Nicholls slashes Pipe lead

Paul Nicholls made strong headway in his epic battle with Martin Pipe for the trainers’ championship when the title race went north of the border to Perth yesterday.

The title pretender came out on top in the afternoon exchanges when he netted £22,828 (€33,400) in prize money to Pipe’s £3,942 (€5,800), though the 14-times champion added another £3,673 (€5,400) at Worcester in the evening.