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David Pipe National Hunt Trainer's Weekly Diary, Dusky Hercules

Dusky Hercules

David Pipe National Hunt Trainer's Weekly Diary, Dusky Hercules

There were three reasons for celebration last week with the victories of Miss Tynte, First Lord de Cuet and Dusky Hercules. Whilst every victory is savoured, the success of Dusky Hercules was especially sweet as it marked the first winner for the newly formed David Pipe Racing Club, but more of that later...

We started last week on a bright note with the facile success of Miss Tynte at Plumpton on Monday. She is a lovely mare who I have always liked, but following a comfortable win at Worcester in the summer she had appeared to be in the grip of the handicapper and was still 7lbs above her last winning mark. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when she travelled strongly throughout in 3m1f mares' handicap hurdle and readily quickened clear to win under Tom Scudamore.

This was only her second try at a trip of three miles or more and she clearly relished conditions. If I thought she was badly handicapped before, she is sure to take a further hike in the weights for this. She is clearly a talented mare when on top of her game and has untapped potential at these trips, whilst she will also jump fences in time.

First Lord de Cuet was also impressive in landing the maiden hurdle at Southwell on Tuesday. The winner of a point-to-point in Ireland as well as a bumper for the stable last season, he had run well when fourth on his hurdling debut in a very competitive Wincanton race. With that experience under his belt, he jumped well and Tom Scudamore kept things simple by dictating from the front. He kept finding more when challenged in the straight and had enough in hand to see off the runner-up who was very highly-rated on the level.

First Lord is part-owned by James and Jean Potter who are lovely people, but there was real pressure attached as the other part-owners are notoriously difficult to please...they are my father and my father-in-law-to-be, Pete!

Mighty Effort From Hercules

As I eluded to earlier in the column, I was especially pleased to notch the first winner for the David Pipe Racing Club when Dusky Hercules managed to get the better of a nail-biting finish to land the staying novices' handicap hurdle at Exeter on Friday. Given an excellent ride by up and coming young amateur Fergus Gillard, he needed every inch of the 2m7f trip to get his head in front.

The famous black and white colours were carried to over 200 victories in their former guise as the Martin Pipe Racing Club silks so I was very pleased to land this initial success. We have already had a good take-up for membership to the club but there are plenty more places left. The more members we have, the more horses we will be able to have...sounds like an ideal Christmas present to me! Further details can be found by clicking here.

Main Fact also ran a great race following a 600 day absence when third in a competitive handicap hurdle at Exeter. Based on this evidence, he should be capable of winning something similar before too long. Remastered also posted a good effort when finishing a close second at Chepstow on Saturday. This was his first try at the trip of 2m7½f and he saw it out well under Nick Scholfield, failing by only a neck to concede 9lbs to the winner. This performance opens up more options for him and he should be winning something similar.

Whilst Vieux Lion Rouge did not trouble the judge in this year's renewal of the Becher Chase, he did nonetheless complete the course successfully once again. Indeed, he has now completed in four

Becher's and four Grand Nationals which means that he has negotiated an incredible 201 Aintree fences (allowing for an omitted fence in each of the last two Nationals and Saturday's Becher), quite an amazing feat I am sure you will agree.

The Week Ahead

We are looking at a quiet start to this week with our first possible runners not coming until Wednesday. Promising Chepstow bumper winner, Kepagge is likely to make his hurdling debut somewhere - he holds entries at Leicester and Warwick midweek and has schooled nicely at home. He is an exciting prospect.

We should have a few runners at Taunton on Thursday where the JP McManus owned Flou Artsistique could make his debut for the stable. Midnight Magic, who was an unlucky faller when in with every chance at Exeter last time is entered in the staying novices' handicap chase, whilst Story Of Friends, narrow runner-up at Kempton on his latest outing is engaged in the 2m3f handicap hurdle. He should appreciate this longer trip.

There is a good two day fixture to look forward to at Cheltenham next weekend. Nordic Combined, What A Moment, Stream Lady, Rathlin Rose and recent Newbury winner Champers On Ice are entered on Friday's card, whilst on Saturday the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup is the highlight. Eamon An Cnoic and Warthog (who finished an excellent third in the BetVictor Gold Cup at the November meeting) are entered in that, whilst we made further entries for the likes of Queens Cave, Umbrigado and Poker Play this morning.

Jockey To Follow

You will have read earlier about the fantastic ride Fergus Gillard gave Dusky Hercules to win at Exeter on Friday. He is a very promising young jockey who is excellent value for his claim. He is improving all the time and as an amateur rider, he will be honing his skills this winter in point-to-points as well as under rules. It would be quite easy to imagine him fighting it out for the novice riders' championship this season.

Smashing Strike Rate

As regular readers will know, I have been delighted by the form of the horses this season and with 42 winners already on the board at the time of writing, we need only two more successes to equal last season's total. One statistic that I am very proud of is that 45% of the horses to have run for us this season have won at least one race (32 winning horses from 71 to have run). Indeed, among the top 50 trainers in the land, that is the highest strike rate of anyone (with only Richard Newland equalling that percentage) and considerably higher than those at the top of the trainers' table. The message is clear - if you want more bang for your buck, you need to be with the Pond House team.

Hollie's Christmas Cheer!

Many congratulations to flat jockey Hollie Doyle, who became the winning-most female rider in a calendar year when riding Class Clown to victory on the all-weather at Southwell on Wednesday.

That win marked her 107th success of the year, breaking the previous record of 106 winners that was jointly held by Hayley Turner and Josephine Gordon...a fantastic achievement indeed.

Incidentally, Hollie is coached by former Pond House jockey Rodi Greene who spent many years riding for my father and enjoyed his finest moment in the saddle when driving Ilnamar to success in the Coral Cup at the Cheltenham Festival in 2002.

Did the earth move for you?!

You will probably have heard all about the earthquake in Somerset on Thursday night. Well, I am pleased to report that the earth did not move for me! The tremors did not reach as far as Pond House and I have to say that I am relieved about that as I'm sure the horses wouldn't have liked it very much. The quake, which is supposed to have originated from the Bridgwater area did reach some of my staff, with reports of an enormous bang and entire homes shuddering...sounds terrifying!

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