Entries & Recent Form
- Sunday, 20 June 2021 07:12
- Written by G Edwards
Ranco runs at Worcester Today
After a hectic week in the racing world with the hype of Royal Ascot, there is time to draw breath today with just the one flat meeting but there are two jumps meetings at Hexham and Worcester to keep us entertained. The stable has two runners at Worcester today, Veiled Secret and Ranco and both are ridden by Fergus Gillard who is back in action for the first time since his nasty fall at Fontwell about 10 days ago. He had his stitches removed from the side of his head on Thursday and although he says his modelling career is probably over he is fit and raring to get back on the racecourse! Veiled Secret runs in the first division of the 2m4f handicap hurdle at 2.35pm. He is making his stable debut having previously been in the care of Matt Sheppard. He is a seven year old who has won on the flat and won one race over hurdles. He was disappointing when last seen on the track but has settled in well since arriving at Pond House and goes well at home. Today is a bit of a fact finding mission to learn more about him but Fergus has schooled him and it will be interesting to see how he gets on.
- Saturday, 19 June 2021 07:14
- Written by G Edwards
Today is day five, the final day of this year's Royal Ascot. There is also flat racing at Newmarket, Redcar, Lingfield and Haydock plus there is jumps action up at Perth. In Ireland there is action on the flat at Down Royal. The stable does not have any runners today but we do have two at Worcester tomorrow so check back here in the morning for more news. Conor O'Farrell who was here riding out earlier in the week has four rides up at Perth and looks to have good chance of having a winner. In the juvenile race at Market Rasen yesterday, the Alex Hales trained Family Time, who finished second to Koi Dodville at Hexham when he won, ran well and finished second again. It just helps give the form some context and it is interesting to try and work out where the juveniles, new to jumping, fit into the ladder on level of ability. Time will tell and it is interesting to follow over the next few months.
- Friday, 18 June 2021 07:08
- Written by G Edwards
Fergus Gillard is back riding out
It is the fourth day of Royal Ascot and there is also flat action from Redcar, Newmarket and Goodwood today as well. There is one jumps meeting at Market Rasen while in Ireland there is jumping at Down Royal and a flat card at Limerick. The stable does not have any runners today but we shall keep an eye on the opening contest on the card, a juvenile hurdle. The horse that finished second to Koi Dodville at Hexham runs in the 12.40pm so it will be interesting to see how he fares against some newcomers, particularly the Dan Skelton and Oliver Greenall trained horses. David Noonan and Tom Scudamore are both in action up at Market Rasen while I bring good news on Fergus Gillard. He had his stitches out yesterday and is back in riding out at Pond House this morning. These jockeys are made of strong stuff, it was only just over a week ago he sustained a nasty cut to his head but thankfully he can now get his hat back on and it is all systems go!
- Thursday, 17 June 2021 07:16
- Written by G Edwards
Today we have Royal Ascot as the feature meeting once again and it is supported by three flat cards at Ripon, Chelmsford and Lingfield and there is also jumps racing at Ffos Las this evening. In Ireland there is a flat card at Leopardstown. The stable does not have any runners. There was the threat of significant rain everywhere overnight and this morning but it seems Ascot, like us have missed any significant amount. We had 2mm here at Pond House, just enough to dampen the dust! At Ascot the ground remains good to firm as they had 2.4mm of rainfall overnight. Originally forecast anything between 5mm and 28mm they didn't even reach their lowest prediction. These thundery showers are always very localised and it just shows how localised when nearby Kempton recorded 5mm of rain and Sandown 9mm of rain overnight. Everywhere still could get thundery showers this morning so we will just have to keep an eye on this as the morning progresses.
- Wednesday, 16 June 2021 07:07
- Written by G Edwards
Conor O'Farrell - in his younger days!
Today we of course have the Royal Ascot meeting as the feature once again but there is also flat racing at Hamilton, Chelmsford and Ripon plus jumping at Uttoxeter. In Ireland there are two jumps meetings at Wexford and Navan. David Noonan is in action at Uttoxeter while this morning we have Conor O'Farrell here at Pond House riding out. Conor has made a good start to the new season and rode winners at both Aintree and Hexham in the last few days. He is just down in the west country for a few days so thought he would come back and ride out where his career first began in England. These jockeys work hard to get rides and we certainly try and use Conor when we need an extra jockey, don't forget he won the Becher Chase on Vieux Lion Rouge last season.
- Tuesday, 15 June 2021 07:02
- Written by G Edwards
Today we have the start of Royal Ascot and the feature meeting is supported by 3 other flat meetings at Thirsk Beverley and Brighton and a jumps meeting at Stratford. In Ireland there is a flat meeting at Sligo. The stable does not have any runners and David will not be in attendance at the Royal meeting but we shall certainly be following the action this afternoon. It will still be a bit of a strange atmosphere for such a big meeting I am sure as even though there will be 12,000 people in attendance I imagine the big stands at Royal Ascot will still look fairly empty. It is great some crowd are able to go though and fingers crossed we are working to more normal times definitely next year but hopefully sooner. Frankie Dettori is obviously always a jockey to follow at the big meetings and he is the leading winning jockey for the Royal meeting amongst jockeys currently riding. He has ridden 73 Royal winners which is 11 more than nearest rival Ryan Moore who has ridden 62. I was interested to read that he has in fact only had 59 rides this year in total yet he always seems to be riding and having big winners! He is obviously just saving himself for the big days.
- Monday, 14 June 2021 07:16
- Written by G Edwards
Today there are four flat meetings at Lingfield, Carlisle, Windsor and Nottingham and no jumps racing. The stable does not have any runners. In Ireland they have flat racing at Gowran Park and a jumps meeting at Kilbeggan. On Saturday Story of Friends was a little disappointing up at Hexham. He does have plenty of ability but does not always show it when you want him to! He ran okay but we know he is better than that, he may well have a go over fences at some point in the near future. Leoncavallo ran okay at Sandown on the flat but was a little keen early on which did help his chances at the end of the race. He finished eighth but was only beaten 5.5 lengths and James Doyle was pleased enough with him and said he should be winning on the flat again very soon.
