Windbeneathmywings nearing take off for hurdling campaign

David Pipe’s former Champion Bumper hope Windbeneathmywings is working towards a late-autumn comeback as a hurdling career awaits.

The five-year-old gelding notched up three fruitful bumper runs in Ireland before joining Pipe, making his debut for the stable in a Listed National Hunt Flat race last December and strolling to a 14-length success.

He quickly became a warm order for the Cheltenham Festival contest of the same nature, but a setback ruled him out of the rest of the term and he has since been given plenty of time to regroup ahead of an imminent hurdling campaign.

“He’s in good order, he’s coming along really nicely and like a lot of people, we’re just waiting for a bit of rain,” said Pipe.

“We’re hoping to get him out at the end of October or the beginning of November, he’s strengthened up and seems to have grown a little bit.

“He’s going very nicely at home, he’s got a bit more schooling to do but he’d done a fair bit of jumping in Ireland and he’s a very athletic horse.

“We’ll try to give him a nice introduction somewhere, we’re working back from Cheltenham and the Supreme, we’ll start off gradually and build him up.”

Pipe enjoyed further bumper success last term with Kingston Queen, who won the Listed Alan Swinbank Mares’ Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race at Market Rasen before finishing third in the Nickel Coin Mares’ event at Aintree.

She too is preparing for a hurdles campaign, and is at a similar stage to Windbeneathmywings.

“She’s very well, she’s on more or less the same time span to Windbeneathmywings in that she’ll be out at the end of this month or November,” said the trainer.

“We schooled her at the end of last season and she jumped well, she’ll probably start off in a mares’ hurdle somewhere.

“We’ll start off over two miles and see where we are. They’re not quite there yet anyway, but when the rain comes they’ll hopefully be good to go.”