Giant Warhorse

Champagne Fever & Western Warhorse do battle

What a day for the yard at Cheltenham yesterday.  Western Warhorse won the Arkle!  What a ride Tom Scu gave the six year old and his celebration reaction coming past the post was brilliant.  It was officially a photo finish but Tom's eyes must be good as he knew he had won!  It was definitely not expected but any Cheltenham winner is fantastic and settles the nerves for the rest of the week.  The first time hood seemed to do the trick on the horse who is not the easiest character to manage and he jumped fantastically and battled on really well up the Cheltenham hill.  It was great for owner Roger Brookhouse who is a great supporter of Pond House and has already had a great week after winning the Imperial Cup with Baltimore Rock on Saturday.  There were great celebrations in our marquee afterwards and there a few sore heads this morning!  The Package ran a cracker, having his first run for a year to finish third at 16/1.  It was our each way bet in the marquee so everyone was pretty happy with this although I don't think many people actually backed our winner at 33/1!

In the rest of yesterday's action The New One looked very unlucky in the Champion hurdle.  He lost a lot of ground after being hampered by the fall of Our Conor but he did stay on nicely to finish third.  He looks a good thing for Aintree but all our thoughts are with all the connections of the sadly ill-fated Our Conor.  Quevega won her sixth Mares race and sets a record, beating that of Golden Miller.  She was made to work for it but what a star she has been over the years.

Today we have four meetings on around the country.  We have of course Cheltenham but there is also a jumps meetng at Huntingdon and two flat cards at Southwell and Kempton.  David has five runners at the Festival.  Red Sherlock kicks things off in the first race of the day, the Neptune which looks like a fantastic race.  Red Sherlock is putting his unbeaten career record on the line and has the mighty Faugheen up against him.  The Willie Mullins trained runner has looked superb in all his runs to date and it will just be a fascinating watch.  Gevrey Chambertin is looking to bounce back to form in the RSA chase, Dell'arca runs in the 28 runners Coral Cup, Azza in the Fred Winter and Seven Nationa Army in the Champion Bumper.  We also have one runner in the bumper at Huntingdon, Border Breaker.  The Irish point to point winner is making his Pond House debut in what looks like a fairly competitive race for the track but he go nicely at home and has Mikey Ennis on board taking a handy seven pounds off his back.  

Azza & Seven Nation Army doing their final piece of work yesterday

I am looking forward to another day at the Festival.  If you come out winning you will have done very well!  My single bet yesterdaywas on Quevega so I am happy and felt like I had won the lottery!  I just must mention Stuart Mercer's outfit from yesterday, it was colourful to say the least!  Have a great day everyone.

?