Kings Just Grand!

It was another good week for the stable with a couple of nice winners taking our tally for the season to 66, while stable jockey Tom Scudamore maintained his excellent form by notching his 88th win of the campaign. Of course the highlight for the Pond House team was the high profile success of exciting staying novice chaser Kings Palace at Cheltenham on Friday and he is certainly one that will keep me dreaming as Christmas fast approaches.

Our first winner of the week however was Bidourey – a recent French import who had won a bumper in the provinces. Since his arrival our three year old had ground out victory in a Ffos Las bumper before making his debut over timber at Fontwell on Tuesday. He had done plenty of schooling at home, but even allowing for that he jumped very well on this first try over hurdles on the racecourse. Having been sent on with a circuit to go by jockey Tom Scudamore his response was generous once challenged and he stayed on in determined fashion to score by two lengths on this first try beyond two miles. He has plenty of size and scope about him and anything he does over timber is a bonus as he is surely a chaser in the making. The fact that he is now unbeaten in three starts is testament to his ability and he is another nice prospect for owners Brocade Racing.

Back to Cheltenham though and I cannot disguise how pleased I was with the performance of Kings Palace in the 3m1½f novices’ chase at Cheltenham on Friday. He had already surpassed expectations with his bold jumping debut at the track the previous month, but even so there were still some doubters who thought Sausalito Sunrise might reverse the four length margin of victory on 8lbs better terms. Measuring his fences fluently, he jumped magnificently once again to increase the winning margin to seven lengths from his old foe. His jumping was hard to fault and will surely stand him in good stead when further questions are asked of him.

Although we have a good recent record in the race with the victories of Grands Crus and Dynaste, Kings Palace will not run in the Feltham on Boxing Day at Kempton as the race will come too soon for him. Instead we will look to find a prep race for the Festival away from Cheltenham (where he has had his last five starts) in the New Year. At this point, the sky really does look the limit for him. Looking ahead, we have a slow start to the week in prospect after Monday’s intended runner Volt Face had to be withdrawn owing to a spread shoe. It is nothing serious and we will be looking for races for him again soon, but as is always the case here at Pond House the welfare of the individual must always come first. There is also a blank day ahead tomorrow (Tuesday) although we are likely to have runners on Wednesday as we have plenty of entries at both Newbury and Ludlow.

The big meeting of the weekend is definitely Ascot on Saturday though where they host the valuable Ladbroke handicap hurdle as well as the Grade One Long Walk Hurdle. The stable has entries in both races and only this morning we confirmed both Swing Bowler and Balgarry for the Ladbroke. Swing Bowler is a lovely, tough consistent mare who has run well in many of the top handicap hurdles and fully deserves to win one, while Balgarry looked like a high class recruit for the stable when last seen 2½ years ago. He has pleased us at home and while it is a big ask on his first start since March 2012, he is fully deserving of his place in the ultra-competitive line-up.

Meanwhile, the Long Walk Hurdle has cut-up to leave only five horses engaged at the five day stage. We have Dell’ Arca in the race and while he has performed creditably over fences this term, a return to timber over this longer trip could be on the cards. Despite winning the Greatwood Hurdle over the minimum trip he has always looked as worth trying over further and while he has it to do on official figures, this looks a decent opportunity to give him a go.

Of the remainder of the weekend action, last season’s Byrne Group Plate winner Ballynagour could be back in action. He is engaged in a three mile handicap chase at Ascot as well as a 2m4f handicap hurdle at Haydock. With Broadway Buffalo entered in the Tommy Whittle Chase at the northern track as well as last month’s Cheltenham winner Katkeau, it could be an interesting trip up country. Vayland has an entry at Fakenham on Sunday, although this exciting novice hurdling prospect also holds an engagement at Newbury on Wednesday. Either way, we should be seeing him on the track very shortly and he is one that I am looking forward to.

Onto the latest instalment of our staff video series now and this week we focus on sixteen year old Tom Greatrex, son of Lambourn trainer Warren. Tom has been with the stable since September and has already shown himself to be a most capable horseman and an aspiring young amateur jockey. Mike Vince caught up with him to find out how he was settling in and ask him for a horse to follow for the coming months…

Tom Greatrex Horse To Follow 2014/15

Finally, I am pleased to report a couple more nice additions to the yard following the Brightwells Sales at Cheltenham last Friday evening. Twentytwo’s Taken is a lovely six year old mare who had some top class bumper form in Ireland and is clearly a nice prospect for the mares’ races. There is an excellent programme of opportunities for fillies and mares nowadays thanks to the initiative and continued support of OLBG and it is not difficult to envisage her in some of those. Our other new recruit is Irish point-to-point runner-up What A Moment. He is a four year old gelding and is a fine, big stamp of a horse who looks a smashing chaser in the making, although he could very well be competing in bumpers or hurdles in the short term. Either way, they are two more exciting additions to the Pond House team.

As usual, for all of the latest news from around the yard, don’t forget to keep in touch with Chester’s Daily Chat or follow us on Twitter @DavidPipeRacing