BRITAIN’S leading Weatherbys Champion Bumper contender Windbeneathmywings has been ruled out of next week’s Cheltenham Festival after suffering a setback.

A bumper winner in Ireland for trainer Pat Flynn, the five-year-old made a scintillating British debut for David Pipe at Ascot in December when beating a whole host of previous winners by upwards of 14 lengths at listed level.

Connections have since kept their powder dry for the spring and an appearance at Prestbury Park was under consideration, but he will not be heading to the Cotswolds.

In a statement posted on his website, Pipe said: “Windbeneathmywings will not be heading to the Champion Bumper on Wednesday. One of the favourites for the race since bolting up at Ascot before Christmas we were very much looking forward to seeing him in action but sadly, he has suffered a setback.

“It is a big blow to owners Professor Caroline Tisdall and Geoff Thompson, and to the team at home, but hopefully it is just a minor setback. He is a huge talent with a big future and we will give him all the time he needs.”

The most recent British-trained horse to win the Champion Bumper was Ballyandy in 2016.

Following the enforced withdrawl of Windbeneathmywings, the first five in the betting for next Wednesday’s race are Irish-trained. The Paul Nicholls-trained No Drama This End (12/1) is the shortest-priced British entry.

Despite this latest blow, David Pipe has a few chances of a winner next week, at a meeting where he has trained 15 winners since 2007.

He trains in the peaceful surroundings of the Somerset Devon border, where the tranquility defies the proximity of the M5 and the A38.

This is where David’s father Martin rewrote the record books and from where David, the current Master of Pond House, has prepared a Grand National hero and scores of other big race winners. His roll of honour includes breaking the 11th commandment ‘Thou shalt not win the same handicap with the same horse at the Cheltenham Festival more than once’ on two occasions when chaser Un Temps Pour Tout won back to back Ultimas in 2016 and 2017. Buena Vista did likewise when landing what many thought impossible - winning the Pertemps Final in 2010 and 2011.

David Pipe proved what he had learned as assistant to his father with his very first Festival success 18 years ago - Gaspara won the Fred Winter Hurdle having claimed the Imperial Cup at Sandown Park the previous weekend, so claiming the bonus offered for the dual success.

Previous form

Pipe and Professor Caroline Tisdall, joint-owner of Windbeneathmywings, have previous form in the Bumper having celebrated Moon Racer’s win in 2015 when the horse was so fragile he could not run from an autumn Bumper triumph until the big day.

These are exciting times for Pipe and also for Caroline Tisdall, whose other Festival hopes include Bumper entrant Gameofinches, trained by Willie Mullins. She also part-owns the unbeaten Final Demand, again trained by Mullins and set to run in the Wednesday opener, the Turners Novice Hurdle. Tisdall will also be represented at Cheltenham by two French-trained horses - Iceo Madrik in the GlenFarclas Cross Country and Jet Blue in the Albert Bartlett.

Pipe said of his team: ‘We have a small squad. Gericault Roque, who was third on his comeback run at Windsor in January after more than two years out, will probably run in either the National Hunt Chase or the Kim Muir and we’ve a couple of possibles for the Pertemps Final.

“He finished second at the Festival in 2022 he has only been seen three times since which includes a third place in the December Gold Cup at Newbury that year. I was pleased enough with his comeback run, where he just got a little tired, but he has improved plenty for that at home and I cannot wait to see him back in action next week.

“King Turgeon holds an entry in the Ultima Handicap Chase at Cheltenham on Tuesday. Plan A, was to run at Doncaster last Saturday but unfortunately he was a non-runner after pricking his foot the day before. Thankfully he has taken no time at all to recover and he was back full of beans on the gallops on Monday morning. Perhaps he was telling us he wanted to go to Cheltenham! I shall be discussing options with his owners before the confirmation stage later this week but he is another who will appreciate the drying conditions and he may well take his chance.”

Pipe is well aware too that the annual outbreak of mischief from his father is on the cards as to his failure to win the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle, which he has been trying to land for more years than it took Sir A.P. McCoy to banish his Grand National hoodoo.

“We have an entry - a horse named Punta Del Este who has recently come to the yard from the Skeltons. He will have a run somewhere beforehand and we’ll see,” he said.

David Pipe knows that to be a Cheltenham Festival winner you do need that most import element - luck. He’s the only British trainer in the last 20 years to win the Champion Bumper at Punchestown when The Liquidator, ridden by Jane Mangan, claimed the spoils in 2013, but watching those Cheltenham replays has reminded him of the good fortune needed on the day. “Moon Racer was supposed to be racing prominently in his bumper year but missed the break - the gaps opened at just the right time.”

After the setback to stable star Windbeneathmywings, the Pipe team deserves a change of luck.

But whatever happens next week, you can bet that Pipe will be plotting plenty of big race targets for this exciting young talent, possibly some big staying handicaps at Royal Ascot and Newmarket, as well as top class contests over jumps.