- Monday, 08 December 2025 15:50
- Written by David Pipe
Gentleman Toboot Exeter Winner
Gentleman Toboot put in a nice performance to make it two from two over hurdle at Exeter on Friday. The drop back in trip did not inconvenience our five-year-old and he dominated from the front and galloped on strongly to the line when Jack Tudor asked him for his effort. He and the runner up pulled nicely clear of the rest with us conceding a penalty to that rival who looks decent. Gentleman Toboot’s jumping in the main was better than it had been on debut but there is still room for improvement when it gets to the business end of the race. Two miles on a galloping trip would be his ideal conditions at the moment and the softer the ground the better. He will have to go up in grade next time but he is a horse I hold in high regard. He is lightly raced and improving with each start so I there is plenty more to come from this likeable imposing individual.
- Monday, 01 December 2025 14:29
- Written by David Pipe
Royal Mer - For Sale to Stay in the Yard
I start my week in London with Gerry Supple for our annual trip to the capital for the Horse Writers Awards in London. We are kindly invited by Mike Vince and are joined on the table by Patrick Mullins and a few other special guests. We take the 9.30am train for Tiverton Parkway and are in Paddington in just two hours which is not bad going! We have a train booked for on the way home and I shall let you know next week if we make it home in time…we have been known to miss our planned return and we even had stay overnight on one occasion when the weather was bad so who knows what may happen!
- Monday, 24 November 2025 15:03
- Written by David Pipe
Jaipaletemps & Rian Corcoran 2x Winners at Ffos Las
It has been a good week for the yard with three winners on the board and an excellent third from Phantomofthepoints in the big stayer’s hurdle at Haydock over the weekend. Jaipaletemps won for the second time at Ffos Las and in doing so gave Rian Corcoran his second professional winner. He has formed a good partnership with our six-year-old for two wins in ten days and while it wasn’t quite as plain sailing as for the first victory, he was well on top at the line and it was a good performance carrying a penalty. Jaipaletemps has relished the soft ground of late and while life will be tougher off his new handicap mark he seems in very good heart and there still is hopefully room for a bit more improvement now he has got the hang of the British style of racing. He does have an entry at Uttoxeter on Thursday this week but we will see what the ground is and what the race looks like before deciding plans.
- Monday, 17 November 2025 15:34
- Written by David Pipe
Harry Junior Lingfield Winner
It was great to get another win on the board last week with Harry Junior winning for the first time in his career at Lingfield. He relished the step up in trip to three miles and led throughout. He was challenged and looked a little vulnerable on the approach to the last hurdle but pulled out a super jump to effectively seal the win before extending his lead on the run in. Bought as a store horse, he has taken plenty of time to mature and there is still improvement to come but it is a rewarding process when you have been patient and it pays off. He prefers the ground not too soft and he will appreciate a fence one day but we have made an entry for him at Exeter on Sunday so we will see what the ground and race look like a little closer to the time.
- Monday, 10 November 2025 15:55
- Written by David Pipe
Kingston Queen Winning Hurdling Debut
It has been a good week for the yard on the racecourse with a couple of winners and the horses running well and several placed efforts. After Old Bridge started the week by finishing second at Hereford last Monday, Kingston Queen made a winning hurdling debut at Chepstow on Wednesday.
- Monday, 03 November 2025 15:28
- Written by David Pipe
It was the perfect start to the hurdling career of Gentleman Toboot at Newton Abbot last week after he made a winning debut under Jack Tudor. His jumping was a little novicey at times, including the last two flights of hurdles, which was not ideal, but he showed his class to win going away at the line. He will have learnt a lot from that experience and will be seen to even better effect on a more galloping track over further in time, but this was a good starting point. There are no immediate plans with him but he has come out of the race well and we shall look for another similar type of novice hurdle in a couple of weeks’ time.
- Monday, 27 October 2025 14:48
- Written by David Pipe
We had just the three runners last week and while Order of the Dance could not back up his Ffos Las win, Harry Junior made a pleasing handicap debut at Worcester to be second. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and we should have taken Order of the Dance out following rain on the day, which softened the ground too much for his liking. Jockey Callum Pritchard did the sensible thing in pulling him up and we will make sure he is back on a sounder surface next time.
- Monday, 20 October 2025 10:38
- Written by David Pipe
Order of the Dance - Winner at Ffos Las
Order of the Dance made a winning stable debut at Ffos Las last week under a well-judged front running ride from Jack Tudor. He jumped very well, gradually wound things up from three out and went nicely clear of his rivals. This was his first ever win, having finishing runner up in Ireland three times when trained by the late Edward O’Grady.
- Monday, 13 October 2025 13:02
- Written by David Pipe
First Lord Du Cuet on the Gallops
It is hard not to start this week’s offerings on the topic of the weather once again! The meeting at Chepstow, is often seen by many National Hunt fans as the proper start to the jumps season and we were all set for a great few days of action only for the weather to dampen some of the enthusiasm. While we still did have some good racing, there were plenty of non-runners, including my intended weekend runners at the track because of the ground. ARC put on some great prize money and Chepstow ground staff did their best, but for a proper winter horse in my opinion it just was not soft enough. The rain will come and we know when it does it will not stop!
- Monday, 06 October 2025 14:26
- Written by David Pipe
October Hill - Horse For Sale
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. This year could be slightly different however; with the recent weather meaning that the ground will still be a little quicker than us trainers would like it for the ‘winter’ horses. Having said that, the hurdle races are being run on the flat course, which has been watered all summer, and this does make a huge difference, as the ground is likely to be genuinely good and safe. The ground is currently described as good to soft on the hurdles course and good on the chase track. They did not get any significant rain over the weekend and will be watering this week to maintain. The Welsh Champion hurdle has been moved back to the course (from Ffos Las) and will be run on Sunday with some great action to come before then as well.
