- Monday, 04 November 2024 16:00
- Written by David Pipe
Chemical Warfare Winner at Newcastle
It has been a good week for the yard with another three winners on the board and what was particularly nice was the manner in which these victories were achieved. King Turgeon, Chemical Warfare and Walkadina were there winners throughout the week and have now taken us to 24 for the season so far.
Jack Tudor unfortunately missed riding the winners as he was on the sidelines with a four-day ban but it is not too bad for us when the reigning champion jockey, Harry Cobden is available to ride! King Turgeon made his seasonal reappearance at Chepstow, a track that he loves and put in a tremendous round of jumping and won very impressively. He really was a joy to watch like the Sky Sports commentators said on the TV. He is a very athletic six year old and jumping is his big asset which is why we made an early closing entry for him in the Grand Sefton chase at Aintree over the National fences. This morning we confirmed him for that race this coming Saturday. With the original top weight Hitman not being confirmed and our seven-pound penalty, we now carry 10 stone and the plan is to run. We will find out on Tuesday morning what the handicapper will put him up for that win but I suspect he will be ‘well in’ under a penalty. His style of racing and athletic jumping will suit this race and with a bit of luck I hope he can run a big race.
Chemical Warfare has been a star since arriving with us and recorded his fifth win up at Newcastle with Harry Cobden once again in the saddle. My instructions to Harry were not to hit the front to soon but he tugged his way to the front on the second circuit and just kept galloping! It was another impressive performance and there is still more to come from our seven year old as well as he is very un-exposed as a staying chaser. He seems to love his trips ‘up North’ and staying the night away and he has come out of this run in rude health. We were considering giving him a little holiday but while he is thriving, we will keep him on the go for now. He is versatile with the ground and again we will see what the handicapper does to him on Tuesday morning.
Walkadina made a very impressive hurdling debut at Uttoxeter on Friday in the hands of Tom Bellamy. She has run well enough in two bumpers and we do hold her in high regard but I am not sure I was expecting quite an exciting a performance as we got! She travelled and jumped like a dream in the lead throughout before quickening clear from just before two out. It looked a competitive race on paper beforehand and we were the quicker of the two divisions of the race on the day. She has come out of the race very well and there is lots to look forwards to with her this winter.
Neon Moon probably put in a career best effort to be third at Ascot on Saturday off a mark of 136. The winner Chianti Classico is now favourite for the Coral Gold Cup and Newbury and looks a very nice horse. We were not far behind him and he kept galloping all the way to the line. If the ground is good at Newbury come December we will have to seriously consider running our eight year old in this prestigious handicap which we have won before with Celestial Gold and Madison Du Berlais.
Gentlemantoboot made a very pleasing debut in the bumper at Newton Abbot to be a close third. The race looked very good on paper and our four year old galloped all the way to the line with two rivals just quickening past him inside the final furlong. He will be suited by a more galloping track but we went there because of the soft ground and he is an exciting long-term prospect. Pachacuti and Royal Mer both finished fourth in their races at Newton Abbot and while a little disappointing, Royal Mer is a much better chaser than hurdler and it will be back over the larger obstacles next. Pachacuti will be better returned to three miles next time as he found 2m4f a little on the sharp side for him. Itseemslikeit was the real disappointment of the week for no obvious reason. He goes very nicely at home and we will probably see him out over fences next on a more galloping track. Lady Balko made a pleasing start to her chasing career but just found everything happening a little too quickly over 2m4f and she will step back up in distance next time also.
We sadly lost Paricolor at Bangor last week and it hit the yard quite hard. He was part of the family here at Pond House and has been a wonderful asset to our yard for the last five years. I was at our local pub, the Culm Valley Inn, five years ago when we watched a French claimer from Maison-Laffitte where he finished second in a flat race, only beaten a head. We put in a claim, got him and he has been a pleasure to train ever since. He won nine races for us and was placed a further twelve times as well. He may not have been ‘top class’ but he had a big heart and always tried. He gave our conditionals Fergus Gillard and Philip Armson some fantastic wins and he was a gentleman at home in the stable and to ride. He was in the process of running well at Bangor when he suffered a freak injury but the vets were on hand very quickly and he did not suffer. He leaves us all with some very fond memories.
This Week
It promises to be another busy week for the yard with plenty of runners providing the ground stays safe with no rain in the forecast. On Tuesday, Kolisi and Kepagge are in action at Warwick while on Wednesday we have five runners at Chepstow, Dindin, Missy Mole, Jurancon, River Run Free and Kingston Queen who makes her stable and rules debut in the bumper. On Thursday, we could run American Sniper in the Pertemps qualifier at Newbury while on Friday we have entries at Fontwell and Exeter. As already mentioned, King Turgeon has an entry at Aintree on Saturday while Remastered could go back to Wincanton for the Badger Ales Chase. We then have several entries at Ffos Las on Sunday so keep checking the Daily News section of the website for the latest news on the stable runners.
Weather Watch
October was quite wet at Pond House! 182.5mm of rain fell last month, which puts it in third place in our all-time list behind October 2001 where 195.5mm of rain fell and October 2013, which recorded 189mm of rain. This does mean however, that we have had the wettest first ten months of the year since we started our records with 1151.5mm recorded from 1st January to 31st October 2024. We are well on course for having an above average amount of rainfall for the year by the end of December. It did seem like it rained a lot last month but already, I am hoping for more rain with several racecourses already drying out and having good to firm in their going descriptions!
