Worcester Winner

    Orchard Thieves Winner at Worcester

We haven’t had many runners in the last week but I was delighted to have our first winner of the season at Worcester on Friday evening.  Orchard Thieves got us off the mark in the 2m7f novice hurdle with Tom Scu in the saddle.  This was his first run for Pond House, in fact it was his first run for over 800 days so it was particularly pleasing.  I bought him at the Cheltenham sales back in 2016 after he finished second in an Irish point to point.  This bit of form has worked out to be quite decent but Orchard Thieve has had a few problems since and it was brilliant he was able to reward the patience of owners Garth and Anne Broom.  They were at first just delighted to get to get him on the racecourse and the icing on the cake was him to actually win!  He has always shown quite a lot of ability at home and it was nice he could show this on the track.  He is a lovely big chasing type for the future and the good news is that he has come out of that race okay.   He will now have a little holiday and he is one to look forward to in the winter.

Easter Eric made a promising debut in the Bumper at Southwell on Wednesday evening to finish third, not beaten that far.  He galloped all the way to the line despite being a little green.  Owned and bred by Simon and Miranda Willes he his one with a lot of potential for the future.  He is being let down to go home on holiday for a few weeks.  He will have learned a lot from this experience and is another to look forward to in the autumn. 

Whitley Neill could not repeat his success from Exeter at Worcester on Friday evening but ran okay to finish fourth under a penalty. 

Looking ahead to this week the next runners will be on Thursday.  We have a few entries at Ffos Las on Thursday evening – Great Tempo, Dauphine Ereine and Iniciar.  We also have a few entries at Market Rasen on Friday – Ardmillan, Iniciar, Impulsive American, Purple N Gold and Red Square Revival.  At the weekend we have entries at Hexham, Worcester and Fakenham so keep checking Chester’s daily blog for more news on the stable’s runners.

I was up at Doncaster sales last Wednesday and Thursday and it is brilliant we have a few new acquisitions for Pond House.  Percy Street joins from the Nicky Henderson yard.  He finished third at Bangor last weekend over hurdles.  He has probably been a little disappointing for connections but he is a super looker who should be fun horse for new owner Fergus Wilson.  With a flat rating of 95 Royal Ascot may well be on the agenda for him in a few weeks’ time.  Chato is a six year old by Malinas who was third at Wincanton recently.  He has only had four starts over hurdles so hopefully there is some improvement to come.  Ardmillan, Crawfords Mill and Main Fact also join the team.  They all have form and shown ability so they can hopefully be placed to get in the winners enclosure and give new connections some fun.  Lochinver is a four year old by American Post is another new recruit from Doncaster.  He won his only start in an English point to point flat race at Alnwick.  He is a nice type and we have Impulsive American by the sire who has done very well for us under all codes so fingers crossed this chap might be the same.  All the horses have settle in nicely at the yard and will hopefully be on the racecourse in the coming weeks.

Now for some breaking news….it is true…yes…I was back riding out over the weekend.  Leanne kindly let me ride her new horse Ardmilllan on the gallops!  This was my first time on a horse for over 8 years.  Thankfully the 10 year old looked after me and I enjoyed my spin.  I’m not sure I am going to be riding out regularly but it showed I can still do it even if I am a little stiff this morning!