- Monday, 24 February 2014 15:40
- Written by David Pipe
With six winners from seventeen runners and a host of other placed horses I am delighted with the form of the stable with only two weeks left until the Cheltenham Festival. As I write our seasonal tally stands at 74 and while the horses remain in irresistible form, Cheltenham can barely come quickly enough.
With six winners from seventeen runners and a host of other placed horses I am delighted with the form of the stable with only two weeks left until the Cheltenham Festival. As I write our seasonal tally stands at 74 and while the horses remain in irresistible form, Cheltenham can barely come quickly enough.
Our first winner of the week came on Wednesday at Ludlow when Baltimore Rock (pictured right) ran out a decisive winner of the two mile handicap hurdle under Tom Scudamore. Making smooth headway, he led at the last and quickly drew right away to post a decent effort. His hurdling, while still open to improvement was better and he is learning all the time. With only four starts to date over hurdles he remains capable of better still and has entries later this week at Wincanton and Newbury. Much will depend on how the handicapper reacts, but he has an entry in the County Hurdle and he could run there if we can get him in.
One who has booked his ticket for the Cheltenham Festival was Vieux Lion Rouge who put up a thoroughly professional performance at Sedgefield on Thursday. You wouldn’t normally expect to see a Festival contender at Sedgefield three weeks before the event, but he needed to run before the weekend to be eligible for the handicaps (he is entered in the Coral Cup, County Hurdle and Martin Pipe as well as the novice events, The Supreme and Neptune hurdles). Vieux Lion Rouge looked to face his toughest task yet trying to concede 21lbs to Listed class flat performer Prince Khurram, and while the runner-up may not have performed to his best there was plenty to like about the performance of our five year old. He travelled extremely well and his hurdling was as slick and fluent as it has always been at home. He will get further too, while his rating should allow us to pick whichever target is most suitable for him.
Shotavodka completed the double for us on Thursday when supplying A P McCoy with a winner on his only mount of the day at Huntingdon. Our former very useful hurdler looked to have a relatively straightforward task on paper on this, his second start over fences and although jumping out to his left, he had enough class to forge away after the last for a ready success from Bellenos. Although not over-big, he is enthusiastic about his work and very athletic. He will certainly appreciate a return to a left-handed track and he will get further than this so there should be plenty of options open to him.
On Friday Legacy Gold did little more than confirm her wellbeing with a facile success in the mares’ novices’ hurdle at Exeter. The ground was plenty soft enough for her here and she will certainly be better on a quicker surface and is a possible for my fathers’ race at the Festival next month. After racing we worked Kings Palace and The Package and both went well within themselves. I am pleased to report that Kings Palace remains firmly on course for Cheltenham, although The Package (who is entered in the Festival handicap and the Kim Muir) is not certain to join him there. We will leave the decision about his participation until late.
We enjoyed a nice double on Saturday at Chepstow courtesy of Poole Master (Tom Bellamy) and Buddy Bolero (Kieron Edgar). Poole Master (pictured left, courtesy of www.thejockey.co.uk) has really got his act together over fences of late and was given an excellent ride by young Tom Bellamy. The frantic early pace certainly played into his hands on this drop back to the minimum trip and his stamina came into play late in the day as he forged ahead close home. He could quite easily revert to a longer trip next time.
Buddy Bolero pulled off something of a shock when a ready winner of the final Pertemps qualifier. A good staying novice hurdler and chaser, he had lost his way somewhat over the larger fences following an unfortunate fall on his first start of the season at Ascot but he put in the sort of performance he had always looked capable on this return to timber. He is now qualified for the final of the series at Cheltenham (a race that we won in 2010 and 2011 with Buena Vista), the Martin Pipe handicap hurdle, The Festival handicap chase and the Kim Muir.
I appeared on Exeter racecourses’ panel for the Cheltenham Festival preview night on Friday. I was joined by fellow Westcountry trainers Paul Nicholls and Philip Hobbs and while there was no shortage of opinions on the evening, I was left with the impression that everyone was keeping their powder dry and not committing too much at this stage with regard to their own horses.
Talking of the Cheltenham Festival, I was very sorry to hear that Sprinter Sacre will not be taking his chance in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. The Festival is all about the best horses taking each other on and for him to be absent is a great blow for Racegoers. Racing needs it’s equine stars and his performance in last year’s renewal marked him as one of the very brightest. Hopefully he will return next season as good as ever.
It has however opened the race right up for his rivals and with many potential Ryanair participants now more likely to take their chance in the Champion Chase and Cue Card likely to run in the Gold Cup, we are leaning towards the Ryanair Chase with Dynaste (pictured above right). Our Grade One winning grey gelding has responded well to his treatment from Mary Bromiley and is on course to return at the Festival next month. He will be left in the Gold Cup until the last moment as a precaution although we are now favouring the shorter race.
It is a very exciting time of year and we are lucky to able to look forward to Cheltenham with some leading chances. We will be joined on Saturday by Channel 4 as they present part of the Morning Line live from the stables. They will be looking at some of our Festival entries and seeing what goes into the final stages of their big race preparations so make sure to tune in from 8am.
Finally, I have some very sad news to bring you. Unfortunately 2012 Cheltenham Festival winner Salut Flo has passed away after a severe recurrence of colic. Our nine year old Byrne Group Chase hero had been operated on previously when suffering the same thing while at home on his holidays. Sadly on this occasion there was nothing more that could be done for him – it is terribly upsetting for his owner Allan Stennett and everyone connected with him at the yard. He was a gentleman to be associated with in the stable, a tremendously talented individual and one of the toughest horses that I have ever trained – his loss will leave a huge gap at Pond House and he will be very much missed.
