Farewell Chief

                  Stable Great -
    Well Chief has Sadly Passed Away

Today we have six meetings, flat cards at Hamilton, Wolverhampton, Lingfield, Chelmsford and Newcastle and a jumps card at Ffos Las this evening.  David has three runners at Ffos Las plus a flat runner at Chelmsford.  Tobacco Road runs in the 8.40pm at Chelmsford with Pat Dobbs on board.  This is a 1m2f handicap 0-85 and he looks on a good mark of 77 having won off of 84 and 81 in the past.  Let's hope he gets it all together tonight.  At Ffos Las David runs Citrus in the 6pm 2m5f novice handicap chase.  He was pulled up on his chasing debut last time at Stratford but all his aids have been left off this time.  He has definitely got ability but a clear round will help!  Abracadabra Sivola and Gone Too Far both run in the 6.30 3 mile handicap chase.  Even with top weight Abracadabra Sivola with David Noonan on board looks to have a squeak.  Gone Too Far would have to improve on recent runs.

         Well Chief Enjoying Retirement                        Bill Selwyn's picture of Well Chief  

    
      Well Chief after winning at Sandown                    Photograph by Mark Cranham

It was with great sadness yesterday that we learnt of the passing of one of our former greats, Well Chief at the age of 18.  He had been enjoying retirement with Timmy Murphy and another old Pond House favourite Vodka Bleu since he left the yard but unfortunately suffered a from a bout of colic from which he could not be saved.

The ever popular chestnut was one of the best, if not the best horse we have ever had at Pond House.  He ran 32 times, won 12 races and was placed a further 12 times and these were not just any races.  He won the 2004 Arkle beating subsequent Gold Cup winner Kicking King by 1 length on only his second start over fences.  He was runner up three times at the Cheltenham Festival in the Triumph hurdle and then twice in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.  He won two races on the flat in Germany before being bought by David Johnson.  He won his debut hurdle race in this country at Taunton and then went on to win a further two hurdle races, the Elite hurdle at Wincanton and the Adonis hurdle at Kempton.

He scaled even greater heights as a chaser.  After his win in the Arkle, other notable successes included carrying top weight to victory in the Victor Chandler chase when giving over a stone to all of his rivals.  The Celebration Chase at Sandown, the Game Spirit at Newbury and the Connaught Chase at Sandown which was his final success in November 2009 are also on his roll of honour.  This is not to mention his numerous placed efforts in all the top races.  One of the most memorable that stands out for us and probably all of racing is one of the greatest races of all time; this was his third place in the 2009 Tingle Creek when he did tremendous battle with the great Moscow Flyer and Azertyuiop all the way up the Sandown hill and all three were covered by less than 1½ lengths at the line.  If you have never seen this race it is well worth watching.

All of his achievements were despite his well-documented injury problems in which is legs have been described as ‘like glass’.  This only heightens the respect and love for this talented horse who was guided through his career by both Martin and latterly David.  He amassed more than £631,000 in prize money in a career which spanned eight years.  He truly was a remarkable horse on the racecourse if not a slightly quirky ride at home!  He was extremely kind natured and loved by everyone at Pond House.

Andy Murray plays Martin Klizan in the French Open today.  Murray will have to be on his guard, Klizan plays all the tricks in the book to try and upset his opponents, he is a real wind up merchant but as long as Murray keeps his cool he will win.  It will be entertaining whatever happens!

I see Sir Alex Ferguson has reminded Jose Mourinho he expects entertaining football next season.  Manchester United only scored 54 goals last season, by far the fewest number of the top seven clubs and it looks like Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not going to sign a contract so where will United get their goals from?

In the cricket England play Bangladesh in the Champions trophy.  Bangladesh are 66/1 outsiders to win the trophy, mind you they have won four of their last seven 50 over matches against England.

What do you call a lawyer who's gone bad - a politician!  Have nice day.