- Monday, 17 February 2014 17:23
- Written by David Pipe
Although the stable did not have any runners until Friday, it was still a very productive week with four winners coming from our thirteen runners. There was also the small matter of the Grand National weights luncheon in the Abbey Road Studios in London on Tuesday while we were also kept busy with a visit from Channel 4 Racing.
With the fixture list once again decimated by the seemingly endless rain and gale force winds, the stable did not have any runners until Friday when Doctor Harper turned out in the novices’ hurdle at Fakenham. It was a long way to go with one runner, but it was a decent prize and a good opportunity for our six year old son of Presenting to get back to winning ways following a below-par effort at Cheltenham on his latest start. Making all the running on his first try at 2m4f, he jumped much better on this occasion and saw the longer trip out well under Tom Scudamore to defy his big weight. The extended trip opens up more options for him and he could go for one of the handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival, although he could bypass the meeting altogether.
It was a busy day for the yard on Saturday with eleven runners spread across three meetings. Un Temps Pour Tout (pictured above) produced a taking display in the 2m4f novices’ hurdle to win comfortably from Cole Harden. Although he did no more than win as his rating suggested he should, I was pleased to get his first British win under our belts. The step up in trip certainly brought about improvement and he looks a live candidate for the Neptune Hurdle at the Festival and he may also get an entry in the Coral Cup.
I was pleased with the performance of Top Wood up at Haydock to land the Pertemps handicap hurdle qualifier under Conor O’Farrell on his first start for 388 days. He hasn’t been the easiest to get to the track with one minor niggle following another so to keep going once challenged at the second last having pulled hard through the early stages was an excellent effort. We will see how he has come out of this over the next few days before deciding if we will let him take his chance in the final of the series at Cheltenham.
Our final winner of the week came at Wincanton on Saturday when Knight Of Noir produced a very good turn of speed to land the National Hunt novices’ hurdle under a confident ride from Nick Scholfield. Conceding weight to all of his rivals our five year old won in the manner of an improving horse and could well improve again over further. He is another for whom the handicaps at next month’s Festival could beckon. This win also qualifies him for the EBF Final at Sandown in March and this race could be a possibility for both him and Fakenham scorer Doctor Harper. Either way, I was delighted for his owners Wayne & Sarah Clifford (our yard sponsors) who were also sponsoring six out of the seven races on the card – at least they were able to get a little bit of their money back!
Of our other runners, I was disappointed to see Gevrey Chambertin stop so quickly having jumped and travelled well for the majority of his chase debut at Ascot on Saturday. Nothing has come to light as yet as to why he stopped so quickly but it was definitely not his true running. He appears none the worse for his exertions so we will monitor him over the next few days and decide where to take it from there.
Earlier in the week I had travelled up to London for the weights luncheon at Abbey Road Studios where the handicap for the 2014 Grand National was revealed. It was an interesting day and I was one of those invited to pose along with fellow trainers O’Neill, Henderson, Twiston-Davies and Nicholls on the fabled zebra crossing where the Beatles posed for their Abbey Road album…surreal indeed! Anyway, back to the weights and there were no great surprises as far as our six entries were concerned, all getting in on their correct marks. As usual though, those at the top of the handicap look well-treated owing to senior handicapper Phil Smith compressing the weights to encourage a better class of runner. By dropping top weight Tidal Bay by 7lbs to a mark of 161 (2lbs lower than when beaten less than a length in the Welsh National in December), he has given Paul Nicholls thirteen year old an outstanding chance. While he makes a compelling statistical argument as to why the top-weight should not win, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him buck recent trends come April.
While we are on the subject of the Grand National I had to do a double-take when reading the Racing Post last week. One of their columnists had selected Standing Ovation as an ante-post fancy for the Grand National. Nothing unusual in that I hear you say…until the pundit reasoned that with a subsequent win a penalty could get him into the Grand National field. Unless the rules have been altered and nobody has told me, there are no penalties for the Grand National and at number 95 in the weights (meaning 55 above him need to come out), Standing Ovation is extremely unlikely to get a run. And to think the Post dedicated almost a full page to this!
We have a whole host of entries throughout the coming week but as has been the case during the recent past we will just have to see what the weather has in store for us before committing to runners. You can see from the picture below of the aerial shot taken above the Somerset levels only today, the extent of the damage being caused, in fact judging by this, it is amazing that any racing is taking part at all. Davy Doubt will be our only runner at Taunton tomorrow (Tuesday) should the meeting pass an early morning inspection. He ran well to finish runner-up on his first start for the yard and hopefully he can build on that in the bumper. As usual, you can keep up to date with all of our news and runners by visiting Chester’s Daily Chat.
Regardless of whether we have any runners or not, I will be heading to Exeter racecourse on Friday to appear on the panel for their annual Cheltenham Preview evening. I will be joined by Paul Nicholls and Philip Hobbs and the evening will be compeered by Racing UK presenter Oli Bell – it should be an interesting evening and tickets can be bought for £20 (or £15 in advance with a ticket to the races) and that includes a meal. The hotline number is 08445 793005 or you can book online at: www.exeter-racecourse.co.uk. The start of the preview evenings just illustrates how close we are now to the Cheltenham Festival…only three weeks to go!
