IT WAS a case of ‘third-itis’ last week with three of our five runners filling that position but Kintaro and Castle Daragh ran their best races for a while and took a step in the right direction while Kingston Queen ran a cracker in the Listed mares bumper at Aintree.

Kingston Queen has done nothing but improve all season and took another step forward to be a close third on Thursday. She was prominent throughout, galloped all the way through the line, showing a great attitude, and was closing on those in front of her in the final strides.

We do have a few entries this week and Kintaro will be our first runner on Wednesday at Taunton. He ran well enough at Exeter last week to be third where the conditions of the race were not in his favour and he has come out of that race well so we have decided to let him take his chance again. He loves the quicker ground and I am sure he will give our David Pipe Racing Club members a good day out, win, lose or draw.

On Thursday, we have Johannes and Eton Mes entered at Newton Abbot in their first race meeting of the year. On Friday, we are likely to have runners ‘up North’ and in Scotland! The plan is for Phantomofthepoints to run in the 2m5f handicap hurdle at Ayr. He is a former course winner and his owners are all-Scottish and will be there so hopefully he can give them all something to shout about.

At Sedgefield we have three horses entered and they all carry the colours of local owners ‘Sendemon’ and the plan is to run. Pub Crawl, Chemical Warfare and Chemical Dave who are all at different stages of their careers but it is great there are races for all three of them at this meeting.

The weekend is looking quiet for us but do keep checking the Daily News on the website for all the latest news on the stable runners.

Windebeneathmywings is recovering well from the injury he sustained just before Cheltenham. Thankfully, it was quite straightforward and after a period of box rest he is now on the walker twice daily and we are gradually increasing the time. In the coming weeks he will be turned out in a small paddock before a summer holiday and we can look forward to him going hurdling next season.

Vieux Lion Rouge went to Aintree on Saturday to parade and very much enjoyed his day. He paraded in the paddock and then in front of the grandstands before racing. Jack and I went to Aintree on Thursday when Kingston Queen ran and we had a great ‘boys’ day out but found it difficult to back any winners!

Aintree was a great three days of competitive racing and like Cheltenham, I thought in general it was a good advert for our sport. The Willie Mullins team dominated Aintree, including the big race itself and things now look interesting for the trainers Championship and it certainly adds interest to the final few weeks of the season.

It is a great achievement for father and son to win the Grand National together and you could see how much it meant to them.

David Pipe’s column as told to Richard Walsh