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“He doesn’t mind the big occasion. He jumps, he stays, he goes on any ground.” It's clear to see that David Pipe doesn't see many negatives for his Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle hope Ramses De Teillee, as the Cheltenham Festival draws ever-closer. 

The switch to hurdles has worked wonders for the eight-year-old this season, as he’s racked up three victories on the bounce over the smaller obstacles, including wins in a pair of Grade 2 contests at Doncaster and Haydock.

And although many antepost lists make the grey little more than a lively outsider, but for his trainer he heads to the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle with a massive chance.

“There are lots of positives. He’s rated 151 over hurdlers, which at the present moment is a pound higher than the favourite for the race, Thyme Hill,” Pipe told the Tote.

The added experience the gelding has may well be in his favour too. Six of the last seven winners of the Albert Bartlett had at least four runs over obstacles under rules to their name when lining up, something the likes of market principles Thyme Hill, Monkfish and The Big Breakaway cannot claim.

Ramses De Teillee 1

With a potential Grand National run on the cards after the Festival, it wouldn’t be the most orthodox route to tackling the big fences at Aintree, but it appears to have been the plan all along for Pipe:

“We were always going to take advantage of him still being a novice. We decided that this season would be a good season to do it and he’s taken to it very well.

“I don’t know about the Grand National yet, we’ll get the Albert Bartlett out of the way first and then we’ll see. He’s not a definite runner in the National yet.”

Double-handed for Bumper

Since landing the Champion Bumper with Moon Racer in 2015, there has only been one horse out of Pond House compete in Wednesday’s closing contest.

With that in mind, it might be a surprise to see two David Pipe-trained horses prominent in the betting for the race this time round.

Israel Champ has followed a similar path to Ballyandy who landed the Champion Bumper for Nigel Twiston-Davies in 2016, by taking in Listed contests at Cheltenham and Ascot en route to the Festival. Success in those two contests have seen him emerge as a real contender.

“He’s done all the talking himself. He’s been to Cheltenham, he handles the track and won’t be phased by the big occasion or anything like that,” David Pipe told us.

“He probably has the best form of the English bumper horses to take on the Irish.”

Israel Champ

Pipe’s firepower for the race improved dramatically recently, with the arrival of the previously Willie Mullins-trained Panic Attack.

A dominant display at Market Rasen threw her into Champion Bumper picture, and her new trainer is excited about unleashing her at Prestbury Park.

“She’s been a lovely addition to the yard and seems to have settled in quite well. Obviously she was impressive at Market Rasen and showed a good turn of foot that day.

“When she goes in the bumper, she’ll get her four-year-old allowance and her mare’s allowance, so will be getting 15lbs off some of the geldings, which is a lot of weight.”

A case of wait and see in the handicaps

The handicaps are where many racing fans would associate a David Pipe-trained Cheltenham Festival winner, and this season he could be well represented.

For which races many of his horses run in though, much is still up in the air.

Eden Du Houx holds a plethora of handicap entries, as well as an entry in both the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle. It could be that he targets one of the Grade 1 options if his rating proves too low for a handicap engagement.

“We’d go the handicap route if we could get in, but I’m not sure we’ll get in. So it may be the case we take our chance in one of the novices,” Pipe told us.

“He ran well at Ascot and would have finished second had he not made a mistake three out. There’s more to come from him and he seems to have come out of the race well, so hopefully we’ll end up in something at Cheltenham.”

It could be a case of running in whichever race he can get in for Eamon An Cnoic, too, and his trainer is convinced he could yet land a decent race.

“He ran very well in the Brown Advisory last year. He’s in the Grand Annual and Brown Advisory again and will run in one of those races.”

“He’s a decent horse, he’s off the same mark as last year and I keep saying he’s going to win a big race at some point. He’s not quite done it yet, but lets hope that it happens in March this year.”

“On his best form he will have a chance in whichever race he goes for. We’ll see how soft it is at Cheltenham, but it also might be a case of running him in the race we actually get in.”

Eamon An Cnoic

For Umbrigado, it looks like he’s on a bit of a recovery mission this term, but Pipe isn’t giving up hope just yet. “He was decent for us last season, but has been a little bit frustrating this year so far.”

“If we could get him back to his A game, he’d have a chance in either the Coral Cup or my father’s race.”

Perhaps the most intriguing of handicap possible for Pipe is new arrival in the yard, Leoncavallo.

Previously with Dr Richard Newland, the eight-year-old has run well without winning this term and could make his stable debut at the Festival.

“He’s entered in the County and has got some very good form over two miles so we’re just learning about him at the moment. He’s got some nice form in the book already so hopefully we can continue that.”

“We let them settle in [before getting into a routine]. Obviously we already know what he has done on the track, it’s in the form book and you can make your own assessment, put the two together and hopefully come up with the right answer.”

Having got within four lengths of subsequent Grade 3 winner Not So Sleepy, despite giving him 21lbs, as well as finishing second behind a subsequent scorer at Ayr when giving away 10lbs, the yard’s newest recruit could be interesting off his current handicap mark.

Flying form could continue

A Festival triumph would cap an upturn in fortunes for the Pond House supremo who has faded into the relative wilderness in recent years.

Only Un Temps Pour Tout has triumphed for Pipe at the Festival in the last four years, with back-to-back wins in the Ultima in 2016 and 2017.

But with a strike-rate of 19% so far this season, a marked improvement on the 12% and 9% recorded in the previous two campaigns, now might be the time to catch David Pipe runners on the big occasions.

Asked if he could put this improvement down into anything in particular, Pipe said “There are lots of different factors. We’ve changed the way we mind the horses, we put in a sand gallop a couple of years ago, so there are lots of different things as well as the hard work from everyone back at the yard.”

“The season’s going well, so hopefully we can finish it well and then crack on for the next one.”

Pond House

A return to the winner’s enclosure at the Cheltenham Festival would certainly put this down as a particularly successful one for the man who’s already tasted Festival success 14 times as a trainer.


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