- Monday, 06 January 2020 16:05
- Written by David Pipe
Happy New Year to all of our readers! As we head into the second half of the season I have been very pleased by the form of the yard. The horses have been running really well and I was delighted to reach 50 winners for the campaign before the end of 2019. With the Cheltenham Festival now less than ten weeks away, attentions begin to turn to the biggest four days on the National Hunt calendar.
Of course, there are plenty of big prizes to aim for between now and then, but the Cheltenham Festival (which kicks off on 10th March this year) is like the Olympics of our sport and everything works backwards from there.
Lucky Gem Strikes Again!
You may recall this time last week we mentioned Gemma Humphrey or ‘Lucky Gem’ as she has now been dubbed in the yard. Well, Lucky Gem has only gone and done it again…
We did touch on Monday’s winners in my last column so I will not dwell, other than to say that Gemma, who looks after dramatic Haydock winner Buster Edwards (pictured above) is clearly better than any rabbit’s foot! Indeed, some of that luck must have rubbed off on her other half, conditional jockey Rex Dingle who enjoyed his biggest success to date when landing the final of the veterans’ series at Sandown on Saturday so well done to him.
The New Year was a quiet one for the Pipe household with the entire family in bed and sleeping long before Big Ben struck midnight, especially as I was heading for Cheltenham early the following day for their New Year’s fixture.
Although we haven’t hit the mark yet in 2020, the horses continue to go well. Airton finished runner-up on New Year’s Day in the selling handicap hurdle at Fakenham, sticking on well in the closing stages having been outpaced mid-race. He shapes as though a return to further would help and he will certainly prefer a faster surface. Even so, he did more than enough to suggest that he remains capable of winning something similar and he could run again at Leicester on Thursday.
Mr Clarkson produced a decent first effort over the larger obstacles when third at Exeter in the 2m3f novices’ handicap chase despite the burden of top weight. Even though you could not see much of the action owing to the dense fog, he jumped well and will benefit from stepping-up in trip and will be winning plenty of races over fences for owners the Pipe’s Prospectors.
Over at Cheltenham, Taj Badalandabad fared much better than his finishing position would suggest in the staying handicap hurdle and took a big step forward from his previous outing, which came after a lay-off of some 18 months. Hopefully he can improve further.
On Sunday Rathlin Rose produced a fantastic effort to finish a close third in the Sussex National at Plumpton under Tom Scudamore. He has faced some tough tasks this season, including in the Welsh National over the Christmas period. He stuck to his task really well here and retains all of his enthusiasm despite now being twelve years of age. He is no back number and hopefully something similar can come his way.
The Week Ahead
The week ahead is looking like a quiet one for the stable with Ghost Serge our first runner in the 1m1½f flat handicap at Wolverhampton on Monday. Our gelding has blotted his copybook somewhat since joining the Pond House team, refusing to race on two occasions. We have done plenty with him to encourage him to put his best foot forward, including varying his training routine. Hopefully there will not be scenes reminiscent of the old Hamlet cigar adverts!
As previously mentioned, Airton could go to Leicester on Thursday, whilst Stream Lady could head to Huntingdon on Friday. The latter is also engaged at Kelso on Sunday alongside Golden Jeffrey who could make his debut for the stable at the Scottish track in the 2m handicap hurdle.
Get Your Jab In!
As we alluded to a little earlier, this week will be a bit quieter than of late and that is likely to be the case for a couple more weeks as we have just given the horses their midseason vaccinations. It is something that we do as a matter of course at this time of year. Just like you and me, it is important to keep fit and healthy and routine vaccinations are the best way of doing so.
Indeed, you may recall at this time last year there was a widespread outbreak of equine influenza which led to 174 racing yards being locked down and a suspension of race meetings whilst everyone was required to vaccinate their horses. We were unaffected as we had already administered the vaccines.
