- Monday, 13 May 2019 14:24
- Written by David Pipe
Last week was certainly one to remember for the Pond House team with winners coming left, right and centre (back-to-back doubles book-ended by victories at Exeter and Market Rasen). With 6 winners from just 14 runners and some places to boot, I couldn’t be more pleased with our start to the new campaign. In truth, the horses have been running well for some considerable time now although we have been flying under the radar somewhat. The resetting of the tally’s with the start of the new season just serves to bring it more to people’s attention.
- Monday, 06 May 2019 11:30
- Written by David Pipe
It is hard to believe that the 2019/2020 jumps season is already upon us, but as has been the case for many years now, one season follows hot on the heels of the other. With a couple of runners today and tomorrow and plenty of entries for the remainder of the week it looks like being a busy start to the campaign. Indeed, I am off to Kempton this afternoon where we run Malangen.
- Monday, 29 April 2019 15:33
- Written by David Pipe
The weekend saw the closing of the 2018/19 season with a fantastic meeting from Sandown. Looking back, on the whole I am pleased with how things panned out for the Pond House team last term. Despite fewer horses we produced significantly more winners than the previous campaign, whilst increasing prize money by almost £100,000 and improving our percentage strike rate. It is now a case of starting again and bettering those totals this coming season. There is lots of work to do at the sales and around the yard this summer as we endeavour to do just that. I would like to thank my team of hard working staff for their continued efforts and my loyal owners for their trust and support.
- Monday, 22 April 2019 09:43
- Written by David Pipe
Malangen - 3 Wins in a Row
In my children’s school they give a star of the week award to a child in the class who has done well during the week. The star of the week at Pond House this week has to be Malangen who was as once again star on the race track and won for the second consecutive Saturday. He put up a really determined performance to bring up his hat-trick of wins. He looked in a little bit of trouble leaving the back straight but he may have found the trip on the sharp side round this track and all he did was keep responding to Tom Scudamore’s urgings and won a shade cosily in the end. The handicapper is sure to have his say tomorrow but our four year old is in good heart at the moment and hopefully there is more to come. He prefers the quicker ground and will be kept on the go this summer. He has the option of going back on the flat at some point while we will also consider sending him chasing in July as he really loves his jumping and four year olds get a nice allowance at this time of year.
- Monday, 15 April 2019 15:28
- Written by David Pipe
With less than two weeks of the current campaign remaining I was pleased to add a couple more winners to our seasonal tally. The successes of Legal History and Malangen last week took our total to forty and with a few meetings this week and plenty of fixtures next week, there are still plenty of opportunities to add to that score. Of course, the entire team remains hungry for far more success, but on the back last season, this term has been all about rebuilding; improving on our total winners, prize money and percentage strike rate…something that we have already comprehensively achieved.
- Monday, 08 April 2019 14:34
- Written by David Pipe
It is a shame that we couldn’t add to our tally in this year’s Grand National, but as always in the great event you need a little luck in running and that was not with us on this occasion. However, I am pleased to report that all of our team from Aintree including Grand National runners Ramses de Teillee and Vieux Lion Rouge have returned home safe and sound and that is by far and away the most important thing.
- Monday, 01 April 2019 14:06
- Written by David Pipe
Grand National week is upon us once again and I am delighted to be heading into the Aintree Festival with the horses in very good form. Indeed, we enjoyed two winners and three places from our six runners over the sticks and enjoyed a wonderful weekend with an Ascot double on Sunday that included an amazing 1-2 in the veterans’ handicap chase. We will have a small but select team going to Liverpool, spearheaded by Ramses de Teillee and Vieux Lion Rouge in the big one and I am very much looking forward to it.
- Monday, 25 March 2019 16:55
- Written by David Pipe
Last week was a good one for the stable with four winners; although I would have been happier still if a few of those who finished placed had scored, but you can’t be too greedy! With the Grand National meeting less than a fortnight away, I am very pleased with the form of the yard and hopefully we will be sending a nice team to Merseyside. Aside from our four winners, we had five seconds, five thirds and a fourth from our 21 runners last week and we passed our seasonal total from last term. I hope to build on that momentum for the remainder of this season, whilst I have a team of very promising youngsters to look forward to next term and beyond.
- Monday, 18 March 2019 17:07
- Written by David Pipe
The Cheltenham Festival is over for another year and we were once again treated to an amazing spectacle full of top-class performances. We had a smaller team than in previous years with only three runners, but Eamon An Cnoic produced a cracking effort to finish a close fourth in the Brown Advisory Plate, whilst Warthog ran better than his finishing position would suggest in the four mile National Hunt Chase. I was pleased to round off the week with a winner at Uttoxeter’s Midlands National card which has been very kind to me down the years.
- Monday, 11 March 2019 12:40
- Written by David Pipe
With just 24 hours until the greatest show on turf gets underway, I hope you will forgive me if this week’s blog is perhaps a little shorter than usual. Although we will not have a big team going to Cheltenham this week, there is still plenty to do. Indeed, we have a few horses who are ‘on the cusp’ of getting in their preferred races and as such, there is plenty of homework to be done to find out if that will be the case or if alternative engagements need to be taken up. Couple that with the logistical arrangements of transporting the horses, whilst also scouring the sales catalogue for the Festival Sales and it is an exceptionally busy time for us.
