Another Pipe burst after the freeze-up

Martin Pipe, who won three of the five races at the first meeting on turf since the freeze ended at Exeter on Monday, yesterday recorded a 31-1 double on the first completed meeting on grass at Lingfield with Valiant Toski and Terao.

He said later that the bad weather had hit him rather than his horses. "I came off my bicycle on the ice the other day," he said after Terao's win had given his stable five wins out of the first 10 jump races run this year.

"The secret of why our horses are so fit is the woodchip gallop which we put down ourselves some years ago. It's turned out a few winners. We can work even if we have to box the horses up and drive them down to it."

n The Charlie Brooks-trained Garolo and Graham Bradley gave Britain a first overseas success of 1996 in the Prix Jacques Pinel de Grandchamp at Cagnes-Sur-Mer yesterday.