- Monday, 25 September 2017 15:24
- Written by David Pipe
There is certainly a mixed bag of weather about at the moment! While the sun has been shining in the south west over the past few days (and is set fair again for the majority of this week) there have been deluges in the north of England and Scotland culminating in the abandonment of Ayr’s feature three day Gold Cup meeting last week as well as Hamilton’s card today. With a similar scenario echoed around other parts of the country too (Huntingdon’s Arab card was lost to the elements on Saturday) we are certainly going to have to keep a close eye on the prevailing ground at the forthcoming meetings.
We kick the week off with a runner at Warwick tomorrow when Red Square Revival makes his second appearance over fences in the 2m4f handicap chase. He proved a safe conveyance on his debut at Newton Abbot and he will have learned from the experience. The drop back in trip should prove no inconvenience either and stable jockey Tom Scudamore will be in the saddle.
Our remaining entries for the week come at Worcester on Friday where Ennistown has a couple of engagements along with Aero Majestic and Mister Drifter. Incidentally, this card marks the last day that David Noonan is eligible to contest conditional jockeys’ races having ridden out his claim aboard the stable’s Mr Clarkson at Sedgefield in September. David has certainly made rapid progress since arriving at the stable and being a talented and professional lad I see no reason why he cannot go on and consolidate his position even without his claim.
Further ahead, it is the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe this weekend at its temporary home at Chantilly. It looks likely to be another thriller with the Brits holding a strong hand once again, notably with super filly Enable. There is an excellent sale taking place at the venue the day before and I have once again been thumbing meticulously through the catalogues in search of potential jumpers for the future. Indeed, with the Newmarket Tattersalls Horses in Training Sales coming up at the end of next month, there are plenty of exciting recruits to be had so if you are interested in joining our roster, please do get in touch.
Going back to last week and it was good to see Paul Leach (pictured above) riding out at the stable again as he continues to get into shape for his bid to land Chepstow’s Legend’s race at their opening fixture of the new season on 14th October. Paul landed my father’s first Cheltenham Festival success when Baron Blakeney won the Triumph Hurdle in 1981. He has been working hard on the gallops and I have been impressed with just how well he still rides at the age of 63 (I’m not sure he will thank me for revealing his age) and we wish him all the best come the big day. I posted a picture of Paul riding out the other day on Twitter and asked my followers to name who the jockey was – he was delighted with some of the responses (Richard Dunwoody, Peter Scudamore) while some of the others, not so much (Brod Munro-Wilson)!
Talking of charity races, Gerry Supple is also getting in shape ahead of his tilt at Wincanton’s celebrity race on their opening day of the season on 29th October. Gerry will be helping to raise funds for the Key4Life charity and Injured Jockeys’ Fund when he contests the race and he has been taking it very seriously – I reported only a couple of weeks ago that he had even invested in a bicycle! There is going to be a good bit of local rivalry with Gerry joined by the likes of Anthony Honeyball, Joe Tizzard and Jack Barber while Sheikh Fahad adds international appeal. Anyway, if you would like to support Gerry or find out more about the event you can visit his Just Giving page at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gerry-supple
As usual, you can keep up to date with all the latest news from the stable by visiting Chester’s Daily Chat or by following us on Twitter @DavidPipeRacing
There is a lot of work going on back at the yard at present and I will bring you more news of those developments at a later date…
