Armen brings Pipe to 150 mark

Martin Pipe hit 150 winners for the season when Armen made a pleasing debut under Tony McCoy in Division One of the Joe The Cap Memorial Maiden Hurdle at Plumpton yesterday.

McCoy reported that Armen, sent off a 4 to 1 chance, had "jumped with care on the dead ground" on his way to a 24-length defeat of Rob Leach.

The Tote were suitably impressed by the four-year-old and cut him to 25 to 1 from 50 to 1 for the Elite Racing Club Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.

McCoy made it two wins on Chalcedony, trained by Gary Moore, in the Ladbrokes Southdowns Handicap Hurdle. The winner took over from Croker approaching the second last, eventually beating Ayem by six lengths.

And McCoy completed a 22-3/4 to 1 treble aboard the Pipe-trained Majed, who defeated Ambry by seven lengths in Division Two of the maiden hurdle.

Irish Option, the 9 to 4 favourite for the Courage Best Novices' Chase, took the prize with a plucky display under Andrew Thornton.

Red Hot Indian looked dangerous in the closing stages but Josh Gifford's chestnut stuck his neck out to power away at the last and scored by a length and a half.

Gifford said: "He really enjoys his jumping. I thought we were going to get gobbled up, but he had other ideas."

There was a similar situation in the following Sun Punters' Club Novice Hurdle when Gayrann was going ominously well behind Noel Chance's Sea Ferry.

But with Gayrann making a dreadful hash of the final flight, Sea Ferry and Leighton Aspell made the best of his way home to win by five lengths from his far-from foot perfect rival.

Richard Johnson gave up his last two rides after aggravating an old knee injury during his ride on Atoski.