Martin Pipe rewrote the record books yet again yesterday when he became Britain's most successful jumps trainer of the century. Victory by Bamapour, under stable jockey Tony McCoy, in the Newton Abbot Annual Members Claiming Hurdle at the Devon course gave him a career total of 2,645 winners - one more than the tally of the late Arthur Stephenson.

It was Pipe's fourth winner of the afternoon, with Joliver having scored at Fontwell and McCoy having already partnered Maousse Honor and Fabulon to success.

Pipe has reached the landmark in double-quick time as Stephenson was training for 46 years whereas Pipe got off the mark less than a quarter of a century ago.

The first success for the bookmaker's son from Somerset came with the aptly-named Hit Parade in a hurdle race at Taunton in 1975. His achievements since that success read like those of a man hell-bent on making history.

After single-figure seasonal tallies of winners in the 1970s, he improved his total every year in the next decade and in 1987/88 his 129 victories set a record - which he beat himself in the next three seasons culminating in the monster tally of 230 in 1990/91.

And Pipe's addiction to winning has seen him set - and regularly break - new marks for the fastest 50, 100 and 150 winners in a season. There have been numerous other achievements.

He has twice landed a record-equalling four races at the Cheltenham Festival and he won the Champion Hurdle with both Granville Again and Make a Stand and the Grand National with Miinnehoma.

Pipe is one of only two trainers, along with Jenny Pitman, to have a "full-house" of Nationals, having also won the Irish, Scottish and Welsh equivalents.

He has virtually made the Welsh National his own, winning the Chepstow marathon five times and sending out the first four home in 1992.

Pipe heaped praise upon his jockeys, both past and present, mentioning Peter Scudamore and Richard Dunwoody, among others, as key former members of his team.

Pipe continued: "I have no plans to give up training, but don't tell my son that! When I began all those years ago, I never thought I would get this number of winners. But I have a tremendous staff who have always backed me at Nicholashayne.

"My first winner was Hit Parade and one other person I'd like to thank is my dad, who is top of that."

Pipe's three further runners after Bamapour's success each finished in second place.