- Monday, 23 October 2017 14:03
- Written by David Pipe
Well we all survived storm Brian here at Pond House relatively unscathed!! The weather was quite rough and high winds brought down a few branches and we had over 30mm of rain but there was not too much to complain about in the grand scale of things and the normal daily routine was carried out with no problems.
Bambi Du Noyer could not follow up his win at Exeter but ran okay to finish fourth. Unfortunately the rain had really got into the ground by the time of his race and that combined with the step up in distance all went against him. He had to run as he was due to go up 11 pounds in the handicap and it does mean life will be tougher for him in the future. I am sure back on some better ground he is capable of running well again as he is a trier. Red Square Revival ran another solid race to finish third at Wincanton on Friday. I am pleased he has put together two good efforts in a row and hopefully he can build on this next time. He jumped well and looked the winner turning out of the back straight but got quite tired from 3 out and did not appear to stay the 3m1f. We will probably look for a 2m4-2m6f chase next time.
Looking ahead we have three runners at Exeter on Tuesday. Purple N Gold runs in the amateur handicap hurdle with Rex Dingle on board. Midnight Magic will have to improve on what he has shown so far to figure with the principals but he has progressed a little with each start so hopefully he can take another step in the right direction. Shell Crystal makes her career debut in the concluding 3 year old bumper. She has a good pedigree and although not the quickest at home she shows a great attitude so it will be interesting to see how she gets on.
The middle of the week looks fairly quiet but Daklondike may have his second start over fences at Worcester on Wednesday. Vantieux has two entries at the weekend and may head to either Cheltenham on Saturday or the Old Roan chase at Aintree on Sunday for his Pond House debut. He has some high class form to his name for Nicky Henderson and he has been pleasing me at home. He looks like he would have top weight at Cheltenham on Saturday but that wouldn’t worry me and it looks a very competitive entry as you would expect for the prize money on offer at Aintree. We make a decision later in the week about where he might go. Dell’arca could return to action after his summer break at Cheltenham on Saturday while Katkeau could also return in the Veterans chase at Aintree on Sunday. Keep checking Chester’s daily blog for news of the stable’s runners throughout the week.
On Sunday we have Gerry Supple riding in the Key4life Charity race at Wincanton to look forward to. Gerry will ride Great Tempo in the 1m4f race and he should give him a great spin and big thanks to his owners, the Angove family for letting him ride their horse. Gerry retired from the saddle in 2012 having ridden 79 winners, the biggest of these being Carryonharry at Kempton in 2002. Gerry has worked at Pond House since he came over from Ireland aged 16 and has ridden in the Grand National and at the Cheltenham Festival. He has been working hard on his fitness and as lost a few pounds so is fit and raring to go for the big day! He is on the way to reaching his £1,000 fundraising target but would love a bit more so anyone wishing to donate can do so via his Just giving page. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gerry-supple
I enjoyed watching the spectacle of Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday. There were some great races and I must say well done to all the Champions, Silvestre De Souza, David Egan and Aidan O’Brien. Special congratulations must also go to Aidan for equalling Bobby Frankel’s record of having trained 25 Group 1 winners in a year. It is only a matter of time before he actually breaks this record in the coming weeks and it is testament to him and his team of staff for all their hard work and what a team of horses they have at Ballydoyle.
It was sad to hear of the passing of the great Moscow Flyer in recent days. He was 22 and had being enjoying his retirement at the Irish National Stud but unfortunately suffered from a bout of colic. He was one of the best two mile chasers we have ever seen and won the Queen Mother Champion chase twice and was the winner of 26 of his 44 career starts. I shall always remember his great battles with one of the best horses I have ever trained, Well Chief. Like both Jessica Harrington and Barry Geraghty have said, one of my most memorable races (despite us getting beaten!) was the 2004 Tingle Creek chase at Sandown which I think is one of the greatest races of all time. Well Chief eventually finished third but did tremendous battle with the great Moscow Flyer and Azertyuiop all the way up the Sandown hill and all three were covered by less than 1½ lengths at the line. Well Chief also sadly passed away earlier this year but I am sure the boys will have a great time catching up and reliving all their wonderful battles!
