- Monday, 17 November 2025 15:34
- Written by David Pipe
Harry Junior Lingfield Winner
It was great to get another win on the board last week with Harry Junior winning for the first time in his career at Lingfield. He relished the step up in trip to three miles and led throughout. He was challenged and looked a little vulnerable on the approach to the last hurdle but pulled out a super jump to effectively seal the win before extending his lead on the run in. Bought as a store horse, he has taken plenty of time to mature and there is still improvement to come but it is a rewarding process when you have been patient and it pays off. He prefers the ground not too soft and he will appreciate a fence one day but we have made an entry for him at Exeter on Sunday so we will see what the ground and race look like a little closer to the time.
Gold in the Rivers made a very pleasing chasing debut on the same card at Lingfield to be second. He didn’t quite perform to the level we expected last season but he was built to be a chaser and this was much more encouraging. Hopefully he can build on this next time and we can have some fun this winter.
The weather was atrocious on Friday at home and at Cheltenham but Walkadina ran well enough in the conditional jockey’s handicap hurdle. Rian Corcoran gave her a good ride and produced her to challenge after the second last but she didn’t quite see out the 2m5f trip up the hill which she was trying for the first time and she finished fifth. We will drop back in distance next time.
Cheltenham had to pass a Saturday morning inspection for racing to go ahead following a deluge of rain on Friday and while racing was on, I decided not to run Parchment on account of the ground. Having spoken with James Reveley who rode Parchment to win in France he said the ground was not that soft the day he won and he shows plenty of speed at home so we decided to wait for another day. He is likely to head to Catterick on Friday to run in the juvenile hurdle there.
Jurancon was disappointing at Cheltenham on Saturday. He is a lovely horse who I rate highly and I expected him to go well but as we know they are not machines. He didn’t seem to be that happy from an early stage. No obvious reason has come to light but he may not have enjoyed the ground. He does have a win to his name on heavy but he looked to get a little stuck in the mud. We will see how he is in the coming days but we know this run was too bad to be true and can put a line through it.
On Sunday at Cheltenham, Sophie and Martha joined me at Cheltenham to watch Bras D’or but Jack watched from home as he was not feeling well. Our five-year-old made a promising hurdling debut to finish and is a horse very much for the future. Lady Balko was thrown in at the deep end a little in a classy race and pulled up just before the last fence. With a little help from the handicapper and her sights lowered a little, she can return to winning ways.
This Week
Our first runner of this week will be Chemical Warfare at Lingfield on Tuesday who returns from a break to run in the 2m6f handicap chase. He had a cracking season last time around and while his form tailed off a little he is back in good form at home following a holiday. Life will still be tougher off his rating of 116 and he is likely to be one of the outsiders in this race but he is a cracking each way bet. He loves his job and loves racing so it will good to see him back on the track. Our eight-year-old won eight times last season and having already won a Timeform Special Recognition award for this, he has now been nominated for the Racehorse Owners Association National Hunt Special Achievement Award. Voting has now closed but the awards will be presented in London on 4th December at a special Awards dinner, fingers crossed.
On Wednesday, we will be travelling to Hexham and Ffos Las. No Walkover will make is stable debut in the bumper on the card at Hexham and he is one I am looking forward to getting started. He is a smashing big four-year-old who finished second (unlucky loser) in his only Irish point to point. While he is a chaser in the making, this looks a good starting point and he should run well.
Our other trio of runners are at Ffos Las where Shot Boii will make his seasonal reappearance in the three-mile handicap chase in the colours of the David Pipe Racing Club with Rian Corcoran riding. He ran well without winning last season and now on a better handicap mark and with Rian taking ten pounds off he is starting from a good rating. Allstitchedup ran well on hurdling debut at Ffos Las last time so we are going back again where he should improve from his comeback run. There are only four runners but it is a select field and it will be good to get some more experience under his belt. Jaipaletemps is our final runner and he won at the course last time out and runs with a penalty. That win was over two miles but he was won four times in France over this sort of trip so I don’t see this being a problem. He likes the track and ground and I hope he will be hard to beat.
Mancero has an entry at Wincanton on Thursday while we have entries at Ascot, Catterick and Chepstow while on Saturday the plans is for Phantomofthepoints to run at Haydock in the big handicap hurdle race. He finished third in it last year off a mark of 124 and he is rated 129 this time around so it will be a tough ask but he goes well fresh and would not be without a chance. On Sunday we have entries at Exeter so keep checking the Daily News on the website for all the latest news on the stable runners.
Passing of Sam Sutton
I am very saddened to let everyone know of the passing of owner Sam Sutton who lost his short battle with illness recently. Sam was only 43 years old and had a real passion and enthusiasm for racing in this country and abroad. He enjoyed claiming horses in France and while some, like JIlaijone and Royal Mer came over here to race, he was also involved with several that stayed in France and even raced in others countries like Spain and he regularly travelled to watch them run. Our thoughts at this very sad time are with his mother Christine, step father Peter and the rest of the Sutton family.
Sam Sutton & Jilaijone
Schooling Trials
Schooling trials are a relatively new addition to racing in Britain having long been established in Ireland. We sent our first horses to Worcester last week to take part and had a good experience from the morning so are likely to be taking some again in the future. They had a couple of schooling races over fences, followed by some over hurdles and then some bumpers as well with over 100 horses taking part. We took some unraced three years olds for experience and Gericault Roque also had a nice racecourse gallop. He is progressing nicely and we hope to have him back on the track proper in the near future.
Point to Pointing Returns
The British point to point season got underway at Lower Machen in Wales last weekend while our jockeys were in action at Badbury rings on Sunday. The action moves a little close to home this coming weekend with racing at Dunsmore which is near Silverton, Exeter. All three of our amateur jockeys tell me they have rides pencilled in this Sunday so Martin McIntyre, James Shaw and Ashley Dascombe will all in action. We have a couple of horses getting ready for their point to point campaign this winter, Ben Lilly is likely to be the first of these in action at Wadebridge in the beginning of December
