Bits and Pieces

It is a busier day on the racing front today with lots of meetings but there are none from Pond House today.  There are four meetings on the flat at Haydock, Yarmouth, Kempton and Hamilton while there is one jumps meeting this afternoon at Fontwell.  In Ireland they race on the flat at Cork and over jumps at Wexford.  The next runners for the stable are at Uttoxeter tomorrow evening where we have 3 runners, Morgenstern, Al Roc and Tango Arumba but more news on their races tomorrow morning.  There are fairly small fields at Fontwell once again but both Tom Scu and Philip Armson are in action at the track.

In wider news I see the yard of trainer Mick Channon, who now shares the licence with his son Jack, is up for sale.  They have been looking to develop and modernise their yard at West Illsley but have been refused planning permission so have decided to put it on the market.  It has been advertised with a guide price of £6.975 million if anyone is interested.  For that money you get a lovely 6 bedroomed country house, four flats, two cottages and 13 bungalows.  There are 105 stables, 35 stalls, a covered trotting ring, a lunging ring and covered horse walked all set in about 62 acres.  It does look a lovely set up and is available as a whole or in six lots.  It also has a lot of history as well with Dick Hern having sent out 25 classic winners from the stable including Brigadier Gerard and Nashwan.

Over in Ireland at the moment we have the Goffs store sales taking place.  The star horse of the day was undoubtedly the half brother to Altior with agent Mags O'Toole securing the Camelot gelding for 300,000 Euros.  His new owner was not disclosed but she did say that he would be trained in Ireland.  It was a very busy day at the sales where 25 horses sold for at least 100,000 Euros.  224 horses were offered for sale yesterday and of those 205 were sold at a clearance rate of 92%, the average selling price was 53,922 Euros which is up 17% from last year.  While it is great to have such buoyant trade, I wonder how many will turn out as superstars?  Day 2 of the sale continues today at 10am. 

Yesterday, Willie Mullins announced the retirement of dual Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo and also the high class Melon.  Al Boum Photo won many top chases and Melon actually finished runner up at the Cheltenham Festival four times which included finishing second in the Champion hurdle in 2018 and 2019.  Both horses are set to have active retirements with Melon set to go team chasing and hunting while Al Boum Photo is going eventing and I am sure both with excel in their new disciplines as well.  May they both have long and happy retirements.

Have a good Wednesday!