REVIEW OF THE YEAR
Perthshire flier sticks it to the elite as the National’s first Scots winner in 38 years
ONE FOR ARTHUR. Just a second for Scotland.
In 2017 the world’s greatest horse race belonged to Kinross.
Trained by Lucinda Russell and her team in Perthshire, One For Arthur became the first Scottish horse in 38 years since Rubstic and only the second in the history of the Grand National to triumph.
But this wasn’t just the winning of a race. It was a marker point. A justification.
In the multi-million-pound world of equine superstars, the game loved by many, success comes to so few.
National hunt racing is dominated by the big stables in Ireland such as Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott. In the jumping heartlands of England, powerhouse yards such as Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson mop up every big prize going.
The mega-money splashed by the likes of owners Michael O’Leary, JP McManus and Rich Ricci makes it virtually impossible for the little guys to win the big ones.
At Aintree in April, however, Russell and her Borders owners Belinda McClung and Deborah Thomson smashed that theory to pieces.
Taking apart 39 rivals over more than four gruelling miles at the famous racecourse in front of a worldwide audience of millions, One For Arthur sent his name into Scottish sporting folklore and proved you don’t need to have millions of pounds at the back of a yard to be able to beat the best.
This was a success savoured the length and breadth of the country.
Even non-racing fans had their hearts captured by the Tartan raider.
It was an unforgettable day for Scottish racing yet astonishingly the back story was of an almost near miss.
One For Arthur nearly didn’t run. Drying ground due to baking sunshine on Merseyside the previous day had placed his participation into jeopardy. As the spring rays heated the track on the Friday of the three-day meeting, Russell and partner Peter Scudamore, the famous ex-jockey, had concerns. One for Arthur showed a liking for the track during a spin in the Becher Chase five months previously but that run and a subsequent success at Warwick which booked the National ticket had come in soft ground. Jockey Derek Fox also nearly didn’t make it. Crunched in a fall at Hexham that left him with a broken left wrist and collarbone four weeks before the big day, he was having just his sixth ride back and his first in the race. In the end the ground was deemed fit and so was Fox. The rest is Scottish sporting history. The contest could not have gone any smoother to the plan. Russell had the horse cherry ripe to run for his life and Fox carried out the orders perfectly. Smuggled away at the back of the field for the first circuit, the initial part of the job was complete. In the National, half the battle during that first circuit is to avoid trouble, steer clear of fallers or mishaps, stay in the clear and in the race. Fox’s next move was to creep his mount into the race without conceding too much ground and leaving his charge too much to do in the final mile. Up front the commentators and crowd were consumed by those in the firing line. Favourites such as Blacklion were bang there and, turning for home, the Nigel Twiston-Davies runner and Elliott’s Cause Of Causes took over and raced to the front.
Many among the sellout crowd began to belt out support.
Scottish eyes, however, had glanced back to see Fox still coasting. Travelling a dream with a ton apparently in hand.
Russell had already made her mind up long before Arthur’s supporters or backers.
As far out as crossing the Melling Road with two fences to go, she turned confidently and excitedly to McClung and Thomson and said: “We’re going to win the Grand National.”
McClung and Thomson cheekily call their syndicate The Two Golf Widows as their partners are often away on the fairways. No one was missing on this historic day though.
Fox seized the moment. Stealthily making up the gaps to the leaders, he pounced to jump into the lead at the last.
Suddenly the voices that could be heard were Scottish.
Not just from the racecourse but from betting shops, pubs and living rooms across Scotland bellowing down the M74.
Many dreams have evaporated on that lung-bursting run-in.
Memories of Crisp folding and being run down by Red Rum in 1973, horses being caught on the line, agony.
Not a chance this time. Arthur ran to the line as if he’d joined the race at the halfway mark. Fresh as paint. Pounding them into submission.
One For Arthur, with a Saltire blazed across Fox’s silks, had four-and-a-half lengths to spare over Cause Of Causes as he crossed the line at odds of 14-1.
The enormity of Russell’s success was again shown as she became just the fourth female to train the winner, following Jenny Pitman, Venetia Williams and Sue Smith as National winners.
She said afterwards: “He’s done us proud and he’s done Scotland proud.”
One For Arthur certainly did.
Our top team pick out the moments that defined Scotland’s year of sport in 2017 By Craig Swan