Pipe in no hurry to replace McCoy
Martin Pipe stressed today that he is in no hurry to appoint a stable jockey after the shock departure of champion Tony McCoy from the Pond House yard.
Richard Johnson, runner-up to McCoy in the jockeys’ championship, was the original bookmakers’ favourite for the plum job, but he has ruled himself out.
Pipe told BBC Sport: “It really is early days yet. We’ve been awfully busy sorting everything out at home, just with the general running of the stable.
“I’ll be going away for a nice 10 days’ holiday and I shall be thinking about it then. The first three days I’ll sleep, but the rest of the time I’ll think about it.
“I don’t really know that we have to say we’ll have a stable jockey today, tomorrow or whenever.
“We have got some very goods lads at home who we’ll use and we’ll take it from there – and see who wants to come.”
Speaking of his prolific link with McCoy, the champion trainer added: “We’ve had a great association together and won lots of championships.
“There are too many highlights to remember really. Cheltenham Festival winners, Make A Stand (who won the Champion Hurdle in 1997), every winner was really enjoyable – because it was always on to the next one.”
Asked if he had the desire and the ammunition to win a 15th trainers’ title, Pipe went on: “I think we’ve got better horses this season than we had at the start of the last season, so definitely. We’ll certainly do out best.”
Writing in The Times today, Johnson said he preferred to continue his association with Philip Hobbs rather than switch to the Nicholashayne trainer.
He stated: “Mr Pipe has not come to me and offered the job, so it would be wrong to say I have turned it down.
“I knew, however, that my name would be bandied around and had already begun agonising when, through a third party, Mr Pipe asked if I would be interested.
“In the jockey world, that is the equivalent of asking a hungry man if he would like to eat out free in the Ritz for a year, so many will doubtless be astonished that I have now said I don’t wish to be considered for the feast.
“I have nothing but admiration for Mr Pipe, nor is there anything about the job of being his jockey that has deterred me.
“My decision, taken during an uncomfortably public day at Punchestown on Thursday, is based entirely on the positive aspects of the job I already do.
“Part of it is the mutual loyalty that has developed between Philip Hobbs and myself. Part of it is the feeling that there is still a great deal more that we can achieve together.”
Paddy Power now make the Pipe yard’s champion conditional rider Jamie Moore 5-4 favourite to take over as stable jockey.
They then go 7-2 Graham Lee, 4-1 Johnson, 5-1 Barry Geraghty, 7-1 Timmy Murphy, 14-1 Robert Thornton, 33-1 bar.
