- Monday, 09 January 2012 16:57
- Written by David Pipe
Ashbrittle was a thorough stayer on the level and Conor made sure that he made this a good test, gamely holding the runner-up at bay on the run-in. The second is certainly no mug – indeed, his last run on the level resulted in success in the valuable November handicap at Doncaster. The form looks decent and Ashbrittle can continue to progress over hurdles – he certainly won’t be inconvenienced by a bit further in time, or indeed better ground.
I was thrilled to see old favourite Consigliere in the winners’ enclosure at Wincanton on Saturday following a barren spell stretching back over two years. He had been struggling for some time having to carry big weights in valuable handicaps and finally fell to a mark only 1lb higher than when last successful in November 2009. He certainly loves the prevailing ground and is testament to the patience of his owner Elder Scouller – hopefully the handicapper will not overreact and we won’t have to wait another couple of years to see him win again.
I would just like to thank Wincanton racegoer Steven Kemp for the lovely pictures that he took of Consigliere (pictured right) on Saturday – Steven kindly sent them to us and has allowed us to reproduce them on our website, so thanks to him.
Star Of Angels showed the benefit of his recent reappearance when winning the competitive 2m4f handicap hurdle on the card. He led home a Pond House 1-2 when beating The Pier with the pair of them clear of the remainder. Star Of Angels has always been a talented individual (as he showed when fifth in Celestial Halo’s Triumph Hurdle) and he can hopefully go on from here.
The Tatkin completed a good weekend when successful in the staying handicap hurdle at Hereford. She put up a dour staying performance to win under Tom Scudamore having looked to be in a deal of trouble approaching three out, but she is tough and we will look for similar opportunities for her while she is in this sort of form. She was a welcome winner for long-standing patron Brian Kilpatrick, who has had so many great horses with us down the years – American Art did nicely for him through the summer and hopefully The Tatkin will be able to pick up the baton.
Incidentally, The Tatkin was home-bred by Mr Kilpatrick out of his mare Miss Bobby Bennett who was herself very successful during her time at Pond House for my father under jockey Peter Scudamore.
It hasn’t all been fun and enjoyment however as earlier in the week I had to endure a telephone interview with Matt Chapman for Attheraces! Matt has more rabbit than Sainsbury’s (other leading brands are available) and he kept me on the phone for over 15 minutes wanting to know just about everything about our stable stars! Seriously though, while Matt may not be everyone’s cup of tea, he does make for entertaining viewing and thanks to our friends at Attheraces, you can see the interview by checking our media vault or by clicking here.
Looking ahead to this week, reality is dawning as the Cheltenham Festival looms…tomorrow (Tuesday) sees early closing entries for some of the Festival’s Feature races: The Queen Mother Champion Chase, Ryanair Chase and Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Stable star Grands Crus will receive an entry for the Gold Cup, while ante-post Grand National fancy Junior could well also receive an entry. You can find out more about these and all our other runners for the rest of the week by keeping up to date with Chester’s Daily Chat.
