Martin Pipe is the son of a West-Country bookmaker. An amateur jockey in his earlier years, he turned his hand to training in 1974 at Nicholashayne, Devon, near Wellington — a modest beginning for what would become one of the most dominant careers in racing history.
"His first winner came with Hit Parade in a selling hurdle at Taunton in May 1975 under Lenny Lungo."
Studying at Queens College Taunton, Martin's early efforts were unremarkable — but in 1981, a 66/1 shock victory by Baron Blakeney over red-hot favourite Broadsword in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham announced his arrival to the wider world. That was just the beginning.
It would be another 14 seasons before he would be crowned Champion Trainer for the first time, but once he arrived at the summit he would remain there almost uninterrupted. He trained successive Champion jockeys Peter Scudamore, Richard Dunwoody, David Bridgwater, and the legendary Tony McCoy.
Martin announced his retirement on grounds of ill-health on 29 April 2006, handing his yard to son David Pipe. He has since remained active as an owner — notably, his horse Gaspara, trained by David, won both the 2007 Imperial Cup and the Fred Winter Hurdle, earning Martin a £75,000 bonus.
In 2009, the Cheltenham Festival honoured him with the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle, a race bearing his name and cementing his place in racing history forever.
