David Pipe on Adagio’s Champion Hurdle chance after injury

DAVID Pipe hopes to get Adagio fit and firing in time for the Champion Hurdle after revealing the just-turned five-year-old has resumed training following a setback.

Winner of the Grade One Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow last season, Pipe’s charge went on to fill the runner-up position in the Triumph Hurdle and the 4-Y-O Anniversary Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree in the spring.

Having made a promising seasonal return when beaten three-quarters of a length by West Cork in the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham in November, Tom Scudamore’s mount missed an engagement in the International Hurdle after suffering a minor setback.

Pipe said: “He has only just started cantering so plans are on hold at the present moment.

“He just pulled a muscle. We are still aiming for the Champion Hurdle, but we would like to get a run in beforehand.

“It isn’t easy trying to find a race for him, as he is only eligible for the Kingwell Hurdle (at Wincanton on February 19) or the Betfair Hurdle (at Newbury on February 7) or races like that, so he has not got too many options.”

Burrow Seven – the horse inspired by rugby league legend Rob Burrow’s brave fight with MND – was second at Wetherby yesterday.

The concluding Bumper saw Bolton, trained by the in-form Rebecca Menzies, prevail from the Jedd O’Keefe-trained horse ridden by conditional rider Oakley Brown and watched by the former Headingley star.

The gelding is owned by the Burrow Seven Racing Club, which was launched in November 2020 to raise money for former Leeds Rhinos rugby league star Rob Burrow’s motor neurone disease Fight Back Fund.

Profits raised from the club are split equally between the MND Association and Leeds Hospital Charities, with funds raised so far for the two totalling more than £100,000.