Waiting Nearly Over!

The waiting is nearly over for another year with the Cheltenham Festival getting underway tomorrow.  Amazingly, given the amount of rain to have fallen in recent months, the ground is likely to ride only soft tomorrow and with a drying forecast, it could be considerably quicker come day four.  With a winner last week taking our seasonal tally to 62, we go there with the horses in good order and high hopes.

Main Fact (pictured above) continued his amazing progression when winning well at Wetherby last Monday afternoon under amateur jockey Fergus Gillard.    He has proven to be a revelation this season, winning his last four starts and has taken a hike of 35lbs in the handicap during the course of the campaign but he may not have finished improving yet.  It is a great shame that Sandown were forced to abandon their Imperial Cup card on Saturday as he was one of the favourites to extend his winning run in that.  Still, his owners, The Munrowd’s Partnership were very philosophical about it…Main Fact has taken them on an incredible ride and I think they are still pinching themselves at being involved in a horse like him!  He is entered in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham next week but he is unlikely to get in there.

We were joined by the television cameras of Sky Sports on Wednesday as they came down to get some last minute footage of the horses as they finish their preparations for Cheltenham.  Surprisingly it was a first visit to the yard for Alex Hammond and she had the obligatory initiation on our mechanical horse!

Cheltenham Festival Team

We are likely to have a small but select team heading to the Cheltenham Festival this year and they are spearheaded by some very nice young horses.  We will be doubly represented in the Champion Bumper with Israel Champ and Panic Attack and they are the shortest-priced of the entire home-trained contingent.

 
Above left: Israel Champ wins at Cheltenham in November and right: Panic Attack is a lovely addition to the Pond House team

Israel Champ has done nothing but improve since joining the team and his latest effort when giving weight and a beating to his rivals at Ascot is probably the best piece of bumper form on this side of the Irish Sea.  He will partnered by Tom Scudamore.

Our other runner in the race is Panic Attack who will be making her debut for the stable.  She has done nothing but please me since Bryan Drew purchased her and sent her to Pond House.  She was very impressive in landing the Listed mares’ bumper at Market Rasen on her only start and as a four year old filly she will get a 15lbs allowance from Israel Champ and co. which is a considerable amount.  Current championship leading jockey Brian Hughes has been booked for the ride.

Popular grey Ramses de Teillee is an intended runner in the Albert Bartlett novices’ hurdle on Friday and he has been a revelation since switching back to hurdles from fences this term, winning all three of his start over timber including a pair of Grade 2 contests.  He is ideally suited by heavy ground so I won’t mind at all if the rain keeps up for him!  He will be the most experienced runner in the line-up and will certainly be staying on when others have cried enough.  I wouldn’t put anyone off having a little bet on him each-way.  He is still in the Grand National next month and this would certainly be an unorthodox preparation should he take his chance at Aintree.  You can find out my thoughts on his prospects by watching the video below (click on the image)…

There won’t be any runners from Pond House on day one of the Festival, but we will hopefully have a few runners in the handicaps, although which races they will get in is less clear.  Night Edition will go in the Boodles (formerly the Fred Winter) on Wednesday, whilst Umbrigado will run in the Martin Pipe, the final race of the meeting.  Poker Play and Eamon An Cnoic are also intended runners with a choice of engagements.

I will be there for the duration of the meeting as I will be hosting my owners and guests from the David Pipe Racing Club in our hospitality marquee.  It is always extremely popular, not least because we are the only racing yard to operate such a facility.  You could be a part of it all too by joining the racing club…further details can be found by clicking here.

I have been a panelist at a number of Cheltenham Festival Preview evenings during the last week and unsurprisingly the names that the ‘experts’ keep coming up with at these events are the short-priced ones with Benie des Dieux, Envoi Allen and Paisley Park the most popular.

The Rest Of The Week

Away from Cheltenham we have three runners at our local track, Taunton this afternoon after they passed an inspection on Sunday.  Yaa Salaam, Nordic Combined and Shoot To Fame all look to have reasonable chances, whilst over at Stratford we run Grumpy Charley for stable sponsor Geoff Thompson of W&S Recycling in the concluding bumper.

Main Fact could run in the valuable hurdle at Fakenham on Friday should he not make the cut of the County Hurdle, whilst we will have runners at Kempton on Saturday and at Uttoxeter where the Midlands Grand National is the feature.  I have a good record in that race, winning it on four consecutive occasions from 2011.  The talented but enigmatic Daklondike could be our representative this time around.

Dynasties

There was a glimpse of things to come at the point-to-point meeting at Didmarton in Gloucestershire on Saturday afternoon.  Margot Scudamore, Tom’s eldest daughter competed in her first pony race, finishing an excellent runner-up, whilst Timmy Murphy’s son, Lucas was third in another division.  Both were on hand for a photo with their proud fathers.  These pony races are an excellent way of bringing on young talent with Jack Kennedy an excellent example in Ireland and I am sure you will be hearing a lot more about these two in years to come.