Parchment out to stake early Triumph claim for Pipe

David Pipe is set to unleash exciting French import Parchment in the JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle at Cheltenham on Saturday.

A winner of his only start in France when trained by Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm, he has since switched to Pond House ahead of a race Pipe’s father Martin won seven times during his decorated training career.

Pipe said: “He’s a nice three-year-old who obviously won well in France and he goes nicely at home and has schooled well.

“It looks a very competitive race, but it’s a nice starting point.

“He’s come from a good team and knew his job before he came to me and we’ve been pleased with what we’ve seen since.”

In more recent times, it has been James Owen who has been the man to follow in this Grade Two contest and after saddling Burdett Road and East India Dock to win the past two seasons, he now turns to Queen’s Vase sixth Hallelujah U and easy Ludlow scorer Kate O’Riley in search of a hat-trick.

Owen said: “Kate O’Riley won on debut and would have stepped forward a lot from that. This is a lot tougher, but we’ll see where we are with her.

“Hallelujah U has done plenty of schooling and brings a high rating off the Flat. He lacks the experience of some of the others in the race and he’s going to improve a lot for the run experience-wise, but it will be interesting to see how he goes.

“We’re hoping he can run well – we like him. We were thinking about getting a run into him before but he’s a horse who appreciates a bit of cut in the ground, so we just thought we’d go here first time. The ground shouldn’t be a problem at all.”

Hallelujah U and Kate O’Riley will both carry the colours of the Gredley family who provided Dan Skelton with his only previous winner in this race with Allmankind in 2019.

This time around Skelton will hold strong claims with Auteuil winner Precious Man who will be the Lodge Hill team’s first runner for leading owner Johnny de la Hey.

Others to note include Gavin Cromwell’s raider Secret Force who was an impressive six-and-a-half length winner at Punchestown on his hurdling bow and Harry Derham’s One Horse Town who has been busy having already racked-up a hat-trick over hurdles, including a 10-length win at Kempton last time out.