FOX’S MINTY
Irish ace stays cool to win Grand National No2
THE bookies’ nightmare was a student’s dream at Aintree yesterday as Corach Rambler beat the field – and the Grand National beat the saboteurs.
The first favourite to win the race since Tiger Roll in 2019 had an Irish jockey with Sligo native Derek Fox in the saddle.
And he had the punters cheering, but none louder than Cameron Sword, the 21-year-old Heriot-watt University student who is part of the syndicate that owns the horse.
Fox, 30, was only confirmed to ride on the eve of the Grand National – 10 days after taking a crashing fall at Wetherby and suffering an injury.
His win was a repeat of the 2017
triumph with One For Arthur – who died from colic last month at the age of 14.
On that occasion Fox had to recover from a broken wrist to take the victorious ride on One for Arthur.
Trainer Lucinda Russell admitted afterwards she was in tears for most of the race.
She broke the Irish domination of the world’s greatest steeplechase, just as she did six years ago.
Lucinda said: “We’ve just spread some of Arthurs’ ashes at the finishing line. “It’s very fitting he has passed the baton to Corach today. “Arthur was a life-changer – he gave me confidence and he taught us how to get a horse right for the day – and now Corach is as well. “He will change the owners’ lives for sure.” Student Sword travels the 20 miles or so from Edinburgh to Lucinda Russell’s Kinross stables to check in on Corach Rambler once a month. “There will need to be an extra pack of Polos in his pocket next time,” he said after the race. The seven-strong collective – The Ramblers – paid just €19,000 between them for a horse which, having already
won almost €220,000 from his two Cheltenham victories, yesterday landed a €550,000 first prize.
The rest of the gang include a Scottish accountant, Thomas Kendall, and an Australian-based Scot who flew in for the race called William Wallace. He must have been particularly overjoyed at a Braveheart run that saw the nine-year-old track then dispatch the leaders in magnificent style.
Irish-bred horses were second, third and fourth – Gavin Cromwell’s Vanillier at 20/1, Willie Mullins’ Galliard Du Mesnil at 10/1 and last year’s winner Noble Yeats a gallant fourth at 10/1.
At one point it looked like the race might not go ahead after nine animal rights protesters breached the ring of steel around Aintree and carried through on their threat to disrupt the race. But they failed in their attempt to glue themselves to the fences and after a 14-minute delay – and the scrapping of the usual parade in front of the stands – the most famous horse race in the world was run for the 175th time.
Merseyside Police arrested 23 people as protesters breached security fences while the runners were in the parade ring, causing a delay of 12 minutes.
The protesters may not have succeeded in their plan but the
death of Sandy Thomson’s Hill Sixteen made an uncomfortable point for them. Recite A Prayer and Cape Gentleman also needed treatment in the stables after falls. Changes introduced a decade ago which saw the fences softened, the distance reduced and new procedures for loose horses have made the race a safer environment – but three horses have still died in the past two years. The Willie Mullins-trained Dark Raven was also put down after a fall earlier in the afternoon in the Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle.