David Pipe has reinvented his famous yard since those heady days when winners flowed freely in the green and blue colours of David Johnson. It is why Cheltenham will mean more than ever this year — especially if Grands Crus can deny Big Buck’s a third win in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle.
Six years ago, under the previous regime of Pipe’s father, Martin, Johnson alone owned 111 winners. His tally is down to just six this term and his horse numbers at Pond House have slumped from 60 to six.
Building a business without the crutch of a dominant owner has developed Pipe in character. He entertained the media alone yesterday, Martin having taken himself off to the coast, and the distinct impression was of a trainer now comfortable in his territory.
“We’ve had to adapt and attract new people but we are still down in numbers,” he said. “You always want more — and you hope that a good Festival might do that job for you. That’s why I’m feeling uptight. It’s so important the next few days go smoothly.”
Grands Crus did not seem remotely fussed. At rest, he is a mild, gentlemanly, unprepossessing horse, polar opposite of the supercharged monster he becomes when stepping on to the gallops or the track. “It’s like he has tunnel vision,” Pipe said.
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Pipe loves long-term race-planning. “We knew last March he would win at Cheltenham in November,” he said. “But the manner of his victory there in January was pretty staggering. We got very excited after that.
“Big Buck’s is still the one to beat and the tactics between us will be interesting but it’s not a two-horse race — we thought that in the Gold Cup last year and look what happened. I’m very hopeful we can finish first or second, and if it is second, he’ll probably be chasing next season.”
Dan Breen is already chasing and Pipe applied blinkers for a schooling session yesterday before bidding for the Irish Independent Arkle Chase. “He’s a fast, fluent jumper with a good attitude. In an open year, he’s a good each-way bet.”
Still likelier winners among Pipe’s 15-plus team are Great Endeavour, owned by Johnson and stepping up to three miles in Stewart Family Handicap Chase, and Junior, a Royal Ascot winner on the Flat and heading for the Kim Muir.
•Philip Hobbs is the latest trainer to suffer a big-race casualty in the run-up to Cheltenham. Planet Of Sound, a grade one winner at Punchestown last spring, was effectively ruled out of the totesport Gold Cup yesterday with an infection in a hind leg. “He can hardly put his foot on the ground and has virtually no chance of running,” Hobbs said.
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Menorah continues to delight Hobbs in his preparations for the Stan James Champion Hurdle. “He worked well today and Richard Johnson will give him a final school tomorrow,” the trainer said.