- Monday, 30 March 2015 12:46
- Written by David Pipe
Soll on target for Grand National
Last week was a fairly low key one for the yard with just a handful of runners and while drawing a blank, we hit the crossbar on a number of occasions. The horses continue in decent form and gives cause for optimism as the Grand National meeting at Aintree approaches. The quiet spell was due in part to a lack of suitable opportunities for our horses, readying our Aintree runners and letting down a number of others in preparation for their summer holidays – take it from me, there is still plenty going on behind the scenes!
I was pleased to see Bella complete at Taunton without a hitch in the mares’ novices’ hurdle at Taunton last Monday after she had taken a horrible looking fall at their previous meeting. She ran creditably too, finishing fourth behind the three market leaders and this will have done her confidence no end of good. She is a likeable mare with a good attitude and I am sure there are races in her.
I always enjoy my visits to Newton Abbot and as such it was great to see them hosting their first meeting of 2015. The stable saddled recent recruit, point-to-point and maiden hurdle winner Drumlee Lad for his Pond House debut in a hot looking novices’ hurdle and he performed with credit to finish third behind a couple of smart horses – he still showed signs of greenness and will probably prefer a softer surface and should progress with experience.
Both Sadler’s Gold (Newbury) and Rathlin Rose (Ffos Las) shaped with promise on Friday despite very testing conditions and did enough to suggest that there will be further races in them, especially when returned to a slightly better surface.
Unanimité ran well once again at Ascot on Sunday to finish fourth in a competitive four year old handicap hurdle. After a slight mistake at the third last he was always on the back foot but stayed on all the way to the line. He looks sure to appreciate a step up in trip at some point but he is a lovely horse who prefers the better ground and will probably mix jumping and on the flat in the coming months. Houston Dynimo gave Tom Greatrex his first ride on the flat at Doncaster on Sunday. He gave him a great ride and although he is a winner over 1m4f on the flat previously he may now need further on the level. He will continue to mix chasing, hurdling and on the flat from now on.
Earlier in the week we had the latest forfeit stage for the Grand National and all four of our entries; Soll, The Package, Broadway Buffalo and Standing Ovation stood their ground. As yet none of them are in the top forty who are guaranteed a run, but it is looking increasingly likely that Soll will get a run, while it remains very much 50/50 whether Cheltenham Festival winner The Package or Broadway Buffalo get in and it will take a minor miracle for Standing Ovation to make the cut.
Looking ahead to this week it is again fairly quiet for the yard with just a small number of entries over the weekend as we now turn our attention firmly on Liverpool. At Plumpton on Sunday I have entered Heath Hunter and Rathealy in the feature Sussex Champion hurdle but keep checking Chester’s daily blog for more news of our runners.
Towards the end of a long, hard season, this is the sort of time that we start thinking about giving some of the horses a well-earned holiday. As such the likes of Bidourey, Brook and Batavir to name but a few are finished for the campaign and we are in the process of letting them down with a view to turning them out shortly.
Even so, I intend to keep in a larger team of horses for the coming campaign. The foundations for this successful season were laid back in the summer and I will be hoping to make a similarly good start to the forthcoming new season.
Finally, I am sure that you will all be pleased to hear that I have a positive bulletin about stable star Dynaste. Our former Ryanair Chase winner has been a model patient since picking up his season ending injury at Cheltenham in January and following completion of his period of rest, he is another that will be embarking on his holidays before too long. I have been very happy with how his recuperation has gone and I am very hopeful that we will enjoy a full season with him next term and that he will return as good as before.
