- Monday, 26 May 2014 17:47
- Written by David Pipe
Although a quiet week on the racing front, we still managed to secure three winners from our seven runners to take our seasonal tally to fourteen, and thus keep the momentum going with our great start to the new term. I was particularly pleased to see classy staying hurdler Top Wood (pictured above by kind permission of Matthew Wilkinson) make a seamless transition to the larger obstacles at Towcester on Monday – he enjoyed a relatively light campaign last season so will be kept on the go during the summer months and he is definitely one to keep on the right side of. With most of his stable mates now out to grass for their holidays, we will be left with a team of around 15-20 horses to run.
- Monday, 19 May 2014 16:04
- Written by David Pipe
I am saddened to bring you news that a grand old favourite of Pond House stables, Blowing Wind (pictured above by Bernard Parkin) was put to sleep peacefully this moring at the age of 21. Twice a winner at the Cheltenham Festival and twice placed in the Grand National, he was a wonderful horse to have in the yard and will be greatly missed.
- Monday, 12 May 2014 15:52
- Written by David Pipe
The stable has enjoyed a good start to the new season with no fewer than six winners from eighteen runners at a strike rate of 33%, including a valuable double at Haydock’s Swinton meeting on Saturday. We had five of those winners last week alone and while I am thrilled with the way the horses are running, the winners were tinged with sadness following the terribly sad news of Brian Kilpatrick’s sudden passing.
- Tuesday, 06 May 2014 07:10
- Written by David Pipe
I arrived home from my second stint at Punchestown late on Saturday night and in need of a rest! If there is one thing the Irish know about more than their racing, it is how to entertain. As always, we were very well received by the good people at Punchestown racecourse, as well as the locals and I would like to thank them all for the hospitality afforded to us and look forward to returning next year. Although we did not register any successes at the meeting, we reached the frame a number of times and the horses in general ran extremely well.
- Monday, 28 April 2014 10:15
- Written by David Pipe
Ballynagour runs at Punchestown
The 2013-14 National Hunt season has drawn to a close, finishing on Saturday with a cracking days action at Sandown. Unfortunately No Secrets was balloted out of the feature Bet365 chase but I went along to join in the proceedings and Dynaste took part in the champions parade and it was a fitting end to a great season. I just want to take a moment to say a special congratulations to all the champions, Paul Nicholls on regaining his trainers title, to the champ AP on winning his 19th jockeys title (hard to sum up in words this amazing man!), to JP McManus who invests so much into our sport and was crowned leading owner and to Gavin Sheehan for being champion conditional. Below I have had a little look back on how things have gone for Pond House but for now everyone is back to zero and we have a few days grace before the action gets underway again in Britain.
- Monday, 21 April 2014 11:35
- Written by David Pipe
No Secrets - Will run at Sandown on Saturday
Well I hope that everyone has enjoyed their Easter weekend? I know my kids certainly did and enjoyed an Easter egg hunt around Pond House and we certainly have quite a lot of chocolate in our house right now!
Unfortunately we did not get a winner in the last few days but the horses have been running well and just hitting the post so to speak! At Haydock on Saturday Shotavodka ran really well in a competitive handicap chase to finish second. This was his first try at three miles and he seemed to get the trip well and this now opens up more opportunities for him in the future. He is not over big in size but he jumped really well and we were delighted with his run. Heath Hunter also ran a great race to finish second in the handicap hurdle. He probably just got his nose in front on the run in but went down fighting to the Jonjo O’Neill trained Carlton Jack. The ground was lively enough for our seven year old and he does appreciate a bit more cut in the ground but it was still a fine run. He holds a few entries this week but whether he runs or not will depend on ground conditions.
- Monday, 14 April 2014 15:49
- Written by David Pipe
Following on from the Grand National meeting at Aintree, I spent a couple of enjoyable days up in Ayr for the Scottish equivalent at the weekend. We only had a handful of runners at the meetings, but I was generally pleased with how things went – I thought that Swing Bowler ran an excellent race when a close fourth in the Scottish Champion Hurdle on Saturday. She was running from 9lbs out of the weights so this was a very good effort – she certainly deserves to win a nice prize and could be the type for Haydock’s Swinton Hurdle.
