Continuing our series of interviews with leading jumps trainers, GG’s Joe Napier sat down with David Pipe. He revealed the Supreme plan for exciting hurdler Windbeneathmywings, explained why one of his Brocade Racing horses is set to make a name for himself, and gave his verdict on Dan Skelton’s bid to break his father Martin’s record.
GG: Hi, David. Thank you very much for joining GG this afternoon. From your and the yard’s point of view, are you hoping that this might go down as the Windbeneathmywings season?
David Pipe: Yeah, obviously we hope so. He’s in good form currently. Obviously, he was very impressive at Ascot, but he’s been off the track since. Hopefully, we can keep him in one piece and have a good season over hurdles this year.
GG: Is it the case that, in terms of the spring festivals, you’d be working back from the Supreme?
Pipe: Yeah, we’re working back from the Supreme at Cheltenham – all roads lead there. He was very good in his bumper and has schooled nicely at home. He’s got more practice to do, but he seems stronger and in good form at present.
GG: Over the summer, some of the horses who have had the most success have been part of the David Pipe Racing Club. How enjoyable has it been to see that blossoming? It’s the eighth season in a row now that the Racing Club has had winners.
Pipe: Yeah, the Racing Club and syndicates are a massive thing in racing. It gets everyone involved at various levels. They’ve had a great summer with some of the horses that we purchased from France, and we hope they can continue in the winter as well. Karnaval Point finished third in the big £100,000 handicap chase at Cheltenham the other day, and they (the syndicate owners) had an amazing time out. Cheltenham looked after them very well.
“Gentleman Toboot’s a lovely horse, he’s strengthened up over the summer and he’s one that you’ll be hearing a lot more about.”
GG: Away from the syndicates, one of the most prominent owners backing you is Brocade Racing. You’ve got the likes of Neon Moon, who’s been a bit of a legend, Gentleman Toboot entering his second season and Jurancon, for whom things didn’t really happen last year. What can you say about those three for the season ahead?
Pipe: Neon Moon‘s not getting any younger, but he still flies up the gallops. He’ll probably have one more season. Gentleman Toboot has summered well and he’ll probably go novice chasing this season. He’s a lovely horse, he’s strengthened up over the summer and he’s one that you’ll be hearing a lot more about. And Jurancon is a decent horse, but everything that could go wrong did go wrong with him last year, so we’ve started from scratch again. He does need soft ground to be seen at his best. We’ll probably be sticking to hurdles for the time being.
GG: A couple of the horses who shone for you last season were your mares Kingston Queen and Lady Balko. Kingston Queen, of course, went off favourite against Old Park Star last season. How are they both?
Pipe: Yeah, we were disappointed when we got beaten that day, but obviously, looking back, you can understand why! Kingston Queen is very well. Whether she goes chasing or hurdling is yet to be decided, but she’s strengthened up. She’s a lovely mare. It wasn’t soft enough for her at Cheltenham last year. Then we went to Fairyhouse, and she didn’t really enjoy travelling. I thought she would, but she didn’t. So, hopefully, there’s a lot more to come from her. Lady Balko picked up a tendon injury last year, so whether she runs at the back end of this season or not, we’ll see how she scans later on this year.
GG: You have a horse with an unusual profile in Gericault Roque. He’s still a maiden and will qualify for veterans’ races this year, I believe. How is he, and how much do you want him to have his day in the sun?
Pipe: Yeah, we’ll be looking at the Veterans’ Final and three-mile handicap chases. He’s a talented horse, but unfortunately he got a tendon injury at Newbury at the Hennessy meeting, probably about four years ago now. It’s been difficult since. We go on about the weather and the firm ground at the present moment, but four years ago, at the end of November, it was very quick ground at Newbury. We all have short memories – it’s not the first time this has happened. It’s very frustrating for everyone with soft-ground horses at the moment. But Gericault, even though he’s ten, is lightly raced. He’s in very good form and, like I say, three-mile handicap chases, or even further, will be his aim this season.
GG: Going back to the Cheltenham Festival, this was one of the closest in terms of the Prestbury Cup, Ireland versus Great Britain, for some years. How much does that gap closing inspire you to improve on your tally of 15 Cheltenham Festival winners?
Pipe: It doesn’t matter what the ratio is. You’re still trying to get another Cheltenham Festival winner, and they’re hard to come by. The Irish are strong, but like you say, the English are fighting back, and let’s hope it’s as close next year, if not the other way around.
“There were definitely lots of people on Champagne Fever and I’m sure they didn’t expect a 33/1 shot to be beating him!”
GG: One of your more famous, or even infamous, Cheltenham Festival winners was Western Warhorse, who we often hear the other side of the coin about. But what was his victory that day like for you as a team? We often hear a lot about him being a horse that robbed favourite backers, which maybe is a little bit unfair.
Pipe: There were definitely lots of people on Champagne Fever and I’m sure they didn’t expect a 33/1 shot to be beating him! It was a big surprise, and I have to put a thank you out to Roger Brookhouse, his owner, who made me run him in the race because I didn’t want to. But he put up an amazing performance and travelled very well. His jumping kept him in it – he was a big brute of a horse, very hard to handle. Unfortunately, he picked up an injury at Aintree after that, but it was a lovely surprise at Cheltenham that day.
GG: Dan Skelton is chasing all kinds of records, one of which belongs to your dad Martin for the number of winners in a season. Does aspiring to reach those levels inspire you, and are you secretly hoping that Martin’s record stays intact?
Pipe: Dan looks to be setting a very strong pace, and it looks like he might be beating my father’s record, and fair play if he does. There’s always someone that sets the level to get to, and Dan’s certainly doing that at the moment. He’s got a battalion of horses, and he’s built it up over a number of years.
GG: Lastly, are there any newcomers to the yard that could potentially be names to follow this campaign?
Pipe: We’ve got No Walkover, who won a couple of bumpers last year. He got balloted out of the Cheltenham bumper. He’ll go novice hurdling this year and has strengthened up. He was a big brute of a horse last year, but he’s strengthened up even more. He wants softer ground because he’s a heavy horse, but he’d be one to look out for. We’ve got a new French horse called Lion In Zion, who finished third over hurdles in France. He’s a three-year-old, so hopefully he’ll be a nice horse to follow. There’s also Indulto Rouge, who we never saw the best of last year – he’s a good workhorse at home. And one new bumper horse called Max Potential is one I like. He fell in his Irish point-to-point, but would have won that day. So, there’s certainly a few to look forward to.