- Monday, 08 June 2020 10:48
- Written by David Pipe
Jacbequick Retired
One week on from racing return I think we can all look back and take immense pride from the way in which our sport has returned, the first back since it was all stopped due to the pandemic. All eyes were on the racing world after the Cheltenham Festival has received widespread criticism for going ahead. I think great credit must go to the whole team of people involved in getting racing back up and running as quickly and efficiently as they have. There has been some great action already and Newmarket provided some high class entertainment over the weekend. I thought ITV racing did a great job with their coverage and viewing figures for the entire meeting were up compared to last year. Let’s hope we are managing to attract a few new fans to our sport.
2,000 & 1,000 Guineas
Many Congratulations must of course go the big winners – the entire Andrew Balding team, Oisin Murphy and Sheikh Fahad for their superb win in the 2,000 Guineas on Saturday. It was Oisin’s first Classic win and you could see how much it meant to him. He is obviously a very talented jockey but he is a thoroughly nice chap and great ambassador for our sport as well. He did many TV interviews and social media posts over the weekend and I think he speaks and comes across very well. My parents bumped into him in Lambourn not that long ago and were having dinner one evening. He went and sat with them and at the time my mum was recovering from a serious injury and had little use of one hand – he offered to help and cut up her food which was a lovely gesture. It was also nice for the owners of Kameko who invest so much into our sport through sponsorship in the name of Qipco. There was a great photo on social media of him and his wife and child celebrating his victory at home which is what it is all about.
There was an equally impressive performance from the Aidan O’Brien trained winner of the 1,000 Guineas yesterday, Love. It is funny how things work out, her dam, Pikabo, was a lowly rated horse on the flat in her racing days (55) who’s first few foals were pretty moderate but her more recent progeny, all by Galileo have been very good with Love being her seventh offspring!!
Past Week
We have had two runners on the flat in the last week and our school report would read a bit like my own back in the day….could do better! Teaser ran below form at Kempton last Tuesday and we know he is better than that. In the horses defence, the watering system at Kempton was not working and jockey Finley Marsh said the track rode like galloping on a ploughed field! We know teaser prefers bouncing off a quick surface so I think we will excuse him this run. We may look to run him on the turf on the level somewhere soon before he will go back jumping when the action returns on 1st July.
I’lletyougonow was disappointing at Haydock yesterday. She had been flying at home and I was quite hopeful but this did not translate to the track. In fairness to her rain at the track had made to going good to soft which would not have been ideal and jockey Silvestre De Sousa admitted he had not given her the best ride. He reported he had looked after her once her chance of winning had gone. Once again, we know she is better than that and hopefully we can get her back out again soon and show her true colours.
Coming Up
Looking ahead to this week we are fairly quiet on the runner front with no entries at present. Leoncavallo could be our next runner at Sandown on Saturday. He has joined us for the Value Racing Club. He has some high class form over hurdles and his flat rating looks fair enough. It will be good to get him on the track and blow out any cobwebs before we are aiming it at some nice prizes over jumps later this summer.
Hopefully we will know later this week more about the jumps racing programme. As I have mentioned before we know the racecourses and the dates for jumping in July but we do not know the actual races as yet. These are due out in the coming days and we can make more definite plans for our horses.
Ireland Returns
Racing in Ireland returns today for the first time with a flat meeting at Naas. They have an eight race card behind closed doors kicking off at 2.55pm. One of the big differences between their return and ours is that they have not restricted field sizes like we have. Our biggest runner fields are 12, apart from the top races whereas todays races in Ireland have 18 and 17 runner races. They also have reserves which I think is a good thing and something we should maybe consider having over here.
New Arrival
We had a new acquisition arrive at the yard last week – Lady Reset. She was bought by owners Keith and Lynne Webb who had been following her progress for a while and it was great they were able to secure her purchase from Roger Brookhouse. She is a two time winner on the flat out of a mare we used to train at Pond House, Reset City. She has settled in well so far and although not the biggest she has taken to jumping like a duck to water. She is showing a really good attitude and may have a run on the flat shortly before trying hurdles in July.
Lady Reset
Jacbequick Retired
Meanwhile a horse that is going on a well-deserved retirement is Jacbequick. Jac is the winner of 11 races from 88 career starts and he was placed 37 times as well. He has won over £101,000 in prize money and has been a star at his level all his life. He is only nine years old but his joints have been playing him up in the last year and so we have made the decision to call time on his career as he does not owe anyone anything. He arrived at Pond House in August 2018 after we claimed him for £8,000 after he won a claimer at Beverley for David O’Meara. He won on his stable debut at Ffos Las on the flat and he won twice over hurdles at Fakenham and Newton Abbot. He was placed ten times as well from 15 starts for the yard. He loved his racing and was extremely tough and consistent and he soon became a favourite at home. He had not long been in the ownership of the David Pipe racing club and we were looking forward to running him on the flat and over hurdles this summer but unfortunately this will not be the case. We had to do the best for the horse and we will endeavour to find another horse to run in the black and white colours of the club who will have Airton out on the track shortly. He is actually going to live locally to the yard in his retirement as a riding horse with Bex who works for me and looked after him while he has been here at Pond House.
