CAN’T AYR BRUSH ME OUT OF HISTORY
Owner McNeill is praying for winning return to his boyhood hometown
Max McNeill hatched a plan at the beginning of the jump-racing season to target Ayr’s showpiece.
In truth, the idea has actually been in the making for about 40 years.
It’s been in his mind since he was an excited teenager making his way from his house down the road and on to the course for the Scottish Grand National.
McNeill is one of the game’s most popular and distinguished owners. Now 57, he is a successful business man
based down south having bui lt the Ult ima Bus ine s s Solutions company into a major success. However, away from his graft, the passion is racing.
And it’s a passion that has roots in Scotland after he spent many of his formative years in Dunoon, Ayr and Glasgow.
Son of a former golf professional Ted, Blackburn-born McNeill came north as a kid and fell in love with the sights, sounds and spectacle of the racing at Ayr where his old man was a course member. His love for the game took him into horse ownership. He’s had major success with the l ikes of Walkon, Grumeti and, arguably, his best, Mille Chief carrying his red, blue and white colours to successes. While each individual triumph has b e en savoured, McNeill admits he took g rea t satisfaction from Dino Velvet’s win at the meeting 12 months ago. He made a choice right there and then to come back team-handed in 2019 to where it all virtually started. He traced the story back almost four decades as he told MailSport: “My old man was a golf pro and he retired in the early 1970s. “He was like a footballer when the y pa ck it, wondering what to do next. “He was mates with Jack Walker, the man behind Blackburn Rovers, and with his help bought a hotel in Dunoon. “It was amazing for me at that age. We had the submarine base at the Holy Loch, we had them building rigs up the other end and then they’d all meet in our hotel on a Friday night. “I was about nine or 10 and we lived there for three or four years before we moved down to Ayr. “We bought a place which is now called the St Andrews Hotel. Basically, we’d watch Ayr United a bit and go to the races because my old man was a member.
“It was a big thing and I’d go loads because he wouldn’t use his membership all of the time. I loved it.
“I was at the Scottish National in 1974 when Red Rum won but I can’t really remember a thing because I was too young.
“I recall the Nationals more when we lived in the town.
“Loads of people stayed at the hotel, we’d have a meal at the races and get a bet on, somehow.
“It was a great place to be and the memories come flooding back.
“From there, I moved to Glasgow then back down south around 1978 – but we’d still come back to Ayr regularly.
“But I literally hadn’t been back for 30 years before we ran Walkon in the Scottish National about 2012. “Then we had Grumeti in the Scottish Champion Hurdle but we didn’t have much success until last year when Dino Velvet won the handicap hurdle last year. “It’s a meeting we have targeted so this this year we decided to have a real crack at it.” McNeill discussed his plan with his top trainers and got just the response he wanted.
With champion trainer- elect Paul Nicholls amongst those agreeable, his runners this week could go into double figures.
McNeill enthused: “At the start of the season, we spoke with our trainers and suggested that we’d like to have a strong team to take to Ayr.
“They have all been on board with it from the outset.
“We have the likes of My Way with Paul Nicholls, Stop the World and Seddon with Tom George, Rintulla with Ben Pauling.
“It’s great to have a few spread around and it’s exciting.”
Seddon, his mum’s maiden name, will be there.
So will the Alan King-trained Senior Cit izen, the term to which he jokingly named after big brother Hugh.
McNeill won’t be the only one with a powerful hand.
The cream of jump racing are heading to the West Coast for the Friday and Saturday spectacular.
However, should he get into the Winners Enclosure again there’s unlikely to be many who will take as much in it as he will when his mind drifts back to those days of the 1970s.
McNeill said: “It’s a town I love and it’s great to go back. Even more so with a nice team of horses where, let’s be honest, you can have some success.
“You go Cheltenham and it can be brutal.
“It’s really hard and you wonder why you bother at times building yourself up so much for it.
“Ayr is still tough but you don’t have all the Irish going over and races are winnable with good prize money.
“It’ll be a great feeling to have so many and such a good team. I can’t wait. I’m really excited about it.”
Ayr is a town I love and it will be great to go back