Holiday Time

The weather continues to be fairly dry but we did have 8mm of rain at Pond House last night and we could get more this week so I am sure lots of the racecourse will be praying for their fair share of any drops that fall from above! The majority of horses our on their summer holidays now and they were all basking in the sunshine last week which is a great sight but we do have a few horses to run in the coming weeks.  This week looks fairly quiet but we have Work running on the flat at Chepstow on Tuesday evening with Pat Dobbs on board.  This is her first run on the flat for the yard and she runs in the final race, the 8.40pm over 2 miles.

Later in the week The Two Amigos could run at Worcester on Wednesday while we have a few entries at Aintree on Friday evening.  Ballynagour, Dell’arca, Max Do Brazil and Juste Pour Nous are all possibilities depending on how much rain we get.  Over the weekend we have entries at Uttoxeter on Saturday as well as at Market Rasen and Stratford on Sunday.  Keep an eye of Chester’s Daily blog for all the latest news of our runners.

Looking back at last week’s runners, Mister Drifter made a pleasing enough debut over hurdles at Ffos Las.  He has a lot of growing up to do an is a three mile chaser of the future.  He will ideally want more give under foot and so now he is on his holiday which I am sure will do him the world of good.  Prospera Pascha also made a promising enough debut over hurdles at Newton Abbot on Wednesday.  Although beaten a long way, the second is a Cheltenham winner rated 137 so it was asking a lot from our four year old to compete with that.  She has improved in each of her three career starts so we are going in the right direction.  She will probably have one more run before having a break.  La Vaticane was never happy in her race at Newton Abbot and Tom Scu pulled her up.  In hindsight she was not at her best after a good run in the Grand National.  She is probably one to catch fresh and she will now go out to grass with our other mares.  Gabrial the Great ran better in a very competitive race.  He is probably still a little high in the handicap but I am sure we can find him a winning opportunity somewhere soon.

I had a nice afternoon at Chester on Friday and Tobacco Road ran okay in the apprentice race.  Plan A did not quite go to plan as he slightly missed the break from the stalls but he still ran a nice race to finish sixth and he was only beaten under 7 lengths.  Again, he should be found a winning opportunity soon on the flat or back over hurdles.  Purple N Gold ran a bit flat at Haydock and Midnight Magic showed a little more promise on his hurdling debut at Warwick.  Herbert Park is a bit of an enigma and had his own ideas when running at Ludlow on Sunday.  He is a talented horse but quirky and hopefully things will all come together for him over fences soon or we may revert back to hurdles.

Away from the horses I must congratulate our amateur jockey Rex Dingle who rode his first double at the weekend.  He rode two winners at Holnicote point to point on Saturday, taking his tally to 8 for the season.  This is Rex’s first season at Pond House and things have been going well for him in the pointing field and he is gaining valuable experience.  His two winners were trained and owned by John Heard, father of our conditional Michael so it was especially nice for all involved.

Looking ahead to next week we have Doncaster Sales on Wednesday and Thursday, the 24^th and 25^th May.  I have been doing my research and will be heading up there to hopefully make some purchases as I look to build my team for the rest of the season.  If anyone has any interest in purchasing a horse or just finding out more information about getting involved please feel free to contact me on 01884 840715 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  There are further sales then throughout the summer and I would be delighted to hear from anyone for an informal chat.