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Interesting to see that on Sporting Life’s summary of the race, Cue Card has been tipped to beat Sprinter Sacre.
Obviously didn’t word my original post very well!! I am David Pipe’s biggest fan and Great Endeavour along with Ashkazar and Grand Crus was one of my favourite horses and I was quite shocked when I read the report. I wasn’t trying to make a point about the National, I was just trying to make the point that the life of a racehorse is always open to danger whether it be in a race or careering around a field. I must improve my literary skills. That’s what being a maths teacher for 35 years does for you!!
Trainers titles are a complete irrelevance,especially when decided by prize money.
A waste of precious oxygen even discussing the matter.
Try telling that to Nicholls and Henderson!!
This thought reminds me of the Martin Pipe / Paul Nicholls days. Remember when Martin Pipe won his last championship. Pipe and Nicholls had all nine runners in the 2 mile chase on the last day of the season. The race was won by Well Chief from Azertyuiop, who many thought wasn’t 100% fit. Also Martin Pipe ran one of his horses, Commercial Express I think, 4 times in something like 5 days if my memory serves me correctly.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that!!I generally quite like Matt Chapman but whenever there’s a whip ban and he’s on ATR I turn the sound down. I know his feelings on the the matter because I’ve heard them over and over again and I’m beginning to resent the same old rhetoric being rammed down my throat!!! Hence the reason I turned the Sunday Forum off this morning.
Hmm, interesting stuff!
Never mind DJ’s retained jockey, I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing him down Pond House way!
I think there is a similar scenario developing down there, if you look at all the talented conditionals such as Danny Cook and now Conor O’Farrell and to a lesser extent Farrelly and Frost. All of these jockeys have booted home Cheltenham winners in the last 2 years (the same of which cannot be said for Tom Scu, who is predominately riding the more fancied stable runners!).
It seems to be blinded loyalty that is keeping him in the job and probably the misty eyedness of the old Scu/ Pipe senior combo.
I noticed even on the Pipes website that E Street Boys win a couple of days ago "gave Tom Scudamore a much needed winner", so wondering if the pressure is building already!
Brennan’s arrival at NTD’s yard resulted in a massive upsurge of fortunes in the stable and I think that is what is needed at Pipe’s. Winning Festival handicaps is ok but the stable should be aiming for the Championship Races.
I couldn’t agree more. As nice a fella as Tom Scudamore is, and I realise that I’m talking as an armchair jockey here, I just don’t think he’s good enough to put on stable stars in championship races. If I ever realise my ambition of owning a racehorse I would much prefer to have Danny Cook or Paddy Brennan if I had a horse in the Pipe yard.
I’ve already written this elsewhere but I should explain my thinking.
First off there’s no denying this race like many on crappy ground fell apart. The time of the race certainly doesn’t indicate it was anything special Local Hero’s race was 18 seconds slow and was run at a crawl. Crand Crus was 22 seconds slow.
On a line through Restless Harry Timeform have rated him 183P which seems ok but that rating is attached to Big Buck’s also beating Resteless Harry but with one huge differnece.
Grand Crus is the perfect racehorse and the type you don’t have to set alight to get him to race. If you watch him coming down the hill Tom Scudamore slaps him on the neck and he takes off in full flight and never stops until he’s pulled up. If Tom Scu had picked up his whip the horse wouldn’t have found a yard more as he was going as fast as he could and he was no more than a passenger.
According to AP Big Buck’s was never of the bridle at any point at Newbury and it certainly looked that way of what we could see of it…..He’s beaten Restless Harry 6 lengths without breaking sweat. Timeform will which will have people thinking he’s a real challenger but I wouldn’t put Grand Crus’s performance within a stone of Big Bick’s simply because of the type of horses they are.
I agree with most of what you’ve said here, but that to me is where the challenge for Big Buck’s arises. If there is some give in the ground and Grand Crus quickens like he did yesterday, will Big Buck’s be able to quicken with him. He’s never been put under any real pressure recently and who knows what will happen if he is.
What you have to ask yourselves is what would Big Buck’s have done to that lot?
Million zillion miles away from taking on the PN superstar I’m afraid unless you are influenced by the media selling you a big challenge that doesn’t really exist. . Lovely horse but he wouldn’t blow wind up Big Buck’s backside and won’t get within 5 lengths of him.
Big Bucks has never done anything like Grand Crus did to that lot yesterday. As Stilvi says, that’s not his style so the above opening statement seems irrelevant. He would have beat them of course and it’s hard to see him being beaten at Cheltenham but would hardly have been any more impressive than Grand Crus was yesterday. All the great champions get beaten one day, who is to say it won’t happen this year. After all, who really knows how good Grand Crus is until he gets beaten. I’m not influenced by the media, I use my own eyes and in my opinion the challenge does exist.
I’ve never been a fan of Tom Scudamore, just don’t think he’s good enough. I see in the Daily Mirror today that David Pipe was appealing for new owners. I doubt Martin ever had to do that. What he needs is a high profile winner and he might have had that today if Tom could have got I’msingingtheblues over the last 3 fences at Aintree when seemingly travelling really well.
David Pipe seems pleasant and very media friendly so it seems strange that some owners don’t seem to stick around for too long.Hard to imagine how anyone can argue against Yeats being a true great of the sport.
He is, without question, one of the most decorated horses in history.
His achievements, four Ascot Gold Cups, complimented by two Goodwood Cups, an Irish St Leger, Prix Royal-Oak and a Coronation Cup, place him among the upper echelons of the racing hierarchy.
An incredibly versatile horse, his maiden win came over eight furlongs and Group One victories followed over twelve, fourteen, sixteen and twenty furlongs, respectively.
Very few horses have displayed greater longevity. Yeats has claimed Group level success in six of the seven seasons he has been on the track, five of those at the highest level.
His four Ascot Gold Cups have been won by an average of 3 1/ 2 lengths and his Group wins a shade under four.
A horse that deserves to be considered the greatest of his sphere and one of the true legends of the sport.
Brilliantly put.
Thanks for the info David. This must be quite a blow for the trainer. Both Osana and Big Eared Fran must be exciting chase prospects.
Hi Seebald, what a fantastic name. Seebald was one of my favourite horses. What a race he gave Best Mate at Exeter I think, ridden by Tom Scu!!! I believe Tom Scu looks after him now for which he has my greatest respect. I wish I had Thomas Barr’s money. I actually think Tom Scu rode Osana quite well but i don’t think he’s good enough, for reasons already mentioned, to be a stable jockey for a trainer with real ambition.
However although I won’t be backing any of his rides, I will be shouting him on when he’s riding a David Pipe horse and nothing would please me more to see him ram my opinion down my throat and if he does I’ll be back on here begging for forgiveness!!!!!Thanks DS. David Pipe currently has about 140 horses listed in training of which only about 25 are owned by David Johnson. He seems to have cut down quite a lot since Martin Pipe retired. He’s got quite a few horses in training with Peter Monteith and Brendan Powell and of course his recent Cheltenham winner Chapoturgeon is trained by Paul Nicholls.
I only started the thread out of interest because the Pipe stable has always gone to the limits to train winners and jockeys have always been an important consideration e.g AP, Richard Dunwoody, Peter Scu. Perhaps the stable isn’t strong enough now to attract a top rank jockey. The standard of horses at Pond House seems to have diminished considerably recently. I like David Pipe as a person but I think he’s found it tough this year.No Rob, not at all, although the 11% strike rate is the worst of the 15 leading riders. I must admit that I’m an armchair jockey so my observations are only in comparison with other jockeys I see when I go racing or am watching tv. If you’re telling me that he’s one of the best then your opinion is as good as mine although, as stated in my original post, I’d be interested to know why, and I’m sorry but I’ve not read a similar thread about this so if you can direct me to this I’ll go and read it. I can only write based on what I see and I feel that the the stable would do better with a more skilful jockey but that’s only my opinion of course.
I hope Well Chief will be remembered for the brilliant horse he is even though he’s never won the Champion Chase. He must have some heart to run like he did today after all his problems. I hope he’s sound tomorrow so that we get the chance to see him on the racecourse again. To see him win a race again would be an awesome sight.
Well done to all the Pipe team. Many people seem to have a real aversion to the Pipes but how can they argue against such a brilliant training performance?
