David Pipe (born 7 February 1973 [1] ) is a British horse racing trainer based in Somerset, England. He is the son of 15 time champion trainer Martin Pipe.
David Pipe (born 7 February 1973 [1] ) is a British horse racing trainer based in Somerset, England. He is the son of 15 time champion trainer Martin Pipe.
Pipe started riding in point to points in 1992 and scored 22 wins in 5 seasons, and 2 under rules - including on Bonanza Boy in the Ludlow Gold Cup. [2] After retiring from the saddle he would begin learning the training craft across the globe spending time with Michael Dickinson, Criquette Head-Maarek and Joey Ramsden. [3]
Pipe began training point to point horses and had great success with 164 winners over six seasons. In April 2006, he took over the training licence from his father Martin Pipe. His first winners as racing trainer came on 9 May 2006 with Standin Obligation at Kelso Racecourse. [4] On the same day at Exeter Racecourse he had another winner with Papillon De Iena ridden by AP McCoy. [5]
During his first season, Pipe struck success with Gaspara winning the Imperial Cup and the Fred Winter his first trained winner at the Cheltenham Festival along with a £75,000 bonus. [6]
Long term Pipe owner David Johnson [7] provided Pipe with some of his most memorable early successes. Our Vic quickly became one of the best horses in Pipe's yard winning the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby [8] and would go on to win the 2008 Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham. A few weeks later, Our Vic also won the totesport Bowl Chase at Aintree Racecourse on Grand National weekend beating Kauto Star by a nose. [9] However it would be Comply Or Die that would provide one of the most memorable winners of his career, victor in the 2008 Grand National at Aintree. [10] [11] Later in 2008, Pipe would saddle the winner of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury with Madison Du Berlais. [12]
Pipe has saddled 15 winners at the Cheltenham Festival. Both Our Vic and Dynaste have won the Ryanair Chase, [13] Buena Vista is a two time Pertemps Final winner [14] and Western Warhorse won the 2014 Arkle. [15]
Pipe has also seen success with the likes of Vieux Lion Rouge and Un Temps Pour Tout, the latter winning at both the Cheltenham Festival and Grade 1 Grand Course de Haies d'Auteuil in France.
In addition, Pipe has successes on the flat winning the Chester Cup with Mamlook and also winning the Ascot Stakes during Royal Ascot with Junior who later went on to win the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival. [16] [17]
Pipe has over 1,000 winners to his name as a trainer and has trained a winner at every course in the UK. [18] [19]
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlongs, and during its running there are 22 fences to be jumped. The race takes place each year during the Cheltenham Festival in March.
Thomas Richard Dunwoody MBE is a retired British National Hunt jockey. He was a three-time British Champion Jockey. He was the only jockey of his generation to win the Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle.
Rupert "Ruby" Walsh is an Irish former jockey. He is the second child, and eldest son, of former champion amateur jockey Ted Walsh and his wife Helen. Widely regarded as one of the greatest National Hunt jockeys of all time, Walsh is the third most prolific winner in British and Irish jump racing history behind only Sir Anthony McCoy and Richard Johnson.
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Kauto Star was a French-bred National Hunt champion thoroughbred racehorse trained by Paul Nicholls in Somerset and owned by Clive Smith. He was known for his versatility and longevity, being the only horse ever to be top rated over 2 miles, 2.5 miles and 3 miles in the same season. He is also the first horse ever to win a Grade 1 race in six consecutive seasons, which he extended to seven. His Racing Post rating of 192 is the highest ever awarded to a National Hunt horse since those ratings began in 1987. He won the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice, in 2007 and 2009, becoming the first horse to regain the cup. In 2009, he beat Denman by thirteen lengths, after losing to the same horse by seven lengths the previous year. Kauto Star tried for three more years to win the race again, but the best placing he could achieve was third in 2011. He also won the King George VI Chase a record five times. Kauto Star was one of the most successful steeplechasers of any era: he finished his career with a National Hunt record of £3,775,883 in earnings, £2,375,883 of which was winner's prize money, a £1,000,000 bonus for the completion of the 2006/2007 Stayers Chase Triple Crown and a £400,000 reward for heading the BHA Table of Merit in the 2006/2007 season.
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William Peter Mullins is an Irish racehorse trainer and former jockey. He is a seventeen-time Irish National Hunt Champion trainer. Mullins is the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival, having saddled more than 100 winners.
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Michael Fitzgerald is a retired Irish National Hunt jockey and current television racing pundit. Fitzgerald rode for the majority of his career in Great Britain and less often Ireland.
Richard Johnson is a retired English National Hunt jockey. Johnson is the second most prolific winner in the history of National Hunt Racing behind Sir Anthony McCoy, a long-time rival of Johnson's, with over 3500 winners. Richard Dunwoody previously held the record with 1874.
Tom Scudamore is a retired third-generation British flat and steeplechase jockey. He is the son of eight-time champion jockey Peter Scudamore; his grandfather Michael won the Grand National on Oxo in 1959.
Timothy James Murphy, known as Timmy Murphy, is a retired Irish jockey who competed mostly in National Hunt racing. A multiple Grade 1-winning rider, he is best known for his victory on Comply or Die in the 2008 Grand National. He overcame problems with alcohol, which had led to a prison sentence after a drunken incident on a plane in 2002, to resume a successful career and win the 2005 jump jockey of the year Lester Award. He won the Irish Grand National on Davids Lad in 2001, and the Scottish Grand National on Merigo in 2010 and 2012. He had eight winners at the Cheltenham Festival, the first in 1997 and the last in 2009. He recorded his 1000th win in Britain in 2010. Following an injury in a fall in 2010 he was unable to regain his licence to ride over jumps and switched codes, riding on the flat from 2015 until 2018, when he retired from race riding.
Aidan Coleman is a retired Irish National Hunt jockey. During a seventeen-year career based in Great Britain, he rode four winners at the Cheltenham Festival and a total of 13 Grade 1 winners. In June 2023 he sustained a serious leg injury in a fall at Worcester and was unable to return to race-riding. He announced his retirement on medical advice in April 2024.
Paddy Brennan is a retired Irish jump jockey. He was champion conditional jockey in the 2004/05 season and won the 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Imperial Commander. He was based in Gloucestershire as stable jockey at Fergal O'Brien's yard for several years before his retirement in April 2024.
Daryl Jacob is an Irish National Hunt jockey who rode for trainer Paul Nicholls as second jockey to Ruby Walsh. When Walsh left the Nicholls yard Jacob took over as principal rider. He won at the Cheltenham festival for the first time in 2011 on Zarkandar in the Triumph Hurdle. His second Cheltenham Festival win was in 2014 on Lac Fontana in the Vincent O Brien County Handicap Hurdle on the last day of the festival. However, before the start of the next race he suffered a broken leg, knee and elbow after Port Melon crashed into the rail.
Silviniaco Conti was a French-bred, British-trained Selle Français racehorse who competed in National Hunt races. After winning several important races over hurdles he emerged as a leading long-distance steeplechaser in 2012. After winning both his races in his native country, the horse won his first three races in England, culminating with a success in the two and a half mile Ascot Hurdle. After running poorly over shorter distances he was ruled out of a bid for the Champion Hurdle and was switched to steeplechasing. In his first season as a chaser he won the Mildmay Novices' Chase and finished second in a strong renewal of the Feltham Chase. In the 2012/2013 season he won the Charlie Hall Chase, Betfair Chase and Denman Chase and in the following season he was rated the best jumper in Britain and Ireland after wins in the King George VI Chase and Betfred Bowl. In the 2014/2015 season he recorded repeat victories in the Betfair Chase, King George VI Chase and Betfred Bowl but failed when favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In the following season he was beaten in his first three races but returned to form in February to win the Grade One Ascot Chase by 20 lengths.
Cue Card was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. A specialist steeplechaser, he won fifteen of his thirty-three races, including nine at Grade I level.
Nicolai "Nico" W. Chastel de Boinville is an English horse racing jockey who competes in National Hunt racing. De Boinville has ridden more Grade One winners than any British jumps jockey currently active.
