- Monday, 04 July 2016 15:15
- Written by David Pipe
As is usual for this time of the year, we had only a few runners last week and I was delighted to be on the mark with a double at Market Rasen yesterday afternoon (Sunday) courtesy of the successes of Impulsive American and Kalifourchon. This took our tally for the campaign onto twelve and also elevated the Pond House team into third position in the trainers’ standings at this relatively early stage of the season.
It is good to get these early successes on the board and now with the racing even through the summer getting more and more competitive it is more important than ever to make a good start as these lay the foundations for the remainder of the season.
Impulsive American has been a revelation since joining us less than 12 months ago and in that time he has run 18 times, winning 6 on the flat, over hurdles and now over fences, while finishing in the frame on a further 9 occasions. Indeed, the terms consistent and versatile could have been made for him!
On Sunday he was making his debut over the larger obstacles in the novices’ chase at Market Rasen and it had the look of a tight little race, even though our four year old was in receipt of a handy age allowance. Belying his tender years, he jumped like a seasoned veteran barring one small error and he came away to win nicely. There should be more races like this within his compass over the coming weeks, especially given his marked preference for a decent surface.
Kalifourchon completed the double on Sunday with a nice performance in the 2m7f handicap hurdle. Coming back from a little break he held on to score by ¾ length under stable jockey Tom Scudamore. He is a progressive young stayer and is entitled to come on a bit for this first start in five months and he is a nice horse to have in training at this time of year.
Meanwhile, there were also good efforts from Purple ‘N Gold and Houston Dynimo at Worcester last week as they finished third and fourth in their respective races and their turns should not be far away judged on this evidence. They seldom run bad races, although that means they seldom get much respite from the assessor.
Looking to this week and you have to wonder what the race planning committee were thinking of with just one meeting over the sticks today, another tomorrow and the no jumping action until there are three cards on Sunday!
The stable has one runner this afternoon (Monday) as Castlemorris King runs in the competitive 2m4f handicap chase at Worcester. He has already proven a sound purchase from a claiming race on his penultimate start. The stable has no runners tomorrow at Uttoxeter, so our next action will not come before Sunday where we have entries at Perth, Southwell and Stratford. A week is a long time in a racing yard, so as usual we will be keeping an eye on the weather as well as all the routine checks on the horses before deciding who runs on Sunday. All the latest news on our runners can be found in Chester’s Daily Chat or by following us on Twitter @DavidPipeRacing
We had a productive trip to the Arqana Sales at Deauville last week as we secured no fewer than six new recruits for the new National Hunt season. They look like a really nice bunch with some very good pieces of form, not least King’s Socks, a winner over hurdles and chases was runner-up in the four year old champion hurdle at Auteuil, while Magie du Ma was one of the better juvenile fillies in France. We also purchased Full, Great Tempo, Shaama Grise and Citrus and I am sure you will be hearing plenty more of them over the coming months.
Of those six, I am pleased to report that five already have new owners, while I am sure it will not be long before Citrus (pictured above) is snapped up as well. Citrus is a lovely four year old gelding who has shown a good (and progressive) level of form in French bumpers. He will be ready to run very shortly and looks a nice prospect for novices’ hurdles - more details of him can be found on my horses for sale page. It may be early days but the expectations and anticipation for the season ahead are already mounting…exciting times indeed.
