Famous Five For Fantastic Fideles!

I’m delighted to report that the stable continues in excellent form and another three winners last week took our seasonal total to a very pleasing thirty-six.  The raiding party to Scotland yielded two winners from our two runners, while Unanimité laid down an early season marker for the juveniles with a ready success at Market Rasen at the weekend while there were also a number of other noteworthy performances.

The lorry left on Tuesday for the long journey up to Perth with our pair of runners; Sinndar’s Man and Ainsi Fideles.  Sinndar’s Man (pictured right) contested a fair looking juvenile hurdle on Wednesday and while there were winners in the field, I was hopeful of a big run as he was receiving weight from those rivals.  Jumping better than on his seasonal debut, he stayed on strongly in the straight to run out a comfortable winner.  He will continue to improve as he obtains further experience and looks certain to stay further in time – I am always pleased to get a winner on the board for our stable sponsors Wayne and Sarah Clifford of Bathwick Tyres who do so much to support our wonderful sport.

On Thursday Ainsi Fideles (pictured above) was bidding to extend his unbeaten run over fences to five and looked set to face his biggest test to date since making the switch to the larger obstacles as he faced last season’s Betfair Hurdle winners Splash Of Ginge.  The much anticipated clash between the pair did not materialise with the Twiston-Davies runner folding relatively tamely, although Irish raider Howwoulduno made our four year old fight all the way to the line.  At first glance it would appear that Ainsi Fideles has not produced his very best as the runner-up was officially rated 20lbs inferior and was conceding 8lbs, however he wasn’t beaten far in a Grade 3 contest last time and it could be that he is a nicely weighted horse (although for how much longer that is the case remains to be seen!).

Perth has certainly proven to be a happy hunting ground for us this season with our record now standing at five winners from five runners at the Scottish track this term.  I had a similar statistic a few years ago at another racecourse and the late, very wise and much missed Brian Kilpatrick had some very shrewd words of advice…’Don’t go back there again!’  Of course, I didn’t listen and proceeded to blot my copy book!  Perhaps I should heed his words this time?

Our third and final winner of the week came on Saturday when Unanimité (pictured left) made a very pleasing hurdling debut in probably the hottest juvenile hurdle held so far this season.  While in receipt of weight from his three nearest market rivals, all of whom were previous winners, you could not help but be impressed by his jumping at the first time of asking and the manner in which he quickened clear after the last.  He had some very nice form on the flat in France, including when fourth in a Listed French Derby Trial at Cagnes Sur Mer (the form of which worked out quite well with the winner finishing only 5l behind The Grey Gatsby in the French Derby itself).  He already looks very useful and is entitled to improve for the experience – there will certainly be plenty of other nice juveniles yet to come out, but at this stage Unanimité looks very exciting.

Market Rasen hosted an excellent card of National Hunt action on Saturday with a couple of Listed contests supported by some very competitive races.  Purple ‘N Gold ran yet another creditable race in the Listed handicap hurdle to finish runner-up, while Houston Dynimo was placed in another Listed handicap chase.  We claimed both of these from modest races and they have proven to be shrewd purchases.  It just goes to show that you do not need to have a budget that closely resembles an international telephone number to have some quality fun!  If you are interested in joining the ranks of owners here at Pond House, please do get in touch so that we can discuss your requirements.  We have a long and proven track record of finding the right horse for the right sort of money and it needn’t cost the earth.

As many of you will know, my father has been enjoying a trip to Hong Kong (I don’t believe he is responsible for the current problems out there).  He arrives back tonight (Monday) and in his absence we have enjoyed six winners…perhaps I should ask him to go away more often?!

I was very kindly invited by the Channel 4 Sports team to join them at Wembley for the American Football on Sunday evening.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend, although James from my office went along and had a great time.  It is funny just how many racing people seem to enjoy their gridiron – James spent the evening watching the game next to Racing UK presenter Oli Bell.  I understand it was a great evening and we would like to pass on our thanks to Channel 4 for their kind hospitality.

Later this week, I will look forward to welcoming legendary broadcaster Mike Vince who will be joining us to conduct some early season interviews.  Mike kindly joined us last year and spoke with a number of the staff in the yard searching for some horses to follow and we posted the resulting videos on my website.  We are planning to do the same again this time around and will bring you the interviews in due course.

Anyway, as usual you can keep up to date with all of our runners from the yard by checking Chester’s Daily Chat or following us on Twitter @DavidPipeRacing

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