trained runner Apparate is favourite and Percy Street is one of the outsiders but it would not be the biggest surprise to see him run okay after a break.

Alongside Ascot this afternoon there is action from Newmarket and Newcastle, while a flat meeting at Salisbury gets underway at 4.35pm.  The action in Ireland today is on the flat at Leopardstown.  There is no jumps racing today but there is some at Bangor tomorrow.  We did have a couple of entries but decided against running them with the ground drying out due to the nice sunny weather.  Flat racing comes from Hamilton and Lingfield on Sunday as well with two flat meetings in Ireland at Cork on the turf and Dundalk on the all-weather. 

All of us at Pond House would like to pass on our best wishes to Lizzie Kelly who announced her retirement from riding this week.  Lizzie has been schooling at Pond House a few times and has announced that at the age of 27 she is expecting hir first child later this year.  She has ridden two Cheltenham Festival winners and we are delighted that one of her winning horses, Siruh Du Lac is joining our equine team for the upcoming season.  Lizzie made history in 2015 when she became the first woman to win a Grade 1 race over jumps.  She won the Kauto Star Novices Chase at Kempton on Tea for Two.

David was considering heading to the sales in Ireland next week but unfortunately these have now been postponed.  With travel restrictions and quarantine measures still in place in Ireland it makes it extremely difficult for people from overseas to attend which would have of course affected sales prices.  Newmarket sales took place this week and Doncaster is planned for the end of this month.  Fingers crossed these can take place and we can get some sales back on in Ireland soon.   If anyone is interested in getting involved in ownership at Pond House, please do get in touch as David would be delighted to hear from you.  There are horses available for sale for all budgets!  Have a good day and enjoy the action everyone.