Another French Foray?

Talk about the Great British Summer! Sadly, I think it is probably fair to say that we have seen the last of any meaningful sunshine with 110.5mm of rain falling at Pond House in July and a further 129mmm in August, these have been the two wettest months of the year so far. Indeed the rainfall for August has already surpassed the totals for April, May and June combined!

When you hear figures like that it is hardly surprising that meetings such as Newton Abbot (scheduled for tomorrow) have been lost to the weather. While we have had a solid start to the season with the stable sitting second in the trainers championship with nineteen winners on the board, it has been achieved with horses that generally have a preference for a quicker surface. I am sure that most of the other trainers are in the same boat, but you just do not expect underfoot conditions such as these during the height of the summer!

We did manage to find a bit of good ground at Stratford on Thursday so it was down to Low Key (pictured above) to keep us among the winners when successful in the maiden hurdle. A winner for the stable on the level, he had attained a decent level of form with placed efforts in good company at Taunton and Newton Abbot but with the second favourite not appearing to give his running on this occasion, this race probably didn’t take an awful lot of winning. Even so, you can do no more than beat what is put in front of you and despite some indifferent jumps he won with his head in his chest. We will give him some more practice over his hurdles at home and with the promise of better to come; he should have little trouble holding his own in stronger company. He has an entry at Fontwell on Sunday and we will see what the handicapper (and the weather) does before deciding whether he runs or not.

Meanwhile there was a promising performance from Spending Time who showed by far his best form when third in the 2m6f handicap hurdle at Stratford. He is a lovely big chasing type and this performance suggested that something similar may very well be within his compass. Vayland also performed creditably when a narrow runner-up at Sedgefield on Friday.

With the abandonment of Newton Abbot tomorrow, runners for the week ahead are looking a little thin on the ground. Street Entertainer makes the long journey north to Cartmel this afternoon for the valuable handicap hurdle. He has to carry top weight and is tackling a trip in excess of three miles for the first time but he has been seeing his races out well over hurdles and on the flat so we are hopeful that he will cope just fine.

We have entries at Southwell and Worcester on Wednesday as well as Stratford and Fontwell over the weekend. Among them are Border Breaker, Low Key and newcomer Fishy Story. Fishy Story is another home bred from the family of Mr Cool, Miss Cool, Your So Cool et al that has kindly been sent to us by Nick and Sue Mills. She is by Midnight Legend out of Zolotaya (a river in the Kola Peninsula of Russia where you can fly fish) – hence the name! She will be out soon and hopefully she will be able to keep up the family’s winning tradition.

This week we could be on our travels again with another possible foray to France in the pipeline. Former Fixed Brush Hurdle winner Gevrey Chambertin (pictured right) has an entry in a 2m2f hurdle at Auteuil on Friday, although following the latest confirmation stage he still needs a few to come out before we are certain to get a run. Regardless of whether he runs or not, he has been pleasing me at home and will be running sooner rather than later.

Finally, you may have heard earlier last week of the sad passing of great old favourite Swing Bill, who retired from competitive racing under rules after completing the Grand National for the third time in 2014. Since then he had been with war hero Guy Disney (who became the first jockey to race-ride with a prosthetic leg) and he competed in point-to-points with him, finishing placed on each of his three outings before retiring from racing altogether.

Greys are often popular with race goers, but Bill was more than just a handsome chap – he had overcome a raft of problems to make his first start for the Pond House team a winning one when defying an absence in excess of three years to score at Newton Abbot in 2010. Some people get annoyed when you use human characteristics to describe horses, but during his time with ‘Bill’ became loved for his character, kindness, resilience and longevity – he helped a number of jockeys with their careers and he will be greatly missed by everyone at Pond House.