Edgar Cleared To Ride

We have now embarked on our nine day summer sabbatical and you have already heard my thoughts on that, but the horses still need to be groomed, exercised and fed so it is very much business as usual around the stable.  This time of year gives us the ideal opportunity to do a bit of belated ‘spring cleaning’; getting the maintenance jobs around the yard done, as well as steam cleaning and disinfecting the remaining empty boxes.  Indeed, with the horses still continuing to arrive back in from their summer breaks you could almost confuse it for a regular day at the height of the National Hunt season…albeit considerably warmer!

With the horses continuing in fine form it is a shame to have a break in the racing at all – last week was another good one for the stable with three winners from our six runners over jumps.  Azza (pictured right) made a pleasing chasing debut at Uttoxeter last Monday evening and provided thrilled owner Professor Caroline Tisdall with her first winner from her first runner over fences.  She may not be the biggest of individuals but Azza is very athletic and handled the transition to the larger obstacles very well and barring a mistake at the last she put in a fine round of jumping.  She is a high class filly for this time of year and clearly enjoyed the faster ground so she will be found another suitable opportunity in due course.

His Excellency has something of a reputation for being difficult to win with, something that is quite unjustifiable in my opinion as he once again proved last Tuesday with victory in the three mile handicap chase at Perth under Tom Scudamore.  He finished runner-up over 2m6½f on his previous start at Market Rasen and looked well worth a try at this sort of trip.  He saw it out in pleasing fashion and despite veering right on the run-in he battled well to score in a thrilling finish.  He is versatile enough to finish placed in an Arkle over two miles, while also able to score over three.  This success opens up further opportunities for him and he is another who will be kept on the go for the time being.  His Excellency has now earned nearly three times his purchase price in prize money and I would be delighted to have a few more like him!

It was certainly a worthwhile trip up to Perth for their two day meeting with Ainsi Fideles supplementing His Excellency’s victory with success of his own in the 2m4½f handicap chase on the Wednesday.  Despite there being over £7,500 in prize money to the winner, the race cut up quite a bit on account of the faster ground although Ainsi Fideles seemed to handle it well to keep his unbeaten record over fences intact.  As a four year old he does receive a handy weight allowance from his elders, but the switch to fences certainly seems to have been the making of him and I am hopeful that he can rank higher still as he gains further experience.

Onto jockeys and there was good news this morning when Kieron Edgar was passed fit to resume race riding when the action resumes on Wednesday 13^th August.  Kieron was badly injured when taking a horrible looking fall from the David Dennis trained Roman Flight at Newbury on 1^st March, breaking his femur in three places.  It has been a long road to recovery for the twenty year old conditional jockey who was enjoying his best season to date at the time of his accident with twelve winners.  I am sure he is most grateful to the Injured Jockeys Fund and everyone at Oaksey House who has supported him during his recuperation – they do tireless work for riders past and present and are totally reliant on charitable donations to keep up their great work. Kieron has been back at the yard for the past few days riding out and practising on the equicisor (pictured right) and I am sure he will be raring to go once racing recommences.

I was impressed to switch on the Arabian racing from Huntingdon last weekend to see one of my staff members, Ellie McKenzie taking part in her first race on a licenced racecourse.  Ellie was aboard Fight Or Flight for trainer Anna Bucknall and though she failed to trouble the judge on this occasion, she looked tidy enough aboard her mount and had a fantastic time.  I’m sure she will be winning one before too long.

Obviously there are no runners for the remainder of this week, although entries for Newton Abbot will close on Thursday and I can’t wait to get back underway.  As for the remainder of the gossip from Pond House, don’t forget to keep in touch with Chester’s Daily Chat or you can follow us on Twitter @DavidPipeRacing.