- Monday, 17 February 2020 15:40
- Written by David Pipe
Ramses De Teillee - Winner at Haydock
Unfortunately as with Storm Ciara, Storm Dennis is playing havoc with the racing calendar but Ascot and Haydock both survived the storms onslaught on Saturday. Ramses De Teillee travelled to Haydock and put in another fine display to win the Grade 2 Prestige novices hurdle under David Noonan. Given a sensible ride in conditions he led at a nice pace and the race turned into a duel between the market principles as they turned for home. The second favourite, Kalooki looked to be travelling slightly the best and in fact hit the front at the last but Ramses responded willingly to the jockey’s urgings close home and asserted inside the final furlong to win by four lengths going away at the line. The runner up is held in high regard by the Hobbs team and Ramses was giving his rival 5 pounds which makes it an even finer performance.
All roads now lead the Albert Bartlett novice hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival next month. While Ramses handles heavy ground well he does not mind it less testing as he proved at Doncaster on his penultimate run. He is now three from three over hurdles this season and has been a fantastic little horse for his owners John White and Anne Underhill. Remember he finished second on the same Haydock card twelve months ago in the Grand National trial after finishing runner up in the Welsh Grand National the time before that. There are not many horses that can return to hurdling from chasing as effectively as he has done. He is such a neat quick jumper of obstacles and really does enjoy his job. Our eight year old has an entry in the Aintree Grand National (don’t forget he ran in the race last year when suffering a broken rein and he still completed the course!) but his participation in the race will be considered after Cheltenham.
Meanwhile, I travelled to Ascot and had driven through atrocious conditions on route to the course it was not too bad at the track. Conditions gradually worsened as the afternoon progressed but it was great they were able to get through the whole card. Eden Du Houx finished third in the handicap hurdle. He ran a bit of a funny race. He was too keen early before a mistake at the 3rd last where he lost his position and had no chance of winning. My despair turned more encouraging as he seemed to rally from 2 out and finished with a wet sail. Had he not made a mistake at the last he would have been second.
Shoot to Fame made her Pond House debut in the mares bumper. I don’t really consider her a ‘bumper’ horse as she will be seen in better light over further and over obstacles so I was delighted with her run to finish third. She got a little outpaced rounding the home turn before staying on powerfully inside the last couple furlongs and she would have finished second in another couple of strides. I was pleased for her owners the Blue Ball syndicate, many of whom went racing and had a very enjoyable day. Shoot to Fame may well have one more run in a bumper before going hurdling.
Storm Dennis disrupted Sunday’s action as both Exeter and Market Rasen were abandoned. The forecast does not look a whole lot better for the week ahead so it is difficult to say what racing will take place. Both Bangor and Taunton’s meetings on Tuesday were early abandonments but there is due to be jumping action up at Musselbrugh tomorrow. With so much uncertainty around fixtures at present a number of our horses have multiple entries at various meetings so we will look for the best opportunities for each of them. Exeter are hoping to have a meeting on Friday, especially after the last two have been abandoned but I suppose we are all in the lap of the gods. I am sure if there are more cancellations this week the BHA will be looking to put on some extra meetings at tracks that are best able to cope with the rain. Looking ahead to the weekend we have a few entries at Chepstow, Kempton and Newcastle but we will just have to see what the week brings. Hugo N Taz has been left in the Eider chase but keep checking the daily blog for more runner and weather updates.
Several meetings were lost last week. Catterick abandoned their jumping card last Monday. Ayr and Lingfield both went by the wayside on Tuesday, whilst Hereford and Wetherby had to abandon on Wednesday and Fontwell and Kelso the following day.
There had appeared to be a glimmer of hope for Sandown on Friday where Rathlin Rose would have been attempting to land a third success in the Royal Artillery Gold Cup under the remarkable Captain Guy Disney, but that also fell foul of an early morning inspection on the morning of the meeting.
Our colleagues in the point-to-point fraternity fared no better. The adverse conditions meant that all of the local fixtures were abandoned on each of the last two weekends.
Storm Damage
Despite the disruption to the racing programme, we have been relatively unaffected by the weather at home. The horses have still been able to go out for their exercise every day. We are fortunate to have the benefit of a wonderful all-weather woodchip gallop as well as a Wexford sand gallop and indoor canter so the horses have been able to use these facilities without interruption as we continue our build-up towards the Cheltenham Festival in little over three weeks. Indeed, the worst conditions any of our horses are ever likely to face are at the racecourses themselves!
We didn’t get away with it entirely scot-free however; as the strong winds lifted some roofing from one of the stable blocks meaning that we had to move half a dozen horses on Sunday afternoon. Fortunately they were entirely unperturbed by it and are 100% fine. The repairs have been carried out.
National Weights
The weights for the 2020 Randox Health Grand National at Aintree were announced last Tuesday in Liverpool and there was no surprise to see dual winner Tiger Roll heading the weights on 11-10 along with stablemate Delta Work. Despite protestations to the contrary from owner Michael O’Leary (boss of budget airline Ryanair), as a two-time winner of the race and a four-time Cheltenham Festival winner, I believe Tiger Roll has earned every pound of that weight…and it still may not be enough to stop him! If he were to succeed he would be achieving something that has never happened before. Aintree legend Red Rum won the race three times between 1973 and 1977 (finishing second in 1975 and ’76) but no horse has ever won three consecutive Grand Nationals. It will be thrilling to find out if he can do it.
I will be doing my best to stop him of course and we have three entries in the great race with Ramses de Teillee all but guaranteed a run on 10-5. Even so, he has been plying his trade successfully over hurdles this season, so he is far from certain to line-up. We face an anxious wait with Aintree regular Vieux Lion Rouge to see whether he makes the final cut of 40 runners – he has been allotted 9-10 by the handicapper and is currently 87th in the weights. Popular veteran Rathlin Rose is our final entry but his chances of getting in are all but nil with a weight of 8-10.
I won the Grand National in 2008 with the late David Johnson’s Comply Or Die, whilst my father won the Aintree showpiece in 1994 with Miinnehoma and I would dearly love to add another success to the Pond House roll of honour.
Funeral of Harry Alford
I attended a lovely service for Harry Alford at All Saints Church in Culmstock on Wednesday of last week. Harry, who was 96 was a tremendously popular and well-known figure locally. Father to Raymond and Margaret Alford, many of you may know Raymond as he runs the family farm nearby and also transports some of my horses to and from the races, whilst his partner Gail Harrison has been secretary at Pond House since 1983.
An agricultural contractor and farmer, Harry was also a blacksmith and an official at the local point-to-point racecourses, as well as a clerk of the course. A man of many talents, he even constructed my father’s first set of fences.
There was a huge turnout to pay their respects, including many figures from the racing world, including Newmarket trainer Jeff Pearce (who worked at Pond House in 1972!), Jenny Hembrow (who rode in the Grand National), local trainers Chris Down and Les Jefford, racehorse owner Helen Stoneman and many members of staff from Pond House, including my dad’s head lad, Dennis Dummett. It was a fitting send-off for a great man.
