Powerhouse stable on the rise again with quality team of youngsters

Following two lean seasons, the revival is under way big time at Pond House. With 36 winners on the board, David Pipe is poised to eclipse his tally for the whole of last season and he has already bettered his total for 2017-18.

His strike-rate, which had been in the doldrums, is back to a healthy 18 per cent, and the stat he is most proud of is he has won at least one race with 45 per cent of the horses he has run this season; that is second only to Brian Ellison among the current top 20.

With a double on the final day of Cheltenham’s truncated November meeting – a fixture he likes to target with a passion – it was almost like old times.