- Sunday, 27 March 2011 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
If you are planning a trip to Wincanton races this afternoon, you are in for an additional treat. Between the fifth and sixth races there will be a parade of some of the West country Cheltenham Festival winners including our very own Buena Vista. Also in the line-up are Big Buck's, Oiseau de Nuit, Denman and Kauto Star. There should be plenty to see and do for the whole family, including a twenty runner mascots race to raise funds for the Children's Trust. Let's hope there is not an Olympic class athlete dressed up in one of those mascot suits...I know it sounds stupid, but it happened once at Huntingdon and a few bookmakers had their fingers well and truly burnt!
- Saturday, 26 March 2011 08:17
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
We were joined in the yard by master wordsmith Alistair Down yesterday afternoon. Amazingly, in all the years he has been writing (for the Life and now for the Post), this was Alistair's first visit to Pond House. Following his Festival success aboard Buena Vista, he had come down to speak with man of the moment Conor O'Farrell. Indeed, while Alistair lists this year's Cheltenham Gold Cup as one of the greatest races he has ever seen, he also included Buena Vista's repeat triumph in the Pertemps Hurdle as one of his highlights of the meeting. Alistair was more than happy to pose for the camera with the horse - fortunately for him our mechanical horse is away being serviced at present, otherwise you would have been looking at a picture of him aboard that instead! Keep a look out for Alistair's piece about Conor - it should be in the Post on Monday.
- Friday, 25 March 2011 08:03
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It seems that the flat trainers are going to go along the same lines as many of the leading jumps trainers by shunning racecourses that do not meet the minimum recommended prize money levels as laid out by the Horsemens Group Tariff. Richard Hannon is the latest high profile name to his support to the action - I am saddened that we are not going to see any more of his good-things on a Monday night at Windsor...you could almost always rely on a Hannon hotpot obliging at one of his favourite tracks!
- Thursday, 24 March 2011 08:33
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I didn't realise that John Gosden trained horses for Liz Taylor, the superstar actress who sadly passed away yesterday. Apparently she had horses in training with John when he trained in Los Angeles and he said, "She loved her horses and was the perfect owner, Elizabeth liked nothing better than coming to the stables to feed the horses carrotts and sugar lumps, if she could have run a petting zoo for horses, that would have been perfect for her". The film that everyone remembers of course is National Velvet, where she won the Grand National and was then disqualified when they fond out that she was a girl - I bet that film will be on the televsion again shortly, especially with Aintree only a fortnight away.
- Wednesday, 23 March 2011 08:04
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
If I owned a rocking horse I would put Conor O'Farrrell on it and what is more I would have a few quid on as well! It seems that the red-hot young Irishman can win on just about anything at the moment and yesterday he steered Laustra Bad to his first success in nearly four years at Exeter. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him turn out again under a penalty before the handicapper has a chance to reassess him and try to stop him from winning for another four years!
- Tuesday, 22 March 2011 08:19
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Following his great success in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, unsurprisingly it is Long Run that now appears at the head of the order in the BHA handicappers ratings for staying chasers. His new mark has gone up by 3lbs to 182, putting him ahead of the likes of Denman, Kauto Star and last year's winner Imperial Commander. Indeed, Imperial Commander has been dropped by 15lbs to a new mark of 170 - that is quite a hefty decrease and maybe now we will see him in something like the Hennessy at Newbury next season?
- Monday, 21 March 2011 08:28
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
What a great week for Conor O'Farrell. On Thursday he won the Pertemps Handicap Hurdle Final on his first ever ride at the Cheltenham Festival and now he has landed the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter aboard Minella Four Star - only his second winner over fences! Our other runner, Gentle Ranger also ran creditably to finish fourth. All in all, an amazing week - I notice that both Junior and Minella Four Star were purchased reasonably from Alan King's yard - it just shows what a change of scenery can do...if you have a horse that needs freshening up, perhaps you should consider sending it to Pond House?!
