With Cheltenham only nine weeks away, preparations are already well underway for the Cheltenham Festival. Sadly, we will be without one of the Pond House standard bearers this year as dual Festival hero Un Temps Pour Tout will not be bidding it to make three in a row this time around. His second consecutive victory in last season’s Ultima handicap chase under top-weight took a long time for him to get over. We were aiming to bring him back for the Spring but have decided to give him more time and look forward to a full campaign with him next season.
Of some of the other stable stars, I am pleased to report that Moon Racer has recovered well from the bout of colic he suffered during the summer and is cantering away and in good form at home. We will be giving him an entry in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury next month. We will see if he is ready in time for that, if not, we will be looking at the Spring Festivals.
I am happy to bring an upbeat bulleting on Bidourey (pictured right), who looked so promising when winning his first five starts and was sent off favourite for the Imperial Cup in 2015. He has been off the track for just over two years now but he is pleasing me at home and is another who will be given an entry in the Betfair Hurdle. It will be great to see him back on the track - even though he seems to have been around for a long time, he has only just turned seven and still has time to confirm the early promise he showed.
High profile ex-French recruit Kings Socks is returning from injury and is another one we are looking forward to getting out in February with a view to the Spring Festivals. He had some very good form in France, including when runner-up in a Grade One behind Footpad at Auteuil. He is another that we hold high hopes for and I am looking forward to getting him to the track.
