Pipe jumps to McCoy’s defence

MARTIN PIPE yesterday leapt to the defence of Tony McCoy over the incident at Cheltenham yesterday which resulted in the champion jockey being banned for five days for hitting Deano’s Beeno 50 times in order to get the gelding to start.

Armed with a photograph taken of Deano’s Beeno when he pulled out of his box this morning, Pipe said: “In a sense I blame myself for bringing the horse back to Cheltenham. He’s always been a bit naughty, but he hates it here.

“I think the whole thing was blown up because it was on TV, but it’s all about perception, and interpreting what happened was a difficult job for everyone concerned.