The 15-time champion trainer leaves behind a legacy that will live long. BBC Sport's Cornelius Lysaght and Luke Harvey lead the tributes.

Cornelius Lysaght BBC racing correspondent

Martin Pipe's Nicholashayne yard will be run by his son David

Racing is full of fairytales about those who achieve things despite this, that, or the other, but Martin Pipe's fairytale is perhaps the most extraordinary of them all.

Back in the mid-1970s, the Jockey Club nearly stopped him from continuing as a trainer because his early years had been so unsuccessful.

There was talk that his first win - Hit Parade at Taunton in 1974 - came just in time to save him from being asked to discontinue. It is quite remarkable when you consider he has gone on to become the most successful trainer in jump racing ever.

Despite his inauspicious start, he set about revolutionising racing. He got horses fitter than they had ever been, his approach was new and - having learned, analysed and studied everything he could - he took training to a different level.

He did things with race horses that no-one else could - he performed magic Cornelius Lysaght

He has completely dominated the sport for nearly 20 years. He has set new standards, with every other trainer in the country now replicating his methods in an attempt to keep up with him.

For years he created the champion jockey. Peter Scudamore, Richard Dunwoody, Tony McCoy - all of them under Martin Pipe.

Simply, he did things with race horses that no-one else could. He performed magic.

Luke Harvey BBC Five Live racing pundit

Martin's retirement is a massive shock.

I was lucky enough to have one ride with him. It was the day before a race meeting at Bangor-on-Dee and I received a phone call from Martin, asking me to jockey Mugoni Beach.

Of course at first I thought it was a wind-up! But I got there on the morning ready to run and just asked Martin: "What are my orders?"

He has completely changed the face of jump racing Luke Harvey

He simply replied: "Jump out at the start and run as fast as you possibly can." So I did and we won by 25 lengths!

That was symptomatic of Martin. He got the horses ready for races like never before.

His legacy is simple in that he took training to a completely new plane. In years gone by there were traditional ways to work with horses and ways to get them race-ready, but he didn't copy anyone and approached it in a completely revolutionary way.

He has completely changed the face of jump racing.