JOCKEY HOLDS TIGHT FOR RECORD
RICHARD Cully does not need to be reminded to hold on tight when champion jumper Wells tilts at history tomorrow.
Cully knows it better than anyone after falling from the saddle midway through last year’s Grand National Steeplechase at Ballarat.
He and the veteran jumper, trained by husbandand-wife duo Kathryn and Craig Durden, were attempting to win the famous race for a fourth time last year when the horse made an “uncharacteristic mistake”, dumping his rider.
But as a second crack at the record awaits tomorrow, Cully — who still has not watched last year’s race — said he was more determined than ever.
“Nobody needs to tell me (to tie myself on),” he said.
“Nobody beats themselves up more than I did, I can guarantee you that.
“I haven’t watched it. I’ve fallen off horses before. I know, it’s one of those things.
“For it to happen in that race was freakish. I don’t need to watch it again.”
Cully, who was not injured in the fall, has piloted Wells — who tomorrow carries his biggest career weight of 73.5kg — in all three of his Grand National Steeplechase wins.
The 12-year-old is the bravest horse he has sat aboard “by far”.
“He’s got such a will to win, and a will to please as well,” Cully said.
“The more you ask of him, the more he gives. He just keeps on sticking his head out.
“He knows when you ease up that his job is done, but the more you squeeze and the more you ask him he keeps sticking his head out.”
Cully still gets nervous, but said he had enjoyed a more subdued build-up compared with last year, which he admitted became “a bit crazy”.
“You get just a few butterflies. It is the biggest race of the year, so if you didn’t get them then there’d be something wrong with you,” he said. “There’s a couple of other chances in it, too. He’d probably be a bigger price this year, so that probably takes a bit of the pressure off again, but it’s no harm.
“We just turn up and do what we can and if he’s good enough, he’s good enough.”