- Monday, 31 August 2015 11:58
- Written by David Pipe
Talk about the Great British Summer! Sadly, I think it is probably fair to say that we have seen the last of any meaningful sunshine with 110.5mm of rain falling at Pond House in July and a further 129mmm in August, these have been the two wettest months of the year so far. Indeed the rainfall for August has already surpassed the totals for April, May and June combined!
- Monday, 24 August 2015 15:32
- Written by David Pipe
Despite only a handful of runners, the stable continued in good form with Purple ‘N Gold making a winning chasing debut at Worcester on Sunday and Standing Ovation landing Newton Abbot’s feature race, the Listed Lord Mildmay Chase that I had won in previous years with Star Of Germany and Shoegazer. Those two successes took us to eighteen wins for the current campaign and propelled us back up into second place in the trainers’ standings.
- Monday, 17 August 2015 15:50
- Written by David Pipe
The stable enjoyed a good week last week with three winners at Fontwell, Market Rasen and Southwell taking our seasonal tally to 16 and while I am not normally superstitious, I must admit that I was pleased to get off the ‘unlucky’ 13 mark! With the winners beginning to flow again after the summer mini-break it is time to consolidate and build on the sound start we have made to the season.
- Monday, 10 August 2015 13:09
- Written by David Pipe
Prince De Bersy in the Show Ring
The last week seems to have flown by and while the mini jumps racing break is nearly over it feels like no such break has been had back at the yard!! This is a good thing really and I enjoy this time of the year as we are building the foundations for the season ahead with lots to look forward to.
Before jumping resumes at Newton Abbot on Wednesday our first runner of the week is on the flat at Nottingham on Tuesday. Street Entertainer runs in the 1m6f handicap with Mikey Ennis on board claiming five pounds. The ultra-versatile eight year old has been a little star since joining Pond House having won eight races, seven over hurdles and once over the flat. He has just started his chase career this summer and has been placed and I hope his turn in this sphere will not be too far away either. He will bid to repeat a course and distance success on the level tomorrow first. I only wish we had a few more horses like him!
- Monday, 03 August 2015 15:45
- Written by David Pipe
We head into the summer break with the stable lying in third place in the trainers’ standings with thirteen successes and over £130,000 in winning prize money. When racing resumes the fixture list starts to step up a gear but until then we are faced with nine days without National Hunt racing…what on earth am I going to do?!
- Monday, 27 July 2015 15:26
- Written by David Pipe
With runners at just Worcester and Uttoxeter, it was yet another one of those disjointed weeks last week where there was precious little jump racing to focus on. The week ahead seems to offer a more balanced programme with National Hunt racing taking place from today through Friday despite the excellent ‘Glorious Goodwood’ meeting going ahead on the level. Even so, come Saturday there are six fixtures and not a single jumps card among them, why on earth not?!
- Monday, 20 July 2015 15:07
- Written by David Pipe
Despite there being very little in the way of National Hunt racing, there has been no shortage of newsworthy events over the past seven days, not least the surprise decision by champion flat jockey Richard Hughes to bring forward his impending retirement to after the meeting at Glorious Goodwood next week. As a fan of our great sport it is a shame that we lose the champion jockeys’ from both codes (flat and jumps) within a few months of each other.
- Monday, 13 July 2015 12:52
- Written by David Pipe
Kings Palace & Broadway Buffalo
Enjoying their Holiday
It was a quiet week on the racing front last week and I enjoyed a few days in Portugal with the family. It was nice to recharge the batteries as it's now back to work the horses starting to come back in from their summer holidays. I am not sure quite where the time goes as it only seems like 5 minutes ago we were turning them out!! They have all done well though, have put on a nice amount of weight and we have a good starting point to begin training. Now starts a few weeks walking and trotting before we get them back on the gallops again. It is great to have a mixture of all the old favourites plus a few new faces to look forward to as well. Of course we are continually looking to add to the team through the sales and monitoring what becomes available in the private market. If you are interested in joining Pond House as an owner in any capacity we would be delighted to hear from you.
- Tuesday, 07 July 2015 09:58
- Written by David Pipe
It is that time of the year again when the jumping program becomes increasingly fragmented. With four days between jumps fixtures from Wednesday of this week and another four days without National Hunt racing next (not to mention a full week in August) it is all very stop-start. I have mentioned it before and I am sure I will mention it again - for the life of me I still can’t see why these blank days are not grouped together in order to give the horses, jockeys and staff alike a little bit of a break.
- Monday, 29 June 2015 15:22
- Written by David Pipe
Although looking like a quiet week on the domestic runners front, there is still plenty to keep us busy over the coming weeks. One or two of the horses have already had their summer breaks and are now back in while others will be going out very shortly and while all this is going on, it is an ideal time for some yard husbandry, making sure that everything around the yard is good working order, tidy and above all clean.
