The National Hunt racing season is now back in full swing and it’s all systems go at David Pipe’s stables on the Blackdown Hills at Nicholashayne, writes WWN racing correspondent Richard Walsh.

Pipe has 80 horses in training at his yard and when I called to see him he talked about how things were working out as a result of Covid-19.

“I think we were lucky because we had virtually finished the jumps season by the time the lockdown came along, whereas the flat season missed out on three months of their season,” he said.

“Fortunately jumps racing has now returned and we are back in action, albeit behind closed doors, which isn’t the same.

“The owners, trainers and jockeys are all allowed to go the races when their horses are involved but we have to stand in separate areas.

“The odd thing is that I can travel to and from the races with an owner but when we get there we have to stand apart!

“It’s not such a spectacle for the owners who do go along because there isn’t much atmosphere compared to what we are used to, so my advice to them is that if you have to travel a long way then it probably isn’t worth it.”

I asked Pipe how has the current financial situation affected racing. He said: “I don’t think it has really started to bite yet and it probably won’t until people start to lose their jobs and they start to feel the financial pinch, then it could well start to hit us.”

With the ground getting heavier the serious business of national hunt gets going for Pipe when Cheltenham hold their three-day November meeting.

I asked him for a couple of horses to follow this season and he said Stubborn Logic, a six-year-old who was third at Wincanton recently, and Neon Moon, a four-year-old who won a point-to-point race in Ireland in September.