- Monday, 29 April 2013 13:08
- Written by David Pipe
E Street Boy - Final Winner of the Season
Well I can't believe the 2012-13 NH season has come and gone and we are already on the way with the new one!! I thought I would take a brief look back over the past year and pick out a few memorable moments, with more some more in-depth reflections to follow next week. I have to start by saying special congratulations to all the champions, both the new and not so new! The remarkable champion jockey AP won his 18th consecutive title. Poor AP was at Sandown on Saturday after just coming out of hospital and he looked in a fair bit of pain but it was good to see him there. I know he is going to be out of action for a little while longer yet but he is all set to try and make it 19 champion jockey titles. Congratulations to Nicky Henderson for winning the trainers title. He has had a wonderful season and a deserved success after all these years and he truly does have an amazing team of horses and will surely be very hard to beat again this season. A special well done also to Lucy Alexander on winning the conditional jockeys title. She is the first lady rider ever to do so and I have watched her numerous times and she is an extremely talented rider who I am sure will have no trouble in continuing her success as a professional rider.
- Monday, 22 April 2013 14:25
- Written by David Pipe
Amigo at Ayr
After a busy few days it’s nice to draw breath with no runners today and get ready for the final few days of the season. I flew up to Ayr on Friday and it was great to get our 101st winner of the season courtesy of Amigo. He was scoring for the second time over hurdles since joining Pond House. He does hold an entry at Punchestown later this week but we shall see how the handicapper reacts before deciding whether he goes to Ireland or he could be entered for the three miles handicap hurdle at Haydock on Swinton day in a couple of weeks time. Wherever he goes next I am really looking forward to running him over fences next season.
- Monday, 15 April 2013 18:10
- Written by David Pipe
It’s been a couple of weeks of high achievements – the week before last we were celebrating breaking through the £1million prize money barrier for the season and last week we scored our 100th winner of the current season with Western Warhorse (pictured above), and with a couple of weeks of the season remaining, there is still time to enhance those totals yet further. While 100 winners and £1million in prize money are not the be-all and end-all and do not define whether the season is considered a success or not, they are nonetheless nice landmarks to achieve.
- Monday, 08 April 2013 15:08
- Written by David Pipe
What an exciting week, culminating in a thoroughly enjoyable Grand National at Aintree on Saturday. The stable has been in good form as we enjoyed successes at Exeter on Tuesday with Bygones Sovereign, Aintree on Friday with Dynaste (pictured above courtesy of our pilot John Darby) and Chepstow on Saturday with Oddjob, not to forget War Singer landing the Aintree Legends charity race on Grand National day. Meanwhile Swing Bill performed with enormous credit in the big race itself and we managed to break through the £1 million prize money barrier for the season.
- Monday, 01 April 2013 12:03
- Written by David Pipe
Although a quiet Bank Holiday Monday in terms of runners from the stable, we have an interesting contender in the big race of the day, the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse. Royal Ascot and Cheltenham Festival winner Junior (pictured above) made trip across the St Georges’ Channel from Fishguard to Rosslare on Saturday morning and arrived at the new stables at Fairyhouse racecourse on Saturday evening. He will be partnered in today’s contest by Conor O’Farrell, who was aboard him when successful at Newcastle earlier in the season. He has it all to do under top weight – it is hard enough to win under that welter burden on these shores, never mind travelling overseas and doing it! Sadly I won’t be in attendance – the hospitality that the Irish always show us is legendary, but I will be watching from the comfort of my armchair this afternoon.
- Monday, 25 March 2013 15:52
- Written by David Pipe
As is normally the case after Cheltenham and prior to Aintree, there is often something of a lull between Festival’s and this certainly hasn’t been aided by the atrocious weather that we have been experiencing of late. Indeed the elements were responsible for the loss of seven meetings in this country alone last week and things haven’t started too much better with both Taunton and Towcester abandoning today’s (Monday’s) cards.
- Tuesday, 19 March 2013 13:00
- Written by David Pipe
The saying goes that racing is a great leveller and last week certainly proved that old adage correct. A week of highs and lows started on Monday with an across the card double at Plumpton and Taunton and ended with a fantastic third consecutive success in the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter, in between that was the small matter of the Cheltenham Festival…
