Interview with David Pipe

Grand National winning trainer David Pipe sent out 52 winners last season, including six Graded victories. Adagio provided Pond House Stables with more Grade 1 success in the Finale Hurdle at Chepstow in January before finishing runner-up in the Triumph Hurdle. The four year old ought to be a real force in the top two miles handicap hurdles this season. David has been a regular contributor to One Jump Ahead and I spoke to him on Wednesday afternoon and went through his team for the 2021/22 season. The stable has been boosted by a number of potentially exciting recruits from Ireland, plus some new inmates from France. The aforementioned Adagio was claimed for €25,000 off the Flat across the English Channel.

The action on the track on Wednesday was somewhat low key but the high-class juvenile Pierre Lapin caught the eye on his Irish debut at Naas. The former Roger Varian trained four year old was unbeaten at two winning the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury in 2019. All the rage for the Commonwealth Cup the following season, he failed to shine in three races that year. Gelded during the winter, he was fourth on his reappearance at Thirsk over seven furlongs in April. Subsequently sold for 80,000gns this month, he joined Ado McGuinness and had his first run for his new connections in another seven furlongs conditions event. Rated 102, he was held up early on by Ronan Whelan but was spotted making good late headway. While no match for the first two, he was beaten less than five lengths in third and is one to watch out for in the coming weeks. It is worth noting McGuinness bought Bowerman and Laugh A Minute from the same source and has done well with the pair. There could be a good handicap at least in the son of Cappella Sansevero. A half-brother to the top-class sprinter Harry Angel, I wonder if he may be given an entry in the Ayr Gold Cup.