Trio Of Winners & Big Week!

  Only The Bold - Dual Winner for the Yard

Today marks the start of a big week for me as I may be celebrating a landmark birthday on Tuesday with a small family and friends get together weekend planned, starting on Friday. While I don’t have many birthday present demands, a few more winners would make me most happy!! We had three winners last week and a few more in the coming days would be the perfect celebration!!

Winners

Only the Bold got things off to a brilliant start to the week with a super win at Hereford last Monday. He is not the biggest but he has a big heart and he is now two from two for the yard. Up ten pounds from his win at Bangor on stable debut it was probably an even more impressive display from our son of Jeremy. He perhaps didn’t travel as well throughout the race as he had done before but that was probably due to the ground being a bit quicker and the further he went the better he went.  He hit the front at the second last fence and sprinted away from his rival’s impressively to win in the colours of the Value Racing Club. He won this race off a mark of 127 and the handicapper is likely to give him a similar increase as for his last win. He seems to need a bit of time between races and so we will just have to see how he continues at home before making definite plans but we can hopefully aim for some more of the top staying chases going forwards. Whatever happens he is a thoroughly likeable little horse and I think there is plenty more to come from him as a staying chaser.

I was delighted to get another win from Heure De Gloire at Leicester on Wednesday. Our mare has been very consistent of late and this was a deserved victory. A stiff two miles on testing ground seems to bring out the best in her and she led the field a nice gallop and kept on strongly from two out. She is going up seven pounds for that win so there is no need to run her again quickly. The weather is forecast to be dry this week so we can wait for some rain before she runs again. It was lovely for her owner Jane Cunningham, it was her first winner since the loss of her son Guy last year with whom she owned both Heure De Gloire and Paricolor with us. It was an emotional success which meant a lot to all of us.

Pachacuti was our third winner of the week and he travelled to Fakenham on Thursday and won impressively. He was a little unlucky in running when finishing second at Hereford on his previous start but Tom Scu kept things simple from the front this time and he jumped very well and kept galloping strongly. He is not likely to be out quickly even thought I am sure the handicapper will have his say. It has taken a while for the penny to drop for him but now we have the key to him he will continue to progress and he will make a lovely staying chaser in the future. He carries the colours of the Arthur White Partnership who have been long term supporters of Pond House. Tamarin Bleu has probably been the best horse to carry these colours to victory to date. While Pachacuti has a long way to go to get near his level, there is more to come.

Other Results

Plenty of other horses ran well last week but there were also a few disappointments as well- a typical racing week really!! First Lord Du Cuet ran well to be second at Exeter, again!! He has now finished second on his last five starts. While it is a little frustrating, you can’t really knock him.  A little mistake at the second last did not help his chance and we joked with co-owner (my mum) that we should run him in Gold Cup as he will probably finish second in that! The plan is for him to run in the Grand National Trial at Haydock in a couple of weeks’ time. Ya Know Yaseff showed her best form to date to be a close second at Fakenham. Cheek pieces and a tongue tie seemed to have a positive effect, as perhaps did the better ground and she wasn’t beaten far. She is entered again this week and could run at either Huntingdon or Bangor.

The obvious disappointment was of course Remastered at Sandown over the weekend. I went there quite hopeful but the writing was on the wall a long way from home. No real reason is yet to emerge but he appeared to run flat. He seemed in very good form at home beforehand and I was happy with pre-race test results but the ‘real’ Remastered did not show up. They are not machines and are entitled to an ‘off day’ so while disappointing we know it was not his true running. We will monitor him closely over the coming days to see if anything should come to light but the plan is still to enter him in the Grand National for which entries close tomorrow while another run in a few weeks will ultimately tell us if he will head to Aintree in April or not.

Tom Scu

Unfortunately we will be without the services of Tom Scu this week as he has been stood down for a few days due to concussion. Royal Defender was brought down in the bumper at Chepstow on Friday and Tom took a blow to the head. While he got up okay, he was rather muddled and was sent off to hospital for scans. Thankfully they all returned clear and he just needs a few days’ rest.  He was on his way up to Oaksey House after he called into the yard this morning, so he will see the specialists and he will undergo a concussion test next Monday to hopefully return to action by the middle of next week. I was at Chepstow and drove Tom’s car home- it took me a while to find it in the car park and then there was no fuel in it so had to put some in to make sure I made it home- jockeys!!

Pointing Winner

While on the subject of jockeys, well done to Gearoid Harney on riding his first point to point winner at Garthorpe on Sunday. Gearoid has recently joined our team and even though he has had five winners under rules this was actually his first winner in British point to points on only his second ride. He actually took a fall on his first ride at Chipley Park on Saturday but bounced back for a deserved first success in his second attempt!!

This week

We are likely to be slightly quieter on the runners front this week but are at two meetings on Tuesday, Market Rasen and Taunton. Barrier Peaks goes to Market Rasen looking for his hat-trick for the David Pipe Raving Club. The handicapper raised him ten pounds for his win at Uttoxeter last time but hopefully there is more to come. Gwencily Berbas runs in the staying handicap chase there while at Taunton we run Neon Moon and Tango Arumba.  Wednesday is a blank day but we have entries at Ffos Las, Doncaster and Huntingdon on Thursday and Kempton and Bangor on Friday. The weekend is also fairly quiet with just Barrier Peaks having an entry at Uttoxeter on Saturday and Ramses De Teillee being our sole entry at Exeter on Sunday.  We are likely to be much busier again after this, it is just the timing of some of the races.  Keep checking the daily blog for all the updates on the stable runners.