- Tuesday, 23 July 2024 16:00
- Written by David Pipe
Final Entry - Winner at Newton Abbot
It was a nice win for Final Entry of hurdling and stable debut at Newton Abbot on Sunday. We bought him from an online sale earlier this summer out of the Jessica Harrington yard as he is the full-brother to our very own Mr Tambourine Man who is a five-time hurdle winner. Final Entry had schooled very well at home in the lead up to but you may not have thought that if you had watched the race and he nearly never got further than the first hurdle! Thankfully, he found his feet and Jack sat tight and then let him warm to his task. He saved his best jump for the final flight and battled on well on the extended run in (the final flight was omitted).
- Monday, 15 July 2024 13:09
- Written by David Pipe
Hammer Dan Winner at Stratford
The past week has been one with a touch of international flavour, with me on a family holiday in the Algarve and having a runner in France. With the kids having broken up from school for the summer, Leanne and I and the children are having a lovely few days in Portugal. It has been very hot and there have been plenty of Mozzies liking us all, but it has been a nice few days break, although Jack cannot wait to get home and go racing!
- Monday, 08 July 2024 16:27
- Written by David Pipe
Chemical Warfare - Worcester Winner
It is always great to start a new week with a winner and a particularly poignant today with Chemical Warfare winning at Worcester on Monday and I shall tell you a little story… A year ago to the day, on 8th July 2023 Leanne and Gemma, Mandy and Emma from the yard took part in the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in aid of Racing Welfare. They put in a fantastic effort and raised over £5,000 for the charity with sore feet and aching bodies to show for it but that is just part of the story! The girls stayed in an Airbnb in Giggleswick and travelled up to Yorkshire the day before the challenge with an early start the next morning.
- Monday, 01 July 2024 07:31
- Written by David Pipe
Martin McIntyre Award Winner
It was a quiet week on the runner’s front since last writing and it had the ups and downs of what happens in our sport. We sadly lost Happy Helen at Newton Abbot on Tuesday. She was making her hurdling a stable debut in the juvenile hurdle, she was running well until stopping quickly in the race three from home, and she suffered a fatal heart attack. These things are hard to take, especially with a young horse and like with humans, there is usually no warning or anything noticeable beforehand. The only good thing is it happens very quickly and she would have known very little about it.
- Monday, 24 June 2024 15:07
- Written by David Pipe
Chemical Warfare Winner at Market Rasen
I didn’t have that many runners during the last week but they all ran well and it was nice to get a first success over hurdles for Chemical Warfare at Market Rasen on Friday. He was only having his third start for me and had been a little unlucky on his previous outing when coming down at the last fence at Worcester when holding every chance. Returned to hurdling, he travelled strongly and found lots for pressure when Jack asked him for his effort. He does have entries in the coming days but he is not likely to go up more than seven pounds and so we will wait a little longer as there are plenty of opportunities coming up. He loves good or quicker ground and can alternate between hurdles and fences and so there is plenty more fun to be had with him this summer.
- Monday, 17 June 2024 13:55
- Written by David Pipe
Mr Tambourine Man in Chillier Times!
There were two winners for the stable last week with Hammer Dan winning at Newton Abbot and Mr Tambourine Man winning again at Uttoxeter on Saturday evening. Hammer Dan had not shown much in truth on the racecourse so far but we knew from his homework he is more capable that he had shown to date so it was nice our patience finally paid off!
- Monday, 10 June 2024 14:10
- Written by David Pipe
Sunbathing
It was a very quiet week on the runners front since last writing with just four runners and Kintaro faring best with a third place over hurdles at Bangor. He improved from his debut at Hereford and stayed on nicely on Saturday after jumping well throughout at odds of 66/1. He has ability but is a quirky character and it was just nice to see him finish off the race so well. He looks capable of winning over hurdles if he can build on this effort.
