- Monday, 28 November 2016 16:53
- Written by David Pipe
Looking back at last week it was certainly one of mixed emotions for the Pond House team with the success of promising former Irish point-to-pointer Daklondike (pictured above) the obvious highlight, while we ended the week on a slightly lower key with the disappointing performance of Un Temps Pour Tout in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury. You always need to keep looking forward in this industry and with nothing obvious coming to light I am sure that this could be put down as ‘a bad day at the office’. He is clearly better than he was able to show on this occasion and there will be other big days ahead for him.
With just four runners it wasn’t the busiest week we have had by a long stretch but it started off in the best possible fashion with the success of Daklondike at Lingfield on Monday under a positive ride from Tom Scudamore when landing the two mile novices’ hurdle. Our four year old gelding was a winner of a point-to-point in Ireland so he was always going to appreciate the testing conditions provided by the rain-softened ground. He saw it out very well with good leaps at each of the last two hurdles securing a ready success from a previous winner. This bodes very well for his future, particularly given his pedigree (a half-brother to Paddy Power Gold Cup and Cheltenham Festival winner Great Endeavour) and that he should also be suited by a greater test of stamina still. Meanwhile, this was Tom Scu’s 50th winner of the season.
Over at Newbury on Saturday Un Temps Pour Tout didn’t perform to his best in the Hennessy Gold Cup, struggling to get into a good rhythm. He has put in the odd disappointing run in the past and bounced back and I am sure that he will do so again.
I am pleased to report that following his first fence departure from the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle, Katkeau is none the worse for his experience and he could be turned out again this week.
Although we have no runners today (Monday) it looks like being a much busier day ahead tomorrow with four runners; Poisoned Berry, Heath Hunter, Café du Paris and Rathealy at Lingfield, while Obistar is earmarked to make his seasonal reappearance at Ffos Las on Wednesday. Later in the week we have entries at Leicester and Market Rasen and Wincanton on Thursday, Exeter, Sandown and Sedgefield on Friday, while on Saturday Vieux Lion Rouge will be bidding to follow-up his excellent run in the Grand National with another outing over the legendary fences in the Becher Chase at Aintree on Saturday and La Vaticane will also take in the National fences in the Grand Sefton Chase.
Dynaste missed his intended engagement in the veteran’s chase at Leicester on Sunday owing to the ground. I would not dream of running him on the prevailing firm ground and therefore we will instead look to a similar contest at Kelso this coming Sunday.
With plenty of entries including those yet to make their Pond House debuts such as Vincent’s Forever, Ramses de Teille, Great Tempo and Miss Tynte it is certainly an exciting time of the year. As usual the final runners will not be determined until we have carried out all of the last minute tests, checked the ground and competition to give us the very best opportunities and all the latest news can be found on Chester’s Daily Chat or by following us on Twitter @DavidPipeRacing.
Finally, I would like to offer my congratulations to my secretary Gemma’s brother Darren Edwards who rode his 200th winner ‘between the flags’ at Black Forest Lodge on Sunday. He won aboard the Luke Harvey trained (yes, I did say Luke Harvey!) Porlock Bay in the intermediate race. 200 winners on the point-to-point circuit is no small feat and that is before you consider his 24 winners under rules which included a Cheltenham Festival winner for my father aboard Maximize – very well done indeed.
