New Stable Jockey!

Yesterday David broke the news that Jack Tudor has been appointed as the number one jockey at Pond House and he will ride the majority of our horses supported by our existing team of jockeys.  Jack is a young rider who is talented in the saddle but already has plenty of big race experience.  He only turns 21 next month but his CV already has notable wins including the Welsh Grand National in 2019 and the Eider Chase this season to name just two.  He has been in to ride out and school regularly in the last few weeks and he and David have got on well and have started to build a good relationship which we hope can lead to plenty of winners in the future.  He can do minimum weight in the saddle no problem and has shown himself to be very good with owners and feedback after the races which is also a big part of the role of a jockey.  We are all looking forward to getting to know him a little more but I am sure we can just let his riding do the talking!

There is no jumps racing today, it being Good Friday but there are three meetings on the flat and we have one runner on the flat at Bath.  Talap runs in the 3.25pm handicap over 1m4f and Ben Curtis rides.  He is making stable debut after arriving from France.  He is a five time winner on the level in France and although he may not want the ground too soft I think he will handle it okay and probably better than some of his rivals, fingers crossed.  The race is very competitive with the 14 strong field all rated from 75-72 so it is not like a ‘proper’ handicap as such but he goes okay at home and so it will be interesting to see how he gets on.  He is about a 10/1 chance in the betting.  The Roger Varian trained Gastronomy is the favourite on handicap debut and could be the one they all have to beat.  The plan will be for him to run again on the flat before going hurdling in the new season.  I am actually off to Bath today to lead up Talap, it is a family owned horse and having claimed him myself I am hoping he does okay!

It has been well documented that Bath have put on some excellent prize money for their entire card today and have been suitably rewarded with lots of runners and very competitive racing.  There is also some good action at Lingfield and Newcastle and don’t forget it is both the Lambourn and Middleham Open mornings as well if you are looking for a nice day out.

Yesterday at Hereford we had two good but slightly frustrating seconds!  Both Duc De Beauchene and Abaya Du Mathan ran very well to be second in their respective races and you could not ask for anymore.  I am just a little gutted as we have had about nine seconds since our last winner so it would be great to get that one winner to get off 69 for the season!

Anglers Crag ran a disappointing race at Wetherby yesterday.

There are no Premiership football games today but there are plenty in the Championship.  I see that Frank Lampard is back in charge of Chelsea as manager until the end of the season which is a bit of surprise but hopefully he can get them more confident in front of goal and scoring a few more goals!

I ordered a giant duck at a fancy restaurant last night.  The bill was huge!  Have a great day.