Plans On Hold

I was thrilled with the performance of Consigliere (pictured above) at Ayr on Wednesday in the feature 2m4f handicap chase, making the long trip up to Scotland worthwhile.  Partnered by promising young conditional jockey Kieron Edgar (as he had been when finishing runner-up at Wincanton on his previous start) he came nicely clear in the straight to beat Rich Lord by a convincing nine lengths.  Our ten year old has a real liking for soft ground (has never won on ground quicker than good/soft) and has been a wonderful servant through the years and I certainly wouldn’t mind a few more like him.  Consigliere has twice finished in the frame at the Cheltenham Festival and I would imagine that this success could just have booked him a return trip there come March.  The trouble is that at his age he is certainly not improving and with a rise in the weights likely courtesy of the handicapper, he may find a few better treated rivals.

Also at Ayr, earlier in the day our exciting young gelding Kings Palace was an unlucky faller at the second last on his hurdling debut.  Still upsides at the time, jockey Timmy Murphy asked him for a big jump and reaching for it, he took a nasty tumble.  He returned a little stiff and sore as you would expect but is fine again now and remains a nice prospect.  We know he stays well having won a bumper over two furlongs further at Plumpton and given that, it is reasonable to assume that he would have gone close to making a winning start over hurdles.

Following that unpleasant experience I would well have considered returning Kings Palace to the racecourse in another bumper but unfortunately that is not allowed in this country.  It is something that is permitted in Ireland and I may take a look to see what races they have that will fit in with his training regime.  Afterall, would we really want to lose his novices’ status over hurdles by winning now with the end of the season only just around the corner?  It seems a ridiculous rule that having only had two starts in bumpers he cannot run in another as he has now competed in a hurdle race…perhaps this is the sort of rule that the BHA should be looking at?

Onto Cheltenham last Saturday and I should start by congratulating the Clerk of the Course Simon Claisse and all of his ground staff at the track for managing to beat the elements and host a great day’s racing.  Sadly the results did not pan out our way and Grands Crus was particularly disappointing in the Argento Chase.  The Grade One winning chaser had been in good form at home since his fine third in the King George on Boxing Day and I was hoping for a really big run from him – the very testing ground would have been softer than ideal but I would not dream of offering that up as an excuse for this lacklustre effort.  He returned feeling sorry for himself and was quiet on Sunday.  He will be freshened up now and all plans are on hold.

I was extremely moved to hear the touching song penned by young Irish singer/songwriter Mark Boylan paying tribute to Campbell Gillies, the young Scottish jockey who so tragically died during a holiday in Corfu last year.  “A Song for Campbell” is now available for download on i-Tunes and proceeds from the sales go to the Injured Jockey’s Fund and I’m sure he would have been very proud.  You may remember that Mark, now sixteen was in our Cheltenham Festival hospitality marquee a couple of years ago promoting his song “The Festival”…it is great that his passion for the sport continues to inspires him to write these songs and hopefully he will help to inspire a new generation of racegoers.

As I alluded to earlier, while not stopping us on the gallops at home, the weather has continued to be a nuisance with regard to the fixture list and sadly Plumpton have been forced to abandon their card for today (Monday) and Taunton have already cancelled their Tuesday fixture due to water logging.  As a consequence we have plenty of entries at the other meetings where racing could take place and we will just have to keep our eyes on the skies.

One of the big races of the weekend (weather permitting of course) will be the Welsh Champion Hurdle at Ffos Las.  The race, formerly held at Chepstow slipped into obscurity before Dai Walters rescued it, secured a much needed cash injection and held it at his new track.  We have entered Dai’s improving seven year old Tanerko Emery (pictured right) in the race.  Tanerko has won three of his four starts over hurdles since joining the Pond House team.

Meanwhile, we have plenty of exciting young bumper horses and novice hurdlers this season and I am looking to run them as soon as the weather relents, so we should be having plenty of runners over the next few weeks.

Tomorrow entries for the Aintree Grand National close and in our bid to supplement the 2008 success of Comply Or Die we will definitely be giving entries to Swing Bill and The Package, both of whom have competed in the great race before.  I am sure there will probably be a few others as well but one who will not be joining them is Junior, despite his entry in the Grand National Trial at Haydock on 16^th February.

For all the latest information about the prospects of racing and stable runners, keep up to date with Chester’s Daily Chat