Tindall delight as Dude claims third spot
MIKE TINDALL wouldn’t have moved any quicker had he been surging towards the posts at Twickenham.
In Aintree’s unsaddling area, the former England captain was making a beeline to the place marked with a big number ‘3’, with his wife, Zara Phillips, in pursuit. Not even a hug from AP McCoy could check his momentum.
No wonder. Tindall had just seen Monbeg Dude, the horse whom he owns with James Simpson-Daniel and Nicky Robinson, run his heart out and wanted to be in place for when the old warrior, who was sent off at 40/1, returned.
Monbeg Dude is now 10 and, according to his jockey Liam Treadwell, ‘likes to do things at his own pace’ but his resolution is not in question and this was the latest wonderful day he had given his owners and trainer Michael Scudamore.
Think about this for a CV: a Welsh Grand National in January 2013, victory in a big chase at Cheltenham in December 2013 and being placed in a Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury last November, then this. Not bad for a horse that cost £12,000.
While the exultant connections of winner Many Clouds were celebrating a few yards away, their joy was almost matched by the happiness of the Monbeg Dude team; as Michael shook his head in wonder, his father
*** Peter, the former champion jump jockey, dashed to engulf him in a bear hug.
Here was thumping evidence that no other race stirs the emotions quite like the Grand National. The £88,400 was by far the biggest pot Monbeg Dude has collected in his 24race career but the reactions of Tindall et al showed this was about far more than money.
‘Pride is the word I would use,’ said Scudamore. ‘I am so happy for the horse. He is unbelievably tough and brave. To put in a performance like that after coming here last year [finishing seventh], I am just so proud. The owners are buzzing, so is the jockey.’
Treadwell, who won the Grand National in 2009, when steering Mon Mome to a 100/1 success, said: ‘I am absolutely delighted. The horse didn’t even know he had been in a race. He got hampered at Becher’s Brook the first time and that checked his momentum, but he has given me a fantastic ride.
‘Last year he looked like he was going to be the winner going to the last and there was a point when I thought my run was going to take me there this time but he just flattened out a bit at The Elbow. But what a great day. I really appreciate everything about this atmosphere now.’
He wasn’t the only one. Aintree, even when you are defeated, is a place where dreams can come true.