Pipe powers up for Gold Cup bid at Cheltenham
Martin Pipe, who retired at the end of last season, won seven of the last 10 runnings of the race and his son has six possibles – five owned by David Johnson - this time around.
The Pond House yard have still to decide on how many they will let loose on the day but two that have seen significant support in the ante-post market are Vodka Bleu and Commercial Flyer.
“I’m not surprised Vodka Bleu has been backed. He is very well at home,” said Pipe.
Vodka Bleu has been off the track for over two years since he beat Fundamentalist in a Grade Two novice chase at Newbury but Pipe says the injury was not too serious.
He added: “It’s great to have Vodka Bleu back. He had a tendon injury, it wasn’t very much but we gave him all the time he needed and it’s great to get back to this stage.
“He is still only seven and he shows a lot of zest at home. Jonathan Lower schooled him the other week and he jumped well so it’s fingers crossed that whatever we run we hope the luck continues for the Pipe stable.”
Commercial Flyer created a huge impression at Taunton and went into the Cheltenham Festival as a Pipe banker. However, he was pulled up at both Prestbury Park and on his following run at Aintree.
“Commercial Flyer was very impressive at Taunton but it went wrong afterwards but that is what happens sometimes,” said Pipes.
“He is still very lightly raced and is a half-brother to Our Vic and hopefully he will improve again this season – obviously he will need to after his last two runs last year.”
The Pipe stable will face strong opposition headed by their arch rival, Paul Nicholls, who is responsible for Taranis, 4-1 favourite with the sponsors.
“He’s well, he won the other day over hurdles at Chepstow which didn’t affect his chase mark. He’s obviously got a chance,” said Nicholls’ assistant Dan Skelton.
“He is off a mark of 149 and Our Vic won it off that mark last year and he has since proved that he is championship class. Horses like that don’t come along very often. We would like to think that he is a very nice horse but it is by no means an easy task.”
