- Monday, 29 February 2016 16:03
- Written by David Pipe
Fifteen days to go until the start of the Cheltenham Festival and the pressure is mounting by the day! There is still plenty to be done as we finalise preparations for the big meeting. Still, the horses remain in decent form with another couple of winners and a number of other creditable performances last week. I also have another positive bulletin on one of the Pond House stable stars, so to find out more read on!
The stable struck with our first runner of the week when Chic Theatre ran out a most game winner of the novices’ hurdle at Doncaster on Wednesday. Having been up with the pace throughout, there appeared to be any number of the opposition travelling at least as well (if not better) turning for home. Our six year old gelding is a tough customer however and stuck to his task gamely to see them all off despite a blunder at the last. This was only his third run over timber and he will continue to improve with experience. This race was a qualifier for the EBF Final at Sandown on Imperial Cup day and it is quite possible that he could contest that next.
Vazaro Delafayette provided the stable with another winner the following day when an easy winner of the 2½ mile handicap chase at Huntingdon on only his second start over fences. Despite a couple of deliberate jumps during the early part of the race, his jumping improved as the race progressed under a canny ride from Tom Scudamore. Moving to the front between the last two, he stayed on well to have 11 lengths in hand at the line. He has not always been the most straightforward of individuals but there is no doubting his ability. He is due a hike in the weights for this success so it is entirely feasible that he will be taking up one of his engagements at Taunton or Newbury this week under a penalty before the handicapper can have his say.
Meanwhile the likes of Shotavodka, Heath Hunter and Batavir all ran well to reach the frame, suggesting that their turns should not be too far away.
It wasn’t just a busy week on the course, last Tuesday saw the early closing entries for the ten Cheltenham Festival handicaps and as you can imagine, we have one or two in those races! Over fences we have the likes of Ballynagour, Kings Palace, Un Temps Pour Tout and Doctor Harper among nine entries in the Ultima Handicap Chase over 3m1f on the first day of the Festival. Ballynagour, Kings Palace, Doctor Harper, Monetaire and La Vaticane are the five we have engaged in the Brown Advisory over 2m5f on Thursday, while we have no fewer than eleven among the entries for the 3m2f Kim Muir (0-145) on the same day including Katkeau, Broadway Buffalo, Doctor Harper and Monetaire. On the final day we have Purple ‘N Gold and La Vaticane entered in the Grand Annual.
Over timber Kings Palace, Starchitect, Dell’ Arca and Twentytwo’s Taken are our entries for the Coral Cup on Wednesday, while we have Impulsive American and Ikrapol engaged in the Fred Winter for juveniles on the same day. Unanimité, Taj Badalandabad and Batavir are in the Pertemps Final on Thursday, while Starchitect, Dell’ Arca and Gabrial The Great are in the County Hurdle on Friday. Last (but certainly not least!) we have five entries for the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ handicap hurdle: Starchitect, Fingertips, Dell’ Arca, Batavir and Mount Haven bid to give me that first elusive success in the race named after my father.
As you can see from the above, a number of the horses have multiple entries and this is all part of the process of finding the best opportunities for each horse. Speaking of which, the weights for the Festival handicaps are announced on Wednesday and that will be crucial in deciding who runs where – it is very much like a jigsaw, and we will be scanning the opposition to ensure that each horse runs in the correct race to give them the best possible chance of success.
Looking to this week, we will have a couple of runners on the all-weather during the early part of the week with Purple ‘N Gold running tomorrow at Lingfield in the hands of Dougie Costello, while Closer To Home runs at Southwell on Wednesday and will be partnered by Adam Kirby.
Over the sticks, Abracadabra Sivola makes his debut for the stable at Leicester tomorrow in the 2m6½f novices’ chase. He goes nicely at home and the form of his second to Native River at Exeter in November reads well in hindsight. He will be partnered by Tom Scudamore and we will know more about him after tomorrow. On the same card Spending Time contests the 2m4f handicap chase and this looks like a decent opportunity for him.
At the weekend Bella is an intended participant in the mares’ hurdle qualifier at Sedgefield on Sunday, while we will also have plenty of other runners between now and then – subject of course to the variables such as opposition, ground, test results etc. For all the latest news on the Pond House runners, make sure to keep up to date with Chester’s Daily Chat.
We will look forward to hosting legendary broadcaster Mike Vince later in the week and he will be filming some interviews with me and others in exclusive content that you will only be able to see on www.davidpipe.com in the run-up to the 2016 Cheltenham Festival.
Finally, I am pleased to bring another positive bulletin on Moon Racer (pictured right) as we race against time to get him to the Cheltenham Festival. Last season’s Champion Bumper winner has continued to please us at home and Tom Scudamore came down last week to school him over hurdles. It is actually the first time that Tom has ridden him over hurdles as when we jumped him in October; Tom was on the sidelines with his knee injury. Anyway he jumped well and Tom was suitably impressed - he will do some further schooling this week and I hope to be able to give you a similarly positive update next week. We are still in there with a shout!
