Nap Hand Of Victories

Extremely testing ground was the order of the week last week but that could not prevent the horses from continuing to perform well and a further five winners took our seasonal tally to 85 with just five weeks to go until the start of the 2015 Cheltenham Festival. With more early closing entries for the Festival and a visit from a renowned member of the racing press, it certainly was a busy but rewarding week.

On Monday we flung the doors open to none other than Brough Scott MBE for his first visit to Pond House in almost twenty-five years. Brough, who in his younger days rode over 100 winners as a jockey, was also an integral member of the Channel 4 Racing team, as well as racing correspondent for the Sunday Times, Racing Post, and Indepenent on Sunday and The Sunday Telegraph while most recently he wrote the magnificent book about the late and very much missed Sir Henry Cecil. It was great to catch up with him after all these years – the last time he was at the stable, my father was showing him that great chaser Carvill’s Hill.

Brough was researching an article that appeared in yesterday’s Racing Post on Sunday and it is well worth a read – even if I do say so myself! As is par for the course at Pond House, we managed to get him to throw his leg over our equicisor and as you can see from the photograph (right), he still looks very handy in the saddle despite his seventy-two years. It was a pleasure to see Brough again and we look forward to welcoming him back a little sooner next time!

The week started off in the best possible style for the stable with the success of Obistar in the 3m1½f handicap hurdle at Plumpton. Making most of the running under a well-judged ride by conditional jockey Kieron Edgar, it looked as though he was going to be beaten as he was headed on the home bend, although there are barely any races long enough for Obistar who has an abundance of stamina. Rallying approaching the last, he stayed on in dour style to draw away on the run-in and score on his ninth attempt. This should have done his confidence the world of good and he should continue to progress particularly when there is an emphasis on stamina.

Border Breaker produced a similarly gutsy performance in the novices’ hurdle at Taunton under another well-judged ride from one of our conditionals, this time it was the turn of Michael Heard to do the steering. A winning point-to-pointer over three miles on yielding ground in Ireland, he will clearly get further and should improve when sent back over longer distances once again.

There was a taking performance from What A Moment (pictured above) in the Towcester bumper on Thursday. Runner-up in an Irish point-to-point on his only previous start, this handsome son of Milan had pleased me since his arrival from the sales on New Year’s Day. Another to make most of the running, he too looked to be in trouble when headed in the straight only to rally in fine style up the punishing Towcester hill. We won the race a couple of years ago with Red Sherlock and it would be great if he turned out anything like that one!

Things were altogether more straight forward for Sail By The Sea (pictured left) who followed up his promising chase debut with a smooth success at odds of 1/6 in the novices’ chase at Chepstow on Friday under Tom Scudamore. Making all and jumping nicely, he was never troubled to win as he liked and he should go on to better things. I would imagine his next start will be in the Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival and while it looks to be a red hot renewal and he would need to improve significantly on this bare form, he has better credentials than Western Warhorse at a similar stage and we all know what happened twelve months ago. As I have said before, it would be amazing if lightning were to strike twice!

On Saturday Heath Hunter made it back into the winners’ enclosure with a gutsy effort in the 2m handicap hurdle at Ffos Las. While this represented a drop in class following runs in the Price Rush and Lanzarote Hurdles, this was nonetheless a good performance under 11-11 on this extremely testing ground. Once again, it was stamina that won the day and hopefully he will continue to be competitive from his revised mark.

There were other notable performances through the week from many of our other runners, including Qalinas, My Brother Sylvest and Serienschock. I was particularly pleased with My Brother Sylvest who finished a narrow runner-up at Sandown on his first start in 440 days. Michael Heard managed to get a great tune out of him and was clearly delighted…when was the last time you saw a jockey giving his mount such sincere praise after finishing second? He will be seen to even better effect on faster ground, so this has to be considered extremely encouraging. He could run again in a couple of weeks at Wincanton and could be the type for something like the Grand Annual at Cheltenham.

With the ground at Wetherby coming up very testing on Saturday we decided against taking exciting novice chaser Kings Palace there for the Towton Chase. While it was a winnable race, we did not want to give him a harder time than necessary on heavy ground at this stage. He will be entered in novice chases at Newbury and Warwick on Saturday as well as in a graduation chase at Exeter on Sunday. The preferred option is the Newbury race, although the recent inclement weather with all the rain, snow and frost has made it extremely difficult to predict the ground (or even the chances of racing going ahead) and so we need to keep our options open for him for his final start before the Festival.

Last Monday was a big day for sixteen year old amateur jockey Tom Greatrex who made his National Hunt riding debut aboard Northern Bay at Ludlow, finishing a solid third in the amateur riders handicap hurdle. Tom, son of Lambourn trainer Warren gave his mount a good ride and looked extremely capable throughout. He recently finished runner-up on the all-weather for Brendan Powell and I am sure it won’t be long before he partners his first winner. A bright future looks to be in store for him.

It was the turn of the hurdle races to close early for the Cheltenham Festival last week and we have entered recent Fakenham scorer Twentytwo’s Taken in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. She would need to step up on that debut effort, although significant improvement should be forthcoming when granted the fast pace that Cheltenham inevitably throws up. Ex-French import Alternatif is our sole entry in the Neptune and Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdles, while we have three entries (Baraka de Thaix, Bidourey and Stars Over The Sea) in the Triumph Hurdle.

We take a break from the Festival entries tomorrow (Tuesday), although we have the small matter of the Grand National closing! I will reveal who we have included in next week’s blog, so do make sure to check back. Senior handicapper Phil Smith will have two weeks to frame the weights before they are revealed at the luncheon in London on 17th February.

The stable has no runners today or tomorrow and prospects for the short-term are not looking great thanks to the weather. We will have plenty of entries for later in the week, but as usual any running plans will be decide by ground and competition. For all the latest news from the stable, do keep up to date with Chester’s Daily Chat or follow us on Twitter @DavidPipeRacing.