First For Fergus!

The victory of Paricolor (pictured above) at Fakenham last week took our seasonal tally to 36 and was important, not least as it was amateur rider Fergus Gillard’s first winner for the stable.  Under a cool ride from the talented young jockey, our three year old quickened smartly around his rivals on the home turn to come home nine lengths clear.  Although Fergus has ridden plenty of winners in point-to-points and three winners under rules for his dad, I am sure he will be relieved to get his first winner for the stable under his belt.  He is improving all of the time and I am sure you will be hearing plenty more of him over the coming years. 

Paricolor is due a hike in the weights for this success so he will run again at Sedgefield on Tuesday and Fergus will again be in the saddle.

Aside from this success, there were plenty of other praiseworthy performances with the likes of Yaa Salaam, Queen Adelaide, Miss Tynte, and Great Tempo (for the David Pipe Racing Club) all reaching the frame.  I was particularly pleased with Yaa Salaam, who finished second to a potentially very useful rival at Lingfield on ground that would have been plenty soft enough for him.  He was a good horse on the flat in Germany and it looks like only a matter of time before he gets his head in front over hurdles.

Exeter Under Water

We were due to have a couple of runners at Exeter yesterday, however following 55mm of rain on Friday night/Saturday morning they were unsurprisingly forced to abandon due to waterlogging.  It is always a shame when the tracks lose the vital revenue that race days bring.  Let’s hope they are back up and running in time for their next fixture on 6th December.

The Week Ahead

Exeter’s loss means that Story Of Friends is our first runner of the week at Kempton this afternoon in the 2m conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle.  I had hoped to run him at Cheltenham before it’s abandonment but had to re-route here instead.

Promising bumper winner Induno is set to make his hurdling debut at Sedgefield tomorrow afternoon.  He has schooled well at home and I am looking forward to seeing how he progresses over timber.  The aforementioned Paricolor will also run at the meeting.

Meep Meep Mag is an intended runner in the bumper at Sedgefield on Wednesday.  She ran a nice race on her debut for the stable in a similar contest and should go well once again.

We have plenty of entries at Taunton on Thursday so I hope to have a runner or two there.  Included among those are Racing Club horses Dusky Hercules and Great Tempo.  Amazingly, given all the rain we have been enduring, the ground at Taunton is still officially only good/soft (good in places).  As usual we will take a look at the potential competition, ground and other variables such as blood test results before deciding who runs where.

There is an excellent card to look forward to at Newbury on Saturday, featuring the Ladbroke Trophy (formerly known as the Hennessy) in which Daklondike is a likely runner.  I was thrilled with his seasonal reappearance at the track over hurdles a couple of weeks ago and he remains in good order.  He has the latent ability to run a big race and I would dearly love to add the success of Madison du Berlais in 2008.

First Aid & Defibrilation

One of the most important responsibilities of running a busy racing yard is to make sure that it is a safe and healthy environment for all staff and visitors and that includes ensuring there are enough first-aiders on site.  Our delegates completed their refresher courses last week and whilst the first aid trainer was here, we thought it would be an excellent opportunity to give all of the staff a quick instructional session on how to use the defibrillator we have on site (pictured below).  It is a tremendous piece of equipment and could prove to be a life saving device so it is important that everyone is aware of how to use it.

So Long Stanley

Finally, I was saddened to hear of the passing of Make A Stand on Friday at the age of 28.  Those of you who followed my dad’s career will know that Make A Stand (or “Stanley” as he was affectionately known), won numerous good races during the 1996/97 season including the Tote Gold Trophy and Lanzarote and William Hill Hurdle, culminating with success on the biggest stage of all – the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival where he blitzed his rivals in typical trailblazing style under A P McCoy.

His was a real rags to riches tale.  He joined the Pond House team after we bought him from a Leicester claiming race on the flat for just £8,000 and under my father’s tutelage, went on to land over £260,000 in prize money and the most prestigious hurdle races in Britain.  Furthermore, he did so as a novice.

He enjoyed a well-deserved, long and happy retirement, regularly hunting with Lee Harfield who looked after him at Henrietta Knight’s establishment in Lambourn.

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