Pipe keeping cards close to his chest but is aiming for the moon

Sometimes you don't need to have a winner. Sometimes you don't even need to have a runner. Sometimes you just need to have a dream, and the buzz looks after itself.

"Take Mr Clarkson," says David Pipe, so we do. "He was runner-up to Finian's Oscar in a point-to-point and was bought for a bunch called Pipe's Prospectors, there are all sorts of people in that syndicate.

"Now, it's likely that he'll go to Cheltenham - he's in the Albert Bartlett - but even the simple fact that he's got an entry has got them all going. They're all on about tickets already.