No show like a Joe show for trainer Curtis

WELSH trainer Rebecca Curtis rescued a nightmare season as her 33-1 outsider Joe Farrell clung on for a heartstopping nose win in the £215,000 Coral Scottish National.

A week after Tiger Roll held on for a fastdiminishing head success in the Grand National at Aintree, Adam Wedge-ridden Joe Farrell passed the post a nose in front but would have been collared by runner-up Ballyoptic in another stride.

It was an outcome which saved the bookies. The runner-up was a well-backed 9-1 shot while Vintage Clouds and Doing Fine, both 12-1, were third and fourth.

But it was a result that meant much more than pounds and odds for Curtis (right).

The big success was only the ninth of a torrid season during which the trainer split from her long-time partner Gearoid Costelloe and saw her horses struggle for form.

But Joe Farrell’s part owner London-based Mark Sherwood, a longtime supporter of Curtis, had urged her to run telling her a success in Britain’s fourth biggest betting race would put the trainer ‘back in the spotlight’.

Curtis, who had never been to Ayr before, said: ‘Joe Farrell has been in great form at home.

‘I was quietly confident and we had nothing to lose.

‘It has been an awful season. I lost half the horses I had and a lot of things happened in my personal life as well. We can hopefully start again next year.’ Dual winner Vicente looked like he could play a part and make history with a third consecutive win but his jumping let him down in the closing stages. He also lost both hind shoes.

Jockey Sam TwistonDavies said: ‘He came off the bridle four fences from home and the fences then became quite hard work.’