Local trainer David Pipe returned to Pond House from the Cheltenham Festival on Friday with all his horses intact.
His week began with a win for Un Temps Pour Tout in the Festival Handicap Chase on Tuesday. On Thursday King’s Palace was placed 3rd in the Festival Group Plate and on Friday – Gold Cup Day – Starchitect was 5th in the Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle and will now be pencilled in for Aintree next month and Champers on Ice was 3rd in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle. David said, “He ran a cracker! He’s going to be a smashing chaser in time.”
Commenting on the outcome of former Olympic cyclist Victoria Pendleton’s ride in the Festival’s Foxhunter Chase in which she finished a very creditable fifth having only started training a year ago, he said, “I have to say for someone who has only been riding a year it was a good performance. I still think the riders should have more experience but I have to admit she did very well.”