- Monday, 12 May 2014 15:52
- Written by David Pipe
The stable has enjoyed a good start to the new season with no fewer than six winners from eighteen runners at a strike rate of 33%, including a valuable double at Haydock’s Swinton meeting on Saturday. We had five of those winners last week alone and while I am thrilled with the way the horses are running, the winners were tinged with sadness following the terribly sad news of Brian Kilpatrick’s sudden passing.
Brian was very much from the old school - a straight forward, honest and loyal individual; he was a true gentleman who had been such a great supporter of us at Pond House ever since the mid 1980’s. During those years both my father and I shared some wonderful moments on the racecourse with Brian, through famous racehorses such as Sabin du Loir, Cache Fleur, Terao and An Accordion carrying his famous green and red silks to victory in many a big race.
It would have been easy for Mr Kilpatrick (pictured right with his final winnner, Count Danilo) to look elsewhere when my father relinquished his training licence in 2006, but he had supported me through my fledgling career as a point-to-point trainer with the likes of Horus and he continued to do so when I took over the reins at Pond House. His loyalty was rewarded when An Accordion won the William Hill Trophy at the 2008 Cheltenham Festival (providing Tom Scu with his first Festival success). A successful breeder as well as owner, he enjoyed every success but never bemoaned his luck when the results did not go in his favour.
Brian was very much a man of the people – he would always take the time to speak with my staff and enquire after their wellbeing. He will be missed by everyone at Pond House as well as many others within the industry. Our sport is much the poorer for his loss.
As previously mentioned, the horses have kicked off the new campaign in irresistible form and following the success of French amateur Thomas Viel the previous week, it was the turn of young Irish amateur jockey David Noonan to land the spoils with his first ‘rules’ success aboard Purple ‘N Gold at Kempton on Monday.
Purple ‘N Gold is a very strong traveller during his races, but even so I thought that David did extremely well to produce his mount with a decisive move approaching the final flight to score cosily. He is a hard working, unassuming young lad who earned this opportunity and I was delighted that he was able to take it with both hands. Hopefully this will be the first of many winners for him.
It isn’t just us who have been enjoying something of a purple patch. The success of Makadamia in the National Hunt novices’ hurdle at Exeter on Tuesday was one of three home bred winners for owner Robert Waley-Cohen last week alone, so well done to him on a wonderful achievement. Personally, I was thrilled by the success of Makadamia who was our milestone first winner for the Waley-Cohen family.
I thought that Guess Again put up a smart performance at Wincanton on Thursday when defying a mark of 125 in the staying handicap chase under a good, positive ride from Tom Scudamore. He jumped really well and looks the type to be able to win again during the coming months.
The highlight of the week definitely came at Haydock on Saturday when both Broadway Buffalo and Shotavodka scored under inspired rides from Tom Scudamore. Broadway Buffalo, who had run so well when beaten only six lengths in the Pertemps handicap hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival appreciated the extra cut in the ground on Saturday and held on tenaciously to score in the Long Distance handicap hurdle. He jumped particularly well and is an exciting prospect for the larger obstacles.
Shotavodka (pictured top of page) barely ever runs a bad race and he bagged a richly deserved nice prize with his victory in the 2m6f intermediate chase. We stepped him up in trip last time when second over three miles on the course and the extra distance certainly seems to have brought about some improvement. He is not the biggest horse to be tackling fences, although he is athletic and possesses a great attitude. The longer trip certainly presents more options for him and I am sure we will have many more exciting days with him.
We went from the sublime to the ridiculous with the farcical incident at Ludlow on Sunday when the flagman appeared not to see the starter calling a false start to the novices’ limited handicap chase. Consequently, in echoes of the void Grand National of 1993, the runners completed a lap of the track before eventually pulling up. There are lots of questions that need to be answered – was there a need for the starter to call a false start? Why did the recall man not wave his flag? Why did it take over a circuit to get the field to pull up? It is embarrassing for the sport, and hard to believe that we cannot come up with something a little less primitive to start our races or improve the recall system.
Looking to this week we have a couple of runners this evening (Monday) at Towcester. Cloughernagh Boy, a winning Irish point-to-pointer makes his debut in the bumper at the Northampton track. He should relish this stiff track and should go well under Tom Scudamore.
We will have two more runners tomorrow at Ffos Las when Virtuel d’Oudon bids to regain the winning thread having narrowly lost his unbeaten record for us last time at Exeter. Taj Badalandabad is our other intended runner on the card when he takes in the bumper – he is another to have shown promise in the Irish point-to-point field, finishing runner-up on his only start to date.
For news of our runners later in the week, as usual you will be able to keep up to date with Chester’s Daily Chat or by following us on Twitter @DavidPipeRacing.