- Monday, 16 December 2013 16:58
- Written by David Pipe
Red Sherlock
Relief, delight and huge excitement are just a few of the emotions I have experienced over the weekend! Although I did not have quite as many runners numerically as in recent weekends, two of my best young horses ran and maintained their winning records. Kings Palace put together a very taking performance to win a competitive novice hurdle at Cheltenham on Saturday. I have always thought a lot of our five year old and having won at Fontwell and then nicely at Cheltenham in October, with the form of both races being boosted there was pressure for him to enhance his reputation, and boy did he deliver! Under a great ride from Tom Scu his jumping was exemplary and he galloped on relentlessly to score in style. His odds have now shortened for the Albert Bartlett novice hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and this will indeed be his target come March although he will have an entry in Neptune as well. He seems to have come out of the race fine and he may have one more run before Cheltenham although I would not be afraid if he did not run again before then either.
On a slightly lower key but still just as important and every bit as pleasing, I was highly delighted with Red Sherlock's hurdling debut at Southwell on Sunday. With Tom Scu standing in for injured Timmy Murphy he looked a natural over hurdles, travelled well and won on the bridle. Although it is hard to say what he may have beaten, you can only beat what is in front of you and it was a great starting point for our four year old. This extended his unbeaten career record to four from four and with some top bumper form already in the book he is very exciting. Homebred by the late David Johnson out of former useful Pond House inmate Lady Cricket he has huge potential. This was a step up in trip for his hurdle debut and his long term aim could be the Neptune novice hurdle at the Festival and he may have an entry in the Challow hurdle at Newbury before then.
Our third winner or the week since writing my last blog was actually the first. It came courtesy of another of my potential high class novice hurdle prospects, Legacy Gold. She won nicely on her hurdling debut at Uttoxeter. The runner up is a decent mare and I’m sure the form of the race will work out well. She has high class bumper form to her name and she has a natural aptitude for jumping plus the willing attitude to ensure she rates amongst the best of my top novice hurdlers. Her win was over two miles but she will get further and so there are lots of options available to her including some nice mare’s races along the way.
Reflecting on my other runners throughout the week there have been some highs and some slight disappointments as you experience most weeks when involved in our sport! Salut Flo was a little ring rusty in the big chase on Saturday. He ran well to a point but made a few mistakes along the way which ultimately cost him and Tom sensibly looked after him once his chance was gone. The best news is that he has come out of the race well and he showed enough to suggest we can have some other big days with him later this season. On Friday, there was a pleasing stable debut from The Darling Boy at Bangor. He was coming back from an injury layoff and under a good front running ride from Kieron Edgar he showed a lovely willing attitude to fight back once headed and only lost out in a photo finish. He seems fine after the run and looks like he will give his owners much fun whether it is over hurdles or fences in the coming months.
While I would like to take this opportunity to say well done to the Twiston-Davies family for a great double courtesy of Double Ross and The New One at Cheltenham on Saturday I would also like to congratulate Willie Twiston-Davies for landing the job of stable jockey to Mick Channon. We have used Willie several times on our flat runners and he is a very good young jockey, intelligent, polite and very helpful so I would like to wish him every success in his new role.
It was great for AP to finish third in the Sports Personality of the Year awards last night. I enjoyed watching the event and although I wanted AP to win again, Andy Murray is a worthy recipient even if he did not make it to the event and his speeches could do with some practice! He is a great tennis player however!
While passing on congratulations I must also say well done to our own, Mikey Ennis. Mikey won the amateur ride of the year for his ride on Big Occasion when winning the Midlands National. He received it at an awards ceremony held at Cheltenham racecourse on Saturday night which was a great achievement.
While I was lucky enough to have a rare Sunday at home with the family putting up the Christmas decorations I believe some of my fellow trainers went down to Cornwall to the point to point at Wadebridge. Paul Nicholls was there to watch daughter Megan have her first ride, while Peter Bowen was also there watching his son. While he had no luck, pulling up, Megan rode a good race to finish second in the Ladies open race aboard Gwanako. The reason why I know quite so much about this day you may ask, well while several of my team were in attendance both riding and spectating, the winner of the ladies race in fact was Jo Buck (partner to Gerry Supple!) on board Byerly Bear. Jo rides out at Pond House occasionally and it was great for her to get off the mark for the new season in what was a good, if very wet days action!
Today has been another busy morning at Pond House. We have had Kempton and William Hill people here for a press day looking ahead to Dynaste and the King George. All went smoothly and fingers crossed all roads lead to there on Boxing Day.
Looking ahead to this weekend the big race action comes from Ascot with the big Long Walk and Ladbroke hurdles. While Grands Crus could run in the Long Walk, Greatwood hurdle winner Dell'arca and Red Sherlock's half sister Swing Bowler could return in the Ladbroke. We also have several entries throughout the week so keep checking Chester's daily blog for more news of our runners.
