Martin Pipe

Martin Charles Pipe (born 29 May 1945), He retired in 2006. His son, David Pipe, took over as trainer with Pipe assisting. As of 2021 he was the most successful trainer in the history of British jump racing.

Early life and education Pipe was born to Dave and Betty Pipe; his father was a bookmaker who owned or managed 45 betting shops. He left school with three O-levels. He hired Chester Barnes, a former table tennis champion, as his assistant. Before the race, Pipe's bookmaker father announced “I intend to lay the horse to any punters who want to back it with me. Mark my words, Martin will never train a winner.” After Hit Parade won, Pipe's father told him "You never trained that horse. [Previous trainer] Gay Kindersley gets that winner." with no preconceived notions or received wisdom, Pipe changed his training methods, which started out following what was typical at the time, and when he started winning races others became suspicious of his methods. ITV did an edition of The Cook Report in 1991 that according to the Racing Post "basically accused Pipe of every dodgy practice short of witchcraft"

Pipe's partnership with jockey Scudamore from 1986 through 1993 (when Scudamore retired) was particularly successful; the racing post wrote:"Many trainers have copied the methods of Martin Pipe in recent decades and several jockeys have superseded the numerical achievements of Peter Scudamore, but none can claim to have cut such a swathe through racing’s centuries-old idyll as the pair who arrived like an act of God in the closing years of the 1980s."

Pipe also employed assistants who went on to become notable trainers themselves, including Tom Dascombe and Venetia Williams.

Pipe was also associated with multiple notable racehorse owners, including David Johnson, Paul Green, Freddie Starr, Terry Neill, Brian Kilpatrick, Darren Mercer, John Brown, Omerta, In 1991 Carvill's Hill, owned by Paul Green and under Scudamore, "demolished" the National, carrying top weight and finishing 20 lengths ahead going away in soft, heavy going. (See external link below.)

On eight occasions Pipe trained over 200 winners in one season, with a record tally of 243 in 1999–2000 and an amazing lifetime tally of 4183 European winners. He saddled a total of 34 winners at the Cheltenham Festival, including two Champion Hurdles with Granville Again in 1993 and novice Make A Stand in 1997, though victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup eluded him (Rushing Wild came second in 1993). He also won the 1994 Grand National with Miinnehoma for owner Freddie Starr. In 2009 Pipe was honoured with the creation of a new race at the Cheltenham Festival named after him, the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle.

Methods Pipe is described by the Racing Post as having "revolutionised" how racehorses are trained. Pipe's methods came into wide use and became industry standards throughout the racing world. In 2005 the Guardian called him "the man who changed jump racing for good" and in 2006, after his retirement, "the most successful trainer in the history of jump racing".

Personal life Pipe married Carol Tyson, whom he met while they were both working in the Pipe family's bookmaking business, in 1971. Martin Pipe's father died in 2002. Pipe was appointed a CBE in 2000 for services to racing.