Although opportunities were limited during the early part of the week with the enduring inclement weather, we certainly made up for it during the second-half!  The good form of the yard continued courtesy of the successes of Brinkley at Newbury on Friday, Kepagge at Doncaster on Saturday and Little Red Lion and Martinhal at Huntingdon on Sunday, whilst the victory of Main Fact at Wetherby this afternoon brought our tally to 62 winners for the season.

Brinkley, owned by locally based long-standing patrons Garth and Anne Broom, was making his first start for the Pond House team at Newbury having shown distinct promise in two outings in Ireland.  The second of those efforts was when finishing a close third behind Champion Bumper runner-up Blue Sari and subsequent winner The Bosses Oscar, form that entitled him to hold every chance here.

Prominent throughout, he took up the running early in the home straight and came right away in the closing stages to win by 15 lengths.  He looks to be another lovely prospect for Garth and Anne and could prove even better at three miles.  He holds a couple of entries at the Cheltenham Festival and we will give that some serious consideration but he looks more than worthy of those now.

We were due to have four runners at Newbury on Saturday but unfortunately the meeting was lost owing to waterlogging.  I can’t say that I’m surprised; the Met Office confirmed that it was the wettest February on record and whilst it wasn’t quite that bad at Pond House, 126mm of rain fell with hardly a dry day to help the ground recover.

There were no such problems at Doncaster and we were able to run Remastered and Kepagge at the northern track.  Remastered took a step back in the right direction with a decent effort to finish third in the 3m handicap hurdle – the principals came 21 lengths clear of the remainder.  A staying chaser in the making, there are more races to be won with him over hurdles yet.

Kepagge A Cracker

Kepagge (pictured below) produced an impressive performance in the 2m3½f novices’ hurdle on the same card.  Conceding 7lbs to favourite Firak, he joined issue at the penultimate flight and quickly put the race to bed, sauntering home by 9 lengths.  His jumping was much better on this occasion and he is clearly learning fast.  He is now unbeaten in three starts for owner Sarah Ling since joining us from the Irish pointing ranks and I am so pleased that she has a really nice prospect on her hands.

Huntingdon Brace

 

The good form of the stable continued on Sunday with a double at Huntingdon.  Little Red Lion (pictured above), sporting the black and white colours of the David Pipe Racing Club was given a fine ride by young amateur jockey Fergus Gillard to prevail in a photo finish to the 3m1f handicap hurdle.  He clearly relished the step up in trip and being an unexposed youngster, he could do better yet.  You can be a part of the fun too from only £100 per year.  Further details can be found by clicking here…

Our other winner on the Huntingdon card was Martinhal (pictured below) who ran out a ready winner of the concluding bumper on his debut for the stable.  He is the first horse we have had for Lynne Maclennan and I was very happy to get off the mark for her at the first attempt.  Martinhal was a good purchase from an Irish point-to-point and he looks like another promising youngster.  Our bumper performers have been in great form this term and the success of Martinhal improved our strike rate to 33% in that sphere this season.

No Grounds For Concern

The good news is that Cheltenham clerk of the course Simon Claisse does not seem to have any such cause for concern.  The ground at the Gloucester track is currently soft and with a reasonable forecast in the interim it could yet be quicker than that by the opening day of the Festival, especially as they will be running on completely fresh ground.

Although the ground may not be of concern, the threat to the Cheltenham Festival from the coronavirus is sure to be worrying organisers.  They declared themselves to be on the “highest state of readiness” last week before course supremo Ian Renton moved to allay fears by stating that the meeting will go ahead…let’s hope that he is right.

The Week Ahead

Looking to this week and we start today with Main Fact who won well at Wetherby this afternoon.  He has proven to be a revelation this season, winning four times.  He has gone up 25lbs in the handicap during the course of the season but may not have finished improving yet and will get another hike for this.  Two miles on heavy ground seems to be his optimum conditions and he gets on well with Fergus Gillard.

We run Hugo ‘N Taz in the 3m novices’ handicap chase at Exeter tomorrow.  He put up a good performance when a decisive winner on his debut for the yard when decisively winning the Lincolnshire National at Market Rasen.  Course, distance and ground should suit and winning jockey David Noonan is in the saddle again.

Our other runner is the David Pipe Racing Club’s Great Tempo who contests the 3m handicap chase.  He was a winner at Taunton on his penultimate start and will be partnered once again by Fergus Gillard.

We have a few entries for the remainder of the week.  Into The Woods is an intended runner at Wincanton on Thursday, whilst Delface will contest the military riders’ handicap hurdle at Sandown on Friday where he will be partnered by Majoy Harry Wallace.

There are some valuable races on Saturday at Sandown with the Imperial Cup the obvious highlight.  We have one entry in the race this year with the fast improving Main Fact our representative who will pick up a 4lbs penalty for his decisive success this afternoon.   First Lord is an intended runner in the EBF novices’ hurdle final on the same card.

Return of the Coddfather

We were joined on Tuesday by leading amateur jockey Jamie Codd who came to ride out a couple of lots ahead of the Cheltenham Festival in his capacity as Tattersalls Ireland representative.  It was great to see ‘The Coddfather’ again – he has ridden some big winners for me, not least the two successes in the Kim Muir at the Festival aboard Junior in 2011 and The Package in 2015.  He is a tremendous jockey and a very shrewd judge to boot.

We posted this picture on Twitter earlier in the week and I was quite amused to see all the conspiracy theorists trying to work out who I had booked him for at the forthcoming Cheltenham Festival.  Truth be known, he won’t actually be riding anything for me this year but such is his record in the big races, he is sure to be worth following whatever he rides.

Jamie, who is the second winning-most rider in Irish point-to-point history with over 900 successes was crowned champion amateur jockey in Ireland in 2016/17.  He is pictured below with another champion amateur, Ashley Farrant who was champion on this side of the Irish Sea when riding my point-to-pointers during the 2004/05 season.

Richard Johnson Returns

It was good to see Richard Johnson back in action last Thursday after breaking his arm in a fall 37 days ago.  I know I keep saying it, but these jockeys are incredibly tough…there aren’t many sports where a participant would return from injury in such a short timeframe, especially with such a high risk of re-injury.

Anyway, it was very much business as usual with Johnson riding a double at Musselburgh on his first day back in the saddle, in the process reducing the deficit to championship leader Brian Hughes to just 18 winners.  With many fixtures lost during his absence due to the inclement weather, it would not be inconceivable to see Johnson yet make a serious challenge to retain his title.

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