Tamarinbleu strikes blow for a new generation

Pipe and Scudamore used to be the names on everyone's lips when it came to jump racing and they were once again at the Berkshire track, even if it is a different generation of jockey and trainer combination.

It is many years since eight-times champion Peter Scudamore retired, not so long since trainer Martin Pipe did likewise, but in sons Tom and David they have fine upholders of their family names and they teamed up for a fine double with Lough Derg and Tamarinbleu.

Scudamore had to give Lough Derg a ride straight out of his father's book with a gritty performance after being taken on for the lead in the Holloway's Handicap Hurdle by bottom weight Warne's Way. Shoving and pushing Lough Derg for most of the two-and-a-half mile journey, Scudamore made the best of the horse's stamina as the eight-year-old outstayed his younger rival.

In the feature event, the Victor Chandler Chase, Scudamore's task on Tamarinbleu was made considerably easier when the other front-runner in the race, Ashley Brook, ran a shocker and was never able to be competitive, leaving the Pipe horse to enjoy an uncontested lead.

Scudamore has become better and better at judging the pace on front-runners and here he timed the fractions to perfection.

Favourite Twist Magic loomed behind him after the fourth last, seemingly full of running. But Twist Magic is not blessed with boundless stamina and when Ruby Walsh asked him to pick up the leader, the response was limited and he trailed by 12 lengths at the line.

None the less, Twist Magic still finished clear of Irish raider, Mansony, who had sweated and looked edgy in the paddock, and was further ahead of his stablemate Hoo La Baloo - a tired fifth - than he had been when winning the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown.

The winning time was around eight seconds faster than in the novices' chase won by Wee Robbie from Mahogany Blaze, although the comparison between the two races may be slightly misleading as Mahogany Blaze and Marodima almost certainly went off too fast too soon.

The Tingle Creek was under three seconds quicker than Marodima's was in beating Mahogany Blaze on that same Sandown card last month and there are certainly grounds for considering that Twist Magic ran to his form. His Queen Mother Champion Chase prospects took a knock with this defeat, but his trainer Paul Nicholls was putting a brave face on it. 'Cheltenham will be a different story,' he said. 'It was the ground. I was a bit worried about it at Sandown, but it was much softer today.'

True, the ground at Cheltenham is most unlikely to be as testing as yesterday's and the distance of the Champion is a little shorter, but the finishing hill at Prestbury Park has claimed plenty of victims and the stunning turn of speed Twist Magic showed when scoring on faster ground at Aintree last year could be compromised.

The two-mile chase department does lack strength in depth yet Tamarinbleu is not a certain runner. His trainer attributed his great improvement over fences to the application of blinkers and he is now unbeaten in three races over fences with the headgear. He won the Boylesports Gold Cup at Cheltenham with a big weight in a fast time on his previous outing and that was the event won by Exotic Dancer before his seconds to Kauto Star in the King George and last year's Gold Cup.

Pipe explained: 'He was unable to jump properly in top-class races but he has got his act together in the blinkers,' before adding that Tamarinbleu has entries in the Gold Cup and Ryanair Chase as well as the Champion. After this beating of a horse rated a stone higher than him, handicaps are going to be out over fences but Pipe was not ruling the horse out of a return to hurdles for the Coral Cup. His hurdle rating was 12lb below his chase rating going into the Victor Chandler and still 3lb below his Boylesports' mark.

However, when he sits down to consider the options, Pipe will surely go for the glory of the Champion Chase, a race his father never managed to win in his record-breaking career, although he had several runners placed, including Beau Ranger, third in 1989 for Arthur White, father of Tamarinbleu's owners, Sarah and John. Another family connection.