- Monday, 25 September 2023 13:56
- Written by David Pipe
Ben Lilly - Winner at Newton Abbot
The highlight on the racecourse last week was the victory of Ben Lilly in the colours of the David Pipe Racing Club at Newton Abbot on Friday. It is fair to say this gelding had been somewhat frustrating to date, having promised a lot but failing to deliver over hurdles…until now! He has won seven races on the level and has an engine but it is fair to say that despite being consistently placed since arriving at Pond House he was probably keeping a little bit for himself in his races. It was eleventh time lucky however for our six year old and everything fell right for him to get his head in front and give Gearoid Harney his second winner since turning conditional.
- Monday, 18 September 2023 14:51
- Written by David Pipe
Ya Know Yaseff Winner at Newton Abbot
The last week has absolutely flown by! All three runners last Monday ran well and it was great to get a second win from Ya Know Yaseff at Newton Abbot. She followed up her win at Worcester over fences with a battling performance under our conditional Gearoid Harney. This was Gearoid’s first win as a conditional jockey and his first since returning from injury so it was a special day for him. Ya Know Yaseff didn’t take up her engagement at Uttoxeter just two days later but is declared to run back at that track on Wednesday this week. Fingers crossed she has a great chance of making it a trio of wins.
- Monday, 11 September 2023 13:41
- Written by David Pipe
Nibras Gold Second Again
With just two runners since last writing we have been quiet on the racecourse but behind the scenes everything has been extremely busy and we have just finished three days of entertaining back at the yard. On Saturday we hosted 150 owners for lunch and an afternoon of fun, betting on the racing action and live music, on Sunday we had just under 200 people as part of our David Pipe Racing Club morning and on Monday morning we welcomed about 150 visitors as part of National Racehorse week.
- Monday, 04 September 2023 14:06
- Written by David Pipe
It was great to get our tenth winner of the season at Worcester over the weekend with Ya Know Yaseff opening up her account under rules over fences. It is fair to say it has taken a little while for everything to come together for her but she has been a little unlucky as well when unseating her jockey when going very well previously. She will forever be known as Tom Scudamore’s final ride but she is now a winner and hopefully can build on this going forwards. The application of blinkers certainly helped and while she doesn’t currently hold any entries there are races coming up for her to run again with a penalty if we so wish.
- Monday, 28 August 2023 12:44
- Written by David Pipe
Gericault Roque - Back in Training
We have not had many runners in the past week but there were good runs from Pepsiwithacap and Dindin to be fourth. Bashful Boy was disappointing at Fontwell but he has had a terrific summer and I’m sure he can bounce back next time. Bashful Boy, Oceanline and new recruit Wordsworth are all entered in the Cesarewitch at Newmarket on Saturday 14th October after entries closed last week.
- Monday, 21 August 2023 13:24
- Written by David Pipe
Duc De Beauchene
With no jumps racing last week until it returned on Saturday we were once again quiet on the runner’s front with just two over the weekend up at Perth. Lady Reset was due to run on the flat at Newbury on Friday but heavy rain during the morning meant our lorry did not even set off for the racecourse and we stayed at home. She does handle good to soft going but she definitely prefers to hear her hooves rattle and there are other opportunities coming up. Meanwhile up at Perth, things did not go to plan at Perth when Red Happy got out of position in a slowly run race and Favori De Sivola was a little outpaced in his race having won over 3m6f last season.
- Monday, 14 August 2023 15:01
- Written by David Pipe
Bashful Boy - Winner of Last Four Races
It has been another quiet week outwardly as jumps racing continues its mini-break but things are fairly busy back at the yard and the majority of horses are now cantering away after their summer holidays. It is sometimes a little difficult try to find things to write about every week so I thought I would start a little series briefly talking about the team of horses we have for the season ahead. I will do it in alphabetical order, a few each week.
- Monday, 07 August 2023 15:44
- Written by David Pipe
This time last week I had just returned from holiday but it has been very busy since I got back and it already feels like a lifetime ago! There is a lot going on back at the yard with various little projects going on and everywhere is starting to take shape in preparation for our Owners Day, Racing Club morning and National Racehorse week visitors next month.
- Monday, 31 July 2023 15:08
- Written by David Pipe
I have just returned from a great week in Portugal with Leanne and the family and it has nice to see the weather has not cheered up at all back here since I have been away! 127mm of rain fell in July at Pond House which is the second highest amount we have recorded during the month since we started recording it in 2001. Despite being in second, it does fall some way behind July 2009 when we had 202mm. I can’t remember July that year very well but it must have been pretty miserable weather wise!
- Monday, 24 July 2023 11:10
- Written by David Pipe
Stray Bullet: For Sale!
After a very dry June, July has been a very wet month – typical British weather! We have already had over 100mm of rain fall this month with more set to come this week before we move into August. Last year just 24mm fell in the whole of July but we are back to on a par of 2021 when we recorded 109mm in the 31 days of July. Over the weekend a lot of sporting action was disrupted, race meetings were lost and the Aussies retained the Ashes due to the great British weather causing minimal play in the fourth test on Saturday and no play on Sunday which resulted the match ending in a draw. Australia lad the Ashes 2-1 with just one Test to go which means even an England win will now not be enough to win the series. It is such a shame it has been decided in this way, especially as England were in a great position to win the latest match at Old Trafford and it would have set up a spectacular finale for the fifth test. These are the rules however so there is not much we can do about it!
