- Sunday, 20 January 2013 00:10
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Today, hopefully there are two meetings on, one on the all-weather at Kempton plus a jumps card at Fairyhouse. We want Kempton to take place as David has a runner in the 3.55pm race. Purple 'N Gold was a winner at the track last time out and Willie Twiston-Davies is on board. Our four year old was put up five pounds for his latest win but Willie claims a valuable five pounds off his back and fingers crossed he should run well again this afternoon. Can you believe that in England we are struggling to get meetings on because of the weather, cold and snow, and yet in Australia they are having similar problems but just caused by excessive heat! The temperatures reached 43c which is scorching! If only we gould get a little bit of that heat to drift across the world to us then we would all be okay!
- Saturday, 19 January 2013 08:07
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
We are not going to see any jumps racing in England this weekend after Ascot, Haydock, Taunton and Towcester were all called off yesterday. The snow certainly got heavy and that put pay to all the jumps cards and even Lingfield on the all-weather today has been abandoned. Kempton is our last remaining hope for any racing action today, they are inspecting at 9am so keep your fingers crossed for that! Lingfield was also called off yesterday with a lot of snow on the course and it looked like even a tractor got stuck trying to get the snow off! A few of our staff had trouble getting to work yesterday but most are back today. We had a little more snow in the night and are now totalling about a 3" covering everywhere and temperatrues are just at -2c at 7.30am. The yard is down quite a small county lane and no gritters or snow ploughs come near! Our big indoor canter is a god send in this kind of weather and we do have a snow blower which is out on the gallops this morning removing the snow from the all-weather gallop. Years ago I can remeber MCP training winners on an indoor ring that was no bigger than 20 yards across. They don't know they have been born today, sounds like I am getting old!
- Friday, 18 January 2013 08:16
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The weather forecast has been very accurate at Pond House and we have woken up to the yard blanketed in snow! It is only 2-3cm deep at the moment but it continues to come down quite heavily. The majority of staff have braved it into work this morning and it is day like these that our covered indoor canter come in very handy! Racing has been abandoned at Chepstow but Lingfield and Wolverhampton on the all-weatehr are on. It did snow at my home in Brixham but nothing has settled as yet as the ground is too wet! The outlook for racing at the weekend looks a bit bleak. Haydock and Taunton are already off for tomorrow while Towcester abandoned yesterday for Sunday. Ascot was raceable at 8am this morning for tomorrow although they are forecast snow and are inspecting the course at 4.30pm this afternoon so keep an eye out for news of this meeting.
- Thursday, 17 January 2013 08:02
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Vieux Lion Rouge ran out the brave winner of the bumper at Newbury yesterday afternoon. It was a game performance from our four year old to score under a penalty over this shorter trip on only his second start. He displayed a really admirable attitude to repel all raiders as they lined up to challenge him in the straight. David says that he may now take a look at the Festival Bumper at Cheltenham, but whatever else happens he looks sure to make a lovely hurdler.
- Wednesday, 16 January 2013 08:01
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
We had another good day yesterday when Shaking Hands, our sole runner at Ffos Las duly obliged in the staying handicap chase. Given a postive ride from Tom Scudamore, 'Shakey' made this a real stamina test and making all, he gradually came clear to win well in the end despite the burden of 11-12...a really good effort. He is a tough and honest stayer who thrives when conditions are demanding and he should continue to flourish when stamina is at a premium.
- Tuesday, 15 January 2013 08:08
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There was nearly a big turn-up at Plumpton yesterday as Too Generous (pictured above) our 1/5 favourite for the mares' race scraped home by a head in a thrillling finish from Grace And Fortune. Indeed, having been headed shortly after the last she battled on very gamely to get back up in the dying strides under Tom Scudamore and bail those who backed her at prohibitive odds out of trouble - I bet there were more than a few anxious punters as the race unfolded! Anyway, she has been characterised by her willing attitude and once again she showed great determination here to extend her record to four wins from five starts.
- Monday, 14 January 2013 08:01
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
We have good news from Plumpton as they have cancelled their early morning inspection with temperatures presumably not dropping as low as had been anticipated. The stable has one runner at the meeting, Too Generous (pictured above) in the mares' race and she is forecast to go off at long odds-on having won three of her previous four starts. To be fair she does look to be different class to her rivals on all known form and Tom Scudamore will be on board to do the steering. Wolverhampton have passed an early morning inspection following 1cm of snow overnight, the track was unraceable this morning but has improved sufficiently to race. Lingfield do not anticipate any problems ahead of their all-weather card.
