THE countdown this week is to racing at Chepstow on Friday, which is the first of a now three-day meeting at the track and is what many people see as the real jumps season getting underway.

The ground is currently described as good to soft on the hurdles course and good on the chase track. However, they did not get any significant rain over the weekend and will be watering this week to maintain.

This week also sees the return of racing to Exeter though they need significant rain to help ease the ground. The chases for this meeting have been abandoned and their ground is described as good to firm, firm in places. Old Bridge is our sole entry on the card and he is a little horse who likes these sort of conditions so he may take his chance.

I sponsor a race ay Chepstow on Friday and am looking forward to hosting a few guests in a box on the day. Activist and Old Bridge are my two entries in the race, while the latter might not get in the race (40 entries),

On Saturday at Chepstow, Neon Moon is looking for back-to-back wins in the Native River handicap chase, having won the event last year. He is actually two pounds lower in the ratings than when winning this last time and will love the ground, so fingers crossed for a big run. In addition, possibly heading to Chepstow are American Sniper and Thanksforthehelp in the Silver Trophy handicap hurdle. Pachacuti is another who could be heading to Chepstow on Saturday for the 2m7f handicap hurdle.

On Sunday, we have both First Lord Du Cuet and Vision De Main entered in the conditional jockeys handicap chase. Both of these horses prefer better ground and Rian Corcoran will ride if they run claiming a valuable 10 pounds off their backs. Keep checking the Daily News on the Website. We will also have a flat runner at Newmarket on Saturday with Bashful Boy confirmed for the Cesarewitch.

Horse for Sale – October Hill: We have recently purchased a gorgeous five-year-old mare called October Hill from an online sale and we are looking for a new owner for her! We are currently open to all ownership possibilities and she can be bought as a whole or part shares and we may set up a little syndicate for which we already have some interested parties. Please do get in touch if you have any interest and we would be happy to discuss options (Email: [email protected], Telephone: 01884 840715).

In September we recorded 122.5mm of rain at Pond House, 70mm less than twelve months ago. Total rainfall for the year now stands at 574mm, which is nearly 400mm less than what we have had up until this point in 2024.

While September started promisingly with quite a lot of rain, which turned the grass green again, we barely had a drop from the middle of the month onwards and we are now crying out for more rain again. October 2024 was quite a wet month so we could really do with a repeat of that this time around. September 2024 was the wettest we have ever recorded at Pond House (192.5mm), the driest back in 2002 with just 8mm of rain falling.

David Pipe was talking to Richard Walsh.