- Monday, 13 October 2014 15:44
- Written by David Pipe
As far as I am concerned the first meeting at Chepstow at the beginning of October traditionally represents the start of the jumps season proper with the quality of horses on show stepping up a notch. Although the week just gone was the first in some time in which we have not registered a winner, there were still some promising performances to reflect upon and some exciting racing on the horizon with Cheltenham hosting their first meeting of the season this weekend.
As we welcomed the start of the season at Exeter on Wednesday, we bade farewell to Newton Abbot for 2014/15. Up on Haldon Hill I thought that Johnny McGeeney ran a much better race on his second start for the stable in the 2m3f handicap hurdle in a first time hood under Conor O’Farrell. On this showing he is certainly capable of winning a little race somewhere.
Although there were no runners from Pond House at Newton Abbot on Friday, I still had an enjoyable day at the course as we helped commemorate A P McCoy’s 4000th winner as he unveiled a bust of the perennial champion. Interestingly, AP had ridden 264 winners at the Devon track and almost half of them (122) had been for either my father or me. McCoy had taken a real kicking in a nasty fall the day previous so hopefully we will be seeing him back in action before too long.
Over at Chepstow on Saturday we introduced some promising youngsters to the track. Brook was the winner of a French bumper and we gave him his first start in this country in a warm looking novices’ hurdle. inish fourth on this hurdling debut, he will certainly benefit from the experience – he has plenty of size and scope for a three year old and I am confident he will leave this form behind in time.
On the same card newcomer Herbert Park ran a race full of promise in the bumper to finish runner-up. Our son of Shantou is another who will have learned a great deal for this and looks a very nice individual for his owners Brocade Racing. Meanwhile, Broadway Buffalo ran creditably to finish third in the novices’ chase behind Southfield Theatre – a clear round was the priority here having jumped indifferently on his chase debut and this will have been a nice confidence booster for him.
Looking to the week ahead there is some exciting action to look forward to. We will not have any runners tomorrow (Tuesday), although we have a number of entries including exciting ex-flat recruit Stars Over The Sea at Wetherby on Wednesday. The same horse also has an entry at Uttoxeter on Thursday, where we also have last time out juvenile scorer Sinndar’s Man engaged.
Then it is on to Cheltenham at the weekend and while we will only have a small but select team to run at the Prestbury track, it will be great to be back at the home of steeplechasing and I will be fascinated to see how the improvements to the facilities have come along during the closed season. Purple ‘N Gold and Street Entertainer are intended runners in the handicap hurdle on Friday and will be ridden by Kieron Edgar and Michael Heard respectively. Purple ‘N Gold in particular has been running with credit all season long and ran yet another cracker to finish runner-up in a Listed contest at Market Rasen last time.
On Saturday we have Ainsi Fideles (with three options at Cheltenham), Standing Ovation and Bygones Sovereign all boasting entries. As usual, at this stage running plans are far from set in stone with plenty of variables to consider, not least the current inclement weather which could yet significantly alter the ground. Chester will bring you all the latest news on the stable runners in his daily blog.
It isn’t just getting busy on the racecourse, once again I have been burning the midnight oil thumbing through the sales catalogues with the Tattersalls Horses In Training Sales taking place at Newmarket at the end of the month. With over 1500 lots to look through and plenty of race footage to watch, you can imagine it is a time consuming process and I will be hoping the hard work pays off with some more nice recruits to the yard. If you would like to join the ranks of owners at Pond House, please do feel free to contact me for a no obligation chat about your requirements – we have a proven track record of finding the right horse for the right sort of money and there couldn’t be a better time with the world’s biggest horses in training auction just around the corner.
Onto this week’s featured interviewee and for those of you who missed it on Saturday, I am pleased to bring you Mike Vince’s chat with stable jockey Tom Scudamore. Tom speaks of his hopes for the season as well as the forthcoming Cheltenham fixtures.
Tom Scudamore Interview Oct 2014
Whilst we are on the subject of horses to follow, I was pleased to welcome back the Racing Post’s Ben Newton who will once again be compiling our stable tour that will be featured in the paper shortly. Meanwhile award winning photographer Ed Whittaker will be here tomorrow morning to bring you more incredible images that will be accompanying the article, so keep your eyes peeled for that!
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