Prem_Dane__Enfant_Newton_Abbot
        Enfant De Lune & Shoegazer

What a great day for the stable at Newton Abbot yesterday. Three winners including the feature races and some places was more than I could have hoped for. It was great that racing was able to go ahead after being in doubt for several days before. Sadly the first day of the two day summer festival had to be abandoned but it was great for the course that they were able to have some action on their biggest meeting of the year. There was a bumper crowd there to enjoy the eight race card and they were entertained by some good races. It was wonderful Newton Abbot were able to move their big chase that was due to be held on Saturday over to the Sunday which was great for owners, trainers and race goers. I ran four horses in the big handicap hurdle of the day and I honestly was not sure who was going to finish best of my quartet before the race! However I could not believe that Premier Dane was sent off such a big price and Ashbrittle quite so short although he obviously had his supporters. Tom Scu chose to ride Decoy and he was a little disappointing as was previous race winner Raslan but the ground was probably a little to soft for him. I was a little worried how Premier Dane would act on the ground but my worries proved unfounded as he seemed to absolutely love it! AP said he had an armchair ride!

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Katchmore_Ffos_Las_web

We had a nice winner last week when Katchmore (pictured above) produced something of a surprise to land a tight handicap hurdle over 2m4f at Ffos Las under Tom Scudamore on Thursday.  It was his first conclusive try at the trip and they went a good pace given there were only five runners.  Ffos Las is a wide open, galloping track yet he saw the race out well to record a personal best performance.  This now opens up a whole host of other races that he could go for before eventually making the switch to fences. Katchmore has plenty of size and scope about him and if he jumps fences like his hurdles, he will make a really exciting recruit to the larger obstacles when the time comes.

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owners_marquee_web

It was our annual Owners’ Day at the yard on Sunday afternoon and we had a very good turnout with well in excess of 150 people in attendance.  Our guests had the opportunity to tour the yard and meet the horses and sit down for a magnificent roast beef dinner in our marquee (as well as have a tipple or two!).  I would like to thank all of the staff who gave up their time to help out and ensure that the day went without a hitch, as well as Sally from local catering firm Relish for the wonderful meal.

Incredibly after all of the moaning I have been doing lately about the amount of rain we have had, we were treated to a lovely sunny day (I know, a sunny day in the summer - barely believable!) and the event really couldn’t have gone any better.

I thought that both of our runners in Saturday’s Summer Champion Hurdle at Perth ran creditable races.  Hunterview (fourth) and His Excellency (fifth) both picked up prize money in this fiercely competitive handicap and were only beaten around five lengths, giving hope that they should be upto winning again in the near future.

Premier_Dane_Stratford_webWe enjoyed a nice winner at Stratford this afternoon (Monday) when Premier Dane (pictured right) won over fences to make it two wins from two starts since joining the yard.  He was taking advantage of a mark only 2lbs higher than for his initial success over hurdles although he probably didn’t have much more in hand.  He is entered again in a couple of races at Ffos Las on Thursday or Friday and could turn out again, although I am not sure he will be particularly well-treated under a penalty for today’s success.

The next runner from the yard will be Ashbrittle, who takes in the staying handicap on the flat at York on Wednesday.  Graham Lee will take the ride and I have been meaning to give him the leg-up on one for some time since switching codes to the level.  Graham has had a great time of things since taking out his flat licence, notching 45 successes so far this year – he has lost none of his strength despite the fact that he can do 8st8lbs.  Ashbrittle will be having his first start since finishing eighth in the Ascot Stakes where he met quite a bit of trouble in running – Paul Hanagan who was on board that day thought that the interference probably cost him a place, so I will be hoping for better luck in running on Wednesday.

Talking of York on Wednesday, I am sure that all eyes will be on Frankel as he makes the eagerly anticipated step up to ten furlongs in the Juddmonte International on Wednesday.  It looks like being a thorough test with St Nicholas Abbey (proven over twelve furlongs) and two Ballydoyle pacemakers in the field, as well as Frankel’s three parts brother Bullet Train.  Personally I can’t see Frankel doing anything other than improve for the extra couple of furlongs and I would love to see a performance that sees him ranked as the greatest performer since the International Classification was first published.

It looks like being something of a bumper day on Wednesday as we will certainly have a few runners at the evening meeting at Newton Abbot.  Personally, I love the atmosphere at the Devon track and there is bound to be a good turnout with all of the holidaymakers present, so much as I would love to see Frankel again, I think I will be heading off to my local track.

We will be taking it easy over the weekend as we have no entries at the sole jumps meeting at Cartmel on Saturday where the ground is already soft, while there are no National Hunt meetings at all on Sunday.  I say “easy”, but there is still plenty of work to be done – the horses continue to arrive back and the yard is filling up quickly despite there being plenty more to arrive back yet!  I am certainly not complaining though, I would sooner be busy than idle any day of the week.

As always, you can keep right up to date with all the latest news from the stable by visiting Chester’s Daily Chat…

The Olympics are over for another four years and while some people will be breathing a sigh of relief, I for one will miss them.  Team GB had the most amazing time, roared on by the home crowd to finish third in the medal table with an amazing 29 gold medals.  The likes of Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Sir Chris Hoy were inspirational, but I must also make special reference to the achievements of the equestrian stars, notably Tina Cook and Nick Skelton both of whom have racing connections.

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String_gallops_Aug_web

We have now embarked on our summer sabbatical as there is no National Hunt racing until Thursday 16th August.  At this time of year the jumps program gets very disjointed as there is another blank week in September.  Indeed, we used to have a month off before the commencement of the new season and a return to that sort of schedule would be beneficial to all involved, giving trainers and jockeys a decent break to recharge the batteries, as well as the horses to get a good pick of summer grass.

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Bathwick_Man_Newton_Abbot_010811

We truly are in the middle of a great British sporting summer and I won’t bore you with my thoughts on the Olympics because Chester has gone on about those enough already, other than to say that the Opening Ceremony was spectacular (even if it would have left a great proportion of the rest of the world scratching their heads!) and that I will be cheering on Team GB over the coming couple of weeks.

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Premier_Dane_Market_Rasen_web

It was a good weekend for the yard with a one-two in the 2m5f handicap hurdle at Market Rasen on Saturday courtesy of recent recruit Premier Dane and old favourite Raslan.  Premier Dane, who has been a high class horse down the years (indeed he is a multiple winner on the flat, over hurdles and fences and was placed in the County Hurdle at the 2007 Cheltenham Festival) made a pleasing start on his debut since joining Pond House with a determined success.  Unsurprisingly he was very keen on his first start in almost fourteen months but that didn’t stop him seeing his race out well from stable companion Raslan who was given a very enterprising ride by Timmy Murphy.

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Although we had a few runners through the week on the flat (with War Singer running a promising first race on the level in this country), we waited until the weekend for some better ground for our jumpers, with runners at Southwell and Stratford.

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It’s been a dramatic week on the sporting front with the Wimbledon Finals taking place alongside the British Grand Prix and we had a bit of drama of our own at Worcester last Wednesday!  Unfortunately Qalinas missed a winning opportunity in the conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle with a shuddering mistake two out with the race seemingly at his mercy.

Ironically enough he jumped the flight extremely well but just knuckled on landing.  His nose hit the ground and he did well to stand up, however it cost him all momentum and having gone into the hurdle 6 lengths clear, he came out of it about 4 lengths down.  Although he closed valiantly on the winner all the way to the line he was unable to get back up and finished a very unlucky second under Tom Bellamy.  He is certainly deserving of a change of luck and hopefully he will be able to get a win against his name before too long.

It just goes to illustrate the downs and ups of racing as only half an hour later we enjoyed a change of fortune with the success of Decoy in the handicap hurdle under an enterprising ride from Tom Scudamore.  Tom managed to nick a few lengths on him at the start and he never relinquished that advantage despite appearing to idle a little in the closing stages.

Talking of winners, I am hopeful that our latest purchases from the Arqana Summer Sales at Deauville last week are able to follow in the footsteps of their illustrious stablemates Grands Crus, Gevrey Chambertin, Kazlian, Dynaste and co. who have also gone under the Arqana hammer.  We came back with some very nice store horses as well as a multiple winning hurdler and chaser in Garynella.

The trip to France for the Summer Sales has turned into something of an annual excursion and I cannot deny that I always look forward to it.  We are regularly joined by a number of friends and we have a great time at the excellent hotels sampling some great food and drink among wonderful company…roll on next year!

MiinneComplyAbove: Miinnehoma (left) pictured with Comply Or Die at a recent Pond House Open Day

I am greatly saddened to inform you that we have lost one Pond House legend as 1994 Grand National winner Miinnehoma passed away peacefully of old age at the weekend – he was 29.  He was the oldest living winner of the world’s greatest steeplechase and was a regular at Aintree for the popular parade of former winners.

During his career Miinnehoma, who was owned by comedy genius Freddie Starr, won eleven of his twenty five starts including the Listed Philip Cornes Sadle of Gold Hurdle at Newbury in 1990 (where he slammed subsequent Champion Chaser Remittance Man by 12 lengths), the Grade One Sun Alliance Chase (beating Bradbury Star and stablemate Run For Free) at the 1992 Cheltenham Festival and the Grade Two Newton Chase at Haydock in 1995.  He was also placed in other top races including the Welsh National and Cheltenham Gold Cup, but he will always be most famously remembered for providing my father with his Grand National victory under Richard Dunwoody.  He was a wonderful old horse – a real character and he remained at the yard under the care of our former head lad until the very end…he was a great champion and will be missed by all associated with him.

Talking of great champions, I enjoyed the Wimbledon finals at the weekend and while it was a shame that Andy Murray couldn’t win that last match he has done extremely well to reach the final 76 years after the last British man.  Roger Federer and Serena Williams are both extremely deserving multiple champions and should be congratulated on their seventh and fifth (respectively) singles titles.

Sadly the Brits weren’t able to manage it at Silverstone either, but it just goes to demonstrate the indomitable spirit of the British public as they put up with downpours all weekend to support the home drivers.    The British race goer is cut from much the same cloth(and let’s face it, they need to be) – despite Newton Abbot being cancelled today, I am hoping that we will have some runners at Worcester on Wednesday if they can survive the elements.  Failing that good ex-French flat performer War Singer is engaged on the level at Newbury on Friday, while we also have entries at Market Rasen on Sunday.  You can keep up to date with all of the latest news on the stable’s runners by checking Chester’s Daily Chat…

Too_Generous_Worcester

It was certainly a good effort by Too Generous to force a dead heat in the mares’ bumper at Worcester last Wednesday and in the process record our tenth win of the season.  Having looked beaten with a quarter of a mile to go, she fought on bravely under Tom Scudamore to share the spoils with Blue Article, the pair of them seventeen lengths clear of the third.  The principals looked like two decent types for this time of year and with her willing attitude Too Generous would appear to have a bright future ahead of her.  She is currently for sale and further details can be obtained by contacting my office on 01884 840715.

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