Mad In Magaluf!

It’s been an eventful few days with a weekend away in Majorca and while I had a great time, I cannot tell you how relieved I am to be back on British soil - I don’t think my liver could have taken much more!  I flew out to the Spanish Isle in the early hours of Saturday morning with my partner Leanne for the wedding of Welsh rugby international Andy Powell (a part-owner in promising hurdler Broadway Buffalo) to his lovely bride Natasha and by Saturday night I was partying with some fairly big flankers in Magaluf – it was an eye opening experience I don’t mind telling you!  I told them that I was not a Premiership player and I was clearly out of my league, hence I was tucked up in my bed long before they were!  The wedding ceremony was a much calmer affair and I would like to wish the newly-weds every happiness for the future.

With a couple of winners at Worcester during my absence, perhaps I should consider going away more often?!  The first of those winners was Most Eligible (pictured right)who was making his racecourse debut in the bumper and he put up a very good performance to turn over the favourite and previous winner Billfromthebar.  He has a speedy pedigree but saw out his race in good style despite understandably showing signs of inexperience.  He will have learned plenty from this and looks to be a very nice prospect for the future for his owners Skeltools Ltd who also bred him.

You may well have recognised his colours as those of a previous Cheltenham Festival winner from the yard – that of facile 1990 Sun Alliance Hurdle winner Regal Ambition, who went on to race in America.  Most Eligible is the first horse his owners have had in training at Pond House since those heady days and they appear to have got their hands on another nice one.

Garryleigh (pictured at the top of the page) completed the double on the day with a deserved first success in the maiden hurdle under Tom Scudamore.  A winner of a point-to-point in Ireland, he had finished runner-up in four of his five starts since joining us but was able to go one better here despite not jumping the brush hurdles with his normal fluency.  A handicap mark of 119 doesn’t leave much room for manoeuvre although now he has managed to get his head in front; I am sure that a step up in trip will bring about some further improvement and hopefully he will be able to build on this.

It was a good weekend also for the Buckley family, particularly my head lad Eddie and his son Kieren who teamed up to win the Men’s Open point-to-point at Bratton Down with former inmate Vertige Dore (pictured left, nearest camera).  This success marked Kieren’s first in the saddle and he gave his mount a peach of a ride – it was a dramatic three-way finish and the pair prevailed narrowly as you can see from the great pictures that are kindly provided by Helen Stoneman.  Until yesterday both horse and jockey had looked unfortunate not to score already – an unlucky fall at the last when looking likely to win at the first time of asking preceded a couple of close seconds, but that made Sunday’s success all the sweeter.

Kieren has now equalled the number of winners that my father rode and I’m sure it won’t be long before he has ridden more than his proud father Eddie (pictured right).

Talking of my father, he had to sit for a portrait this morning as part of the prize for receiving the Sir Peter O’Sullevan award at last month’s ceremony.  I would love to have been a fly on the wall as the artist tried to get my father to keep still for more than two minutes!

I would like to extend my sincerest congratulations to the connections of Talent who was the brilliant winner of the Epsom Oaks on Friday under champion jockey Richard Hughes.  Trained by Ralph Beckett (a graduate of the ‘Pipe Academy’) Talent was owned and bred by Ashbrittle Stud (only five miles down the road from the yard) and Mark Dixon who have had a number of horses in training at Pond House throughout the years – well done to all on a truly wonderful achievement.

On Saturday Ruler Of The World lived up to his name when running out the ready winner of the Derby for Ryan Moore and trainer Aidan O’Brien.  The three year old was unraced last season but is certainly making up for lost time and is now unbeaten in three starts – judged by his rate of improvement, he is going to remain very difficult to beat as the season progresses.  The disappointment of the race was the previously unbeaten 2,000 Guineas winner Dawn Approach who finished absolutely last having completely boiled over during the race, giving him no chance of getting home on this first try beyond a mile.  He was so keen on Saturday that he would not have won over any trip.

I was at the Brightwells Cheltenham Sales last Wednesday and much as expected by the exciting catalogue, there was plenty of money changing hands.  I was able to secure the purchase of a nice four year old gelding by Shantou, Tullyesker Hill who was the winner of an Irish point-to-point on only his second start.  He is a name I am sure you will be hearing more of during the coming months.

Looking to the week ahead we will not have any runners before Newton Abbot on Wednesday.  We also have a handful of entries at Ffos Las and Worcester on Thursday, while Problema Tic, who ran respectably at Worcester last week, could well run in the Perth Gold Cup on Sunday.  Meanwhile classy hurdler Street Entertainer is a likely runner at Nottingham at the weekend.

Don’t forget to keep up to date with all the latest news from the yard by visiting Chester’s Daily Chat or by following me on Twitter @DavidPipeRacing.