- Sunday, 13 March 2011 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Mamlook was a good winner at Sandown yesterday under Danny Cook. It was great to see him return to winning ways after slightly dissapointing at Exeter last time out which can perhaps be explained by the ground being a little too soft last time. He travelled and jumped well and secured his second win over the larger obstacles. Mamlook is a fantastically versatile horse winning top races on the level and over hurdles and he now appears equally as good over fences. He is not entered at Cheltenham but could have an entry at Aintree as well as some of the top staying races on the flat over the summer.
- Friday, 11 March 2011 07:54
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I was watching an interesting piece on Attheraces yesterday about racehorse owners and it featured Grands Crus' owner Roger Stanley. I was most amused about how he became interested in racing - he used to take his grandmother's bets and place them on his way to school. One day he decided to keep the bet and it turned out to be Baron Blakeney (who won the Triumph Hurdle at 66/1!) - I bet he had some explaining to do to his gran! That was back in 1981, so Roger has obviously known of the Pipe's for some time!
- Saturday, 12 March 2011 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Or Noir De Somoza - On the Gallops
Here we have a video of Grand National hope Or Noir de Somoza working on the gallops this morning as he continues his Aintree prepations. We will have more footage of our Cheltenham hopefuls here, so keep checking back!
Click Read More to watch the video.
- Thursday, 10 March 2011 08:02
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Apparently there will now be less rain than originally anticipated ahead of next week's Cheltenham Festival - there is even the chance of some sunshine on the Tuesday and Thursday and the temperatures hitting a balmy 15°c. Let's hope that the ground does not get too quick otherwise they will be tempted to turn the taps on at Prestbury Park and that tends to make the ground dead. Personally I would like genuine good ground, that way everyone should be happy and there should be no excuses for anyone...roll on Tuesday!
- Wednesday, 09 March 2011 08:22
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Chartreux parades at the Pond House Press Day
David held a Cheltenham Festival Press event at the yard yesterday morning and it was very well attended by the media. It was obviously an enjoyable and informative meeting judged by the footage on the BBC and ITV yesterday evening, and for a change the weather stayed kind to us! A couple of interesting pieces of information that emerged were that Dan Breen is likely to go down the Arkle route with the application of first time blinkers, while leading Irish amateur jockey Jamie Codd has been booked to ride Kim Muir ante-post fancy Junior. Mike Vince spoke with David yesterday and you can find his Cheltenham thoughts in his weekly blog or our media vault. Mike also caught up with our team of jockeys and you can listen to the first installment (Danny Cook) by clicking here - tomorrow you can hear Cheltenham Festival debutant Conor O'Farrell as he prepares for next week.
- Tuesday, 08 March 2011 08:09
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
This Saturday sees Sandown host the Imperial Cup handicap hurdle - if you win on Saturday and then go on to win at the Cheltenham Festival the following week, the winning connections receive a generous £75,000 bonus from the sponsors. So far David and Martin are the only trainers to have accomplished the feat - MCP did it twice with Olympian and Blowing Wind, while David won it for his father in 2007 with Gaspara. We have two entries in this year's renewal: Ronaldo des Mottes and Arrayan, although I am told that they are not certain runners at this stage. The Henderson team look to hold a strong hand this year with four of the top five in the market.
- Monday, 07 March 2011 08:10
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I thought that Swing Bill ran another good race in the Grade 3 chase at Newbury on Saturday. Our grey gelding ran on stoutly close home to claim a creditable third, beaten only 2 1/4 lengths - had the ground been a little softer, I think that he would have gone very close to winning. As long as the handicapper isn't too harsh on him (remember he went up 11lbs for his previous success in a veteran's race), he could be up to wining again. Close House also ran a cracker on his Pond House debut in the valuable Doncaster bumper. He finished second to favourite Montbazon and I reckon this was a really good piece of form - the winner was only narrowly beaten by a well-fancied contender for the Festival bumper last time, and we were trying to concede 4lbs to him here. He looks the type to progress once sent hurdling and is clearly a smart prospect.
