- Monday, 03 January 2022 12:28
- Written by David Pipe
Happy New Year everyone! The Christmas/New Year period was a busy one for the entire team at Pond House. Not only did the horses need to maintain their regular routines during the festivities, we had plenty of runners with 23 racecourse representatives between Christmas and the New Year. Seventeen O Four was a good winner for us at Chepstow’s Welsh Grand National meeting and there were many other notable performances too.
- Monday, 27 December 2021 09:35
- Written by David Pipe
Sidi Ismael - Winner of the Lincolnshire National
With the blink of an eye Christmas has been and gone and I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Festive period. Our day was a little quieter than usual with part of the family suffering from Covid it was just the five of us sat around our Christmas dinner table and can I just complement our chef, my wife Leanne on a superb lunch (I hope she may read this!) Our day started in the usual way, I am up early to feed the horses and by the time I return back to the house at about 7am the kids are all awake and buzzing to open their presents. After a quick present opening session it was back down to the yard for Leanne and myself as the team of staff were in to exercise the horses and get all the jobs done. Christmas hats were donned and work was done in super quick time.
- Monday, 20 December 2021 14:59
- Written by David Pipe
It is hard to believe that this time next week it will all be over. The Christmas dinner will have been eaten, the presents will have been opened, the kids will be playing with the boxes and all of the Boxing Day race meetings will have been run.
- Monday, 13 December 2021 15:13
- Written by David Pipe
Paricolor & Philip Armson
On Friday I was delighted that Philip Armson not only rode his first winner for me aboard the legend Paricolor, but rode his first ever double as well. Philip joined our team from Jonjo O’Neill back in September and has been trying his best to ride a winner since then. He works hard at home and has ridden well on the chances we have given him on the racecourse without quite managing to get his head in front. Since joining forces with Paricolor they have become a terrific team, finishing a mighty second at 50/1 at Cheltenham’s November meeting and he was also a close second at Doncaster last time and so I was delighted the pair were able to go one better at Bangor. Philip gave Paricolor a well-judged front running ride, increasing the pace from three out and keeping on well to score nicely.
- Monday, 06 December 2021 16:36
- Written by David Pipe
Last week was a busy one for the stable, especially the weekend where we had fourteen runners across the four jumps meetings and it was good to be back among the winners with three successes courtesy of Gwencily Berbas, Sidi Ismael and Brinkley taking our seasonal tally to 17. With plenty of other notable efforts, the horses continue to go well and I hope to be able to build on this momentum going forward.
- Monday, 29 November 2021 15:57
- Written by David Pipe
Unfortunately, we were left rueing what might have been at Newbury on Saturday with Remastered taking a horrible looking fall in the straight in the Ladbrokes Trophy when looking to have a great chance. Of course, the best news is that he was able to get up and is safely back in his box at Pond House, seemingly none the worse for his exertions and we are truly grateful for that. He will be given a thorough examination by the vet and will also be seen by the equine physiotherapist.
- Monday, 22 November 2021 16:14
- Written by David Pipe
It was good to be back on the scoreboard last week, courtesy of Sidi Ismael’s Lingfield success on his first start for the stable, taking our tally to 14 for the season. Either side of that, the horses continued to run well with a string of placed efforts, although, and I keep saying it, we are in desperate need of some rain to ease the ground for our winter horses.
- Monday, 15 November 2021 15:26
- Written by David Pipe
There were many noteworthy performances last week, none more so than Adagio (pictured above) who ran a fantastic race to finish runner-up in the valuable Greatwood handicap hurdle at Cheltenham on Sunday. With several other places too, the horses continue to run very well and whilst a little frustrating, I hope that we can start converting those places into winners sooner rather than later.
- Monday, 08 November 2021 16:30
- Written by David Pipe
I was delighted to be back among the winners last week, courtesy of Eden du Houx’s brave success at Ffos Las on Sunday as well as a number of other very creditable efforts. Cheltenham’s November meeting is coming up at the end of the week and it is a fixture that has been good to the Pond House team throughout the years, although with dry conditions we will not be having many runners this year.
- Monday, 01 November 2021 16:38
- Written by David Pipe
The horses continue to run well and whilst a little frustrating that we were able to get on the scoreboard, there were a number of encouraging efforts. Away from the racecourse, we were busy at the Newmarket Sales, securing some lovely types for the jumps season ahead, whilst looking forward; we have plenty of entries for the week ahead, especially this weekend, including over the Grand National fences at Aintree.
