Sport

Pipe and McCoy have four-timers

MARTIN PIPE and Tony McCoy dominated proceedings at Warwick yesterday, each bagging four winners from the card's six races

Wed Oct 23 1996 - 01:00

MARTIN PIPE and Tony McCoy dominated proceedings at Warwick yesterday, each bagging four winners from the card's six races. Pipe, who has yet to achieve his ambition of going through the card at a single meeting, may well regret not fielding a runner in two races yesterday as all four of his representatives won.

After Hamilton Silk and Jamie Osborne had given the Nicholashayne trainer his four-timer in the concluding Lord Leicester Hospital Handicap Hurdle, defeating McCoy and Kalzari, Pipe said: "Somebody told me I should have had two other runners. But it is hard to win one race, so it is nice to win four." McCoy and Pipe combined for three victories, with Doctor Green making all the running in the opening Ragley Hall Juvenile Novices Hurdle by nine lengths from Kalao Tua.

Indian Jockey followed up for the same combination in the Coughton Court Claiming Hurdle, but hardly in the manner expected from a 1 to 7 shot. Again in front from the start, McCoy needed all his strength to force the four-year-old to a short-head victory over Highly Charming.

McCoy completed his hat-trick when guiding Prerogative to a fencing debut success for trainer Stuart Howe in the Hatton Country World Novices' Chase. He then made it four wins for the day when Pipe's Evangelica defied top-weight in the Warwick Castle Handicap Chase. Poteen was the subject of a hefty gamble yesterday for the £75,000 Racing Post Trophy - even though his trainer is desperately searching for a jockey. The colt's price was slashed five points to 5 to 1 by Ladbrokes for the last Group One race of the season at Doncaster on Saturday.

READ MORE

Coral also report strong support, cutting him to 9 to 2 (from 8s) and the Tote go 11 to 2 from 10 to 1.

Poteen is bidding to make amends for his stablemate Mons' defeat when favourite for the Doncaster event 12 months ago. But many of the leading riders are in Canada at the weekend for the Breeders' Cup, leaving trainer Luca Cumani in a quandary over riding arrangements. Trainers Richard Hannon and David Nicholls have each scooped a £4,000 jackpot for winning the first prizes as top southern and northern stables respectively in the Rothmans North South Challenge series.