- Monday, 06 October 2025 14:26
- Written by David Pipe
October Hill - Horse For Sale
The countdown this week is to racing at Chepstow on Friday, which is the first of a now three day meeting at the track and is what many people see as the real jumps season getting underway. This year could be slightly different however; with the recent weather meaning that the ground will still be a little quicker than us trainers would like it for the ‘winter’ horses. Having said that, the hurdle races are being run on the flat course, which has been watered all summer, and this does make a huge difference, as the ground is likely to be genuinely good and safe. The ground is currently described as good to soft on the hurdles course and good on the chase track. They did not get any significant rain over the weekend and will be watering this week to maintain. The Welsh Champion hurdle has been moved back to the course (from Ffos Las) and will be run on Sunday with some great action to come before then as well.
This week also sees the return of racing to Exeter though they need significant rain to help ease the ground. The chases for this meeting have been abandoned and their ground is described as good to firm, firm in places. Old Bridge is our sole entry of the card and he is a little horse who likes this sort of conditions so he may take his chance.
I sponsor a race ay Chepstow on Friday and am looking forward to hosting a few guests in a box on the day. Activist and Old Bridge are my two entries in the race and while the latter might not get in the race (40 entries), Activist is an intended runner. While he starts the new season from high enough in the weights, he has summered well and grown and strengthened further. Our six year old has won four of his 14 starts over hurdles for us, so not a bad strike rate and he won first time out last season.
On Saturday at Chepstow, Neon Moon is looking for back-to-back wins in the Native River handicap chase having won the event last year. He is actually two pounds lower in the ratings than when winning this last time and will love the ground, so fingers crossed for a big run. In addition, possibly heading to Chepstow are American Sniper and Thanksforthehelp in the Silver Trophy handicap hurdle. Both horses were last in action at the Punchestown Festival where the latter won the race and Sniper ran well to be sixth. Thanksforthehelp was raised significantly for that win but he is a horse I have always held in high regard and while not always the easiest to train, we have had a smooth run of things so far and I hope he can continue to progress seeing as though he is quite lightly raced for his age. Pachacuti is another who could be heading to Chepstow on Saturday for the 2m7f handicap hurdle. He actually won the jumps jockeys charity derby at the meeting last year but then he had a few niggles which prevented him from running to his best. We have hopefully helped him with those over the summer and he is now starting from a good mark over hurdles to go back in the right direction. On Sunday
On Sunday, we were contemplating entering Jurancon in the Welsh Champion hurdle at Chepstow but with a dry week forecast, we have resisted the temptation. We do however have both First Lord Du Cuet and Vision De Main entered in the conditional jockeys handicap chase. Both of these horses prefer better ground and Rian Corcoran will ride if they run. He will claim a valuable ten pounds off their backs and after winning the corresponding race twelve months ago, we would love to win it again! Whether these horses run or not will be ground dependent so keep checking the Daily News on the Website for all the latest information.
We will also have a flat runner at Newmarket on Saturday with Bashful Boy confirmed for the Cesarewitch. He finished fourth in the race two years ago and ninth last time, when not beaten all that far. He has put in some good runs on the flat this summer and while he will be a big price, we will try to nick some of the valuable prize money up for grabs!
Horse for Sale – October Hill
We have recently purchased this gorgeous five-year-old mare called October Hill from an online sale and we are looking for a new owner for her! While exact details are to be confirmed we are currently open to all ownership possibilities and she can be bought as a whole or part shares and we may set up a little syndicate for which we already have some interested parties. Please do get in touch if you have any interest and we would be happy to discuss options (Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Telephone: 01884 840715).
October Hill is a five-year-old brown mare by Berkshire out of a Presenting mare who was unraced but she has bred winners. Trained by Colin Bowe in Ireland who we have bought well from many times, he says she is, “A really likeable, consistent straight forward filly who has been a model of consistency all summer. Placed on all her hurdle starts she is a winner in waiting. She has a hurdle rating of 100, which seems a very workable mark on her maiden form. She is a strong, scopey filly and an excellent jumper of a fence who will give connections plenty of options for the future."
2025 is her first year to have raced and while unplaced in a couple of Irish point to points she has now been placed in all four of her starts over hurdles and has got better with every run. She has a handicap mark off 100 but is yet to run in a handicap so there should be plenty of fun to be had with her going forwards. She will be arriving at Pond House later this week and she is fit and ready to carry straight on with. She was bought for £20,000 + VAT and there will be commission and few extras, like a vetting and transport to add on top. Please do get in touch for more information.
September Weather
We recorded 122.5mm of rain at Pond House in September 70mm less than twelve months ago. Total rainfall for the year now stands at 574mm, which is nearly 400mm less than what we have had up until this point in 2024. While September started promisingly with quite a lot of rain, which turned the grass green again, we barely had a drop from the middle of the month onwards and we are now crying out for more rain again. October 2024 was quite a wet month so we could really do will a repeat of that this time around. September 2024 was the wettest we have ever recorded at Pond House (192.5mm) the driest coming back in 2002 with just 8mm of rain falling.
