The last seven days have been quite quiet on the runner’s front but very busy behind the scenes back at Pond House.  We had owners and visitors at the yard every day last week culminating in about 60 people here on Saturday for those involved with the syndicates we run directly here at Pond House.  It was a morning well received and some welcome sunshine was an added bonus.  A visit to the local Culm Valley Inn for a refreshment after the stables also proved popular!

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   Chemical Warfare Winner at Sedgefield

We started last week how I would ideally love to start any week, with a winner!  Unfortunately, we won’t be starting this week in the same manner as we were due to have runners at Newton Abbot on Monday but the meeting was abandoned due to waterlogging.  Chemical Warfare made the long journey to Sedgefield last Monday and put up another gritty display to win for the third time this summer with Jack Tudor riding.  He looked in a little bit of trouble leaving the back straight but responded well for pressure before getting to the front, probably a little too soon, idling and pricking his ears on the run in but always just doing enough. 

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Amy - Will be Riding in Wincanton Charity Race

Last week was very quiet on the racecourse for us and it will continue to be so this week with jumps racing still a little limited but things do start getting going a bit more next week.  We have had some rain at Pond House in the last few days but not nearly as much as some places around the country!  The flat meeting at Leicester On Monday was abandoned the day before due to waterlogging with 72mm of rain falling in a relatively short space of time and a lot of courses with fixtures coming up have had dramatic changes in going descriptions.  We made entries at Warwick for Tuesday the other day with the ground described as good to firm, I see this morning they have changed to good to soft following rain over the weekend and conditions will soften further with quite a bit more rain to come before racing.  We did need some rain but like with everything these days we seem to go from one extreme to the other!

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    Oceanline Winner at Worcester Again

We had our fifteenth winner of the season at Worcester last week courtesy of Oceanline winning again under a good ride from Jack Tudor.  He had won at the track over 2m7f on his previous start and had been put up six pounds for that success but that was not enough to stop him and the drop back in distance to 2m4f did not inconvenience him either.  Jack gave him a positive ride, he jumped well and kept galloping.  Things were getting a little tense in the final half a furlong as he was being closed down but he just did enough and we were on the right side of a photo finish.  

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    New Woodchip put on the Gallops

We just had he one runner last week, Ben Lilly who ran on the flat at Goodwood.  This was his first run back for a while as he had picked up an injury and he ran okay on ground that was softer than ideal.  This will have put him spot on for a run over hurdles next though we will be running him again on the flat as well at some point. 

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                 Watching Coldplay

Even though jumps racing has returned from its mini-break, it is still a funny time for National Hunt Racing with some meetings but it is a little sporadic with not a lot going on in between!  There was racing at Worcester on Sunday but this is followed by four blank days with just Bangor on Friday and then Stratford on Saturday and Fontwell on Sunday to follow this weekend. 

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     Sirekoff Winning Start Newton Abbot

Jumps racing returned last Monday following a three-week break and we returned to action with a bang with a winner at Worcester followed by a Newton Abbot double as well.  Oceanline won his second race over hurdles at Worcester, winning the 2m7f handicap hurdle with Jack Tudor riding.  Our six year old had been in fairly good form in three runs on the flat so far this summer and it was great for him to transfer this to hurdles.  He was towards the front throughout but led leaving the back straight the last time and was never caught.  He was idling a little on the run-in but was always just doing enough.  The handicapper is putting him up six pounds for this success so there is no need to run him again too quickly with options back at Worcester in September and then we may go back to Ascot to try and win on the flat again, the race he won last year.

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                Mr & Mrs Morgan

Jumps action returned over the weekend and we have our first runners over jumps since the mini-break at Worcester on Monday afternoon.  They also race there on Wednesday this week, we have three declarations and it is a big day for young Jack with his horse, African Lady making her stable debut!

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    Jack & Aidan O'Brien Watching 1st Lot

While it has been a quiet week on the racing front there has been plenty on to keep me occupied!  Last Monday I played in the Jim Old Charity golf day with former employees Ken Rixon and Tim Eades in my team and our fourth member was Tim’s brother, Simon.  I have been playing in this competition for many years with not a lot of success but I am pleased to report that we did well this time around and actually finished third of nearly 50 teams!! 

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          Dennis with us in 2018

We have completed the first week of the jumping mini break and so are one third of the way through.  We ended up just having one runner on the flat last week with Oceanline running at Goodwood on Friday.  He ran well for a long way from the front in the staying handicap but faded inside the final few furlongs.  He may not have quite stayed the trip but it was a tough race and he can be winning eased in grade very slightly.

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