terrific Scu has a VIEUX

Jockey banking on Lion to end his long National drought

As soon as he won the Becher Chase, to me the National was the obvious race – Tom Scudamore

ONE glance back through the record of Tom Scudamore in the Grand National shows statistics that paint a similar picture to many of his other weighing-room colleagues.

In 15 previous attempts in the Aintree marathon, the 34-year-old has failed to complete on eight of those occasions, including 12 months ago when being unseated from Ballynagour.

It is a race that, while won by his grandfather Michael in 1959 on Oxo, eluded his father and eight-times champion jockey Peter, whose best finish was a third aboard Corbiere in 1985.

With time on his side to still become champion jockey, and having already gained a victory in the King George VI Chase this season, another race to escape his father’s grasp, Scudamore now hopes Vieux Lion Rouge can help him be the toast of Merseyside at the 16th time of asking.

Since finishing seventh in the race 12 months ago, the David Pipetrained eight-year-old has tasted victory on both his subsequent starts, backing up a win in the Becher Chase over the famous fences in December with victory in the National Trial at Haydock in February.

Scudamore said: “He ran well in the race last year and obviously he has won a Becher and the Grand National trial at Haydock. He seems to have matured an awful lot this year and I certainly wouldn’t be swapping him for anything at this stage.

“We came out of last year’s race thinking he hasn’t quite got home, but from what he did then in the Becher Chase when he just ground it out, if he hadn’t run in last year’s National or last year’s four-miler at Cheltenham you wouldn’t be questioning his stamina.

“The initial thought last year was he just ran out of stamina, but he is a very different horse now. As soon as he won the Becher Chase, to me the National was the obvious race.

“He looked beaten jumping the last in the Becher, but from the elbow he just ground it out. The further he has gone the better he has gone.

“At Haydock turning into the straight you would say he had a bit to find with Gas Line Boy and Blaklion, but by the time he got to the winning line he was well on top.

“The way he kept galloping over three and a half at Haydock last time, that four and a bit will be within his radar.”

Scudamore points to age as part of the improvement in form of Vieux Lion Rouge, but also feels the unique Aintree fences may have also been a factor in his upturn in fortunes.

He said: “He has got all the right attributes and in his younger days he had a bit of speed about him. He was good enough to be third to Garde La Victoire over two and a half miles at Cheltenham and he wasn’t slow at all.

“I certainly thought that he is a better horse over the National fences going into Haydock, but the way he jumped round there he didn’t put a foot wrong. “For whatever reason, though, Aintree has just made a man of him. He enjoys the place, it’s really turned him around and we go there full of confidence.”

Although injury to Thistlecrack robbed Scudamore of the chance of Gold Cup glory, victory in the National would be of equal significance in its own right.

He said: “It is a completely separate thing. It will never make up for missing the chance to ride Thistlecrack in this year’s Gold Cup.

“That has happened now and I’ve just got to focus on everything else that is going along. It would be nice to win the National for winning the National, than making up for anything else.”

While Scudamore is accustomed to performing on the biggest stages, having become one of the most established riders in the business, he admits that despite his many attempts in the race it is still an event that grapples the nerves like no other.

He said: “It’s the only day when racing knocks everything off the front and back pages. It becomes the main event of the day and has that magic that no other racing event has. “It is the main jewel in our crown that gains a worldwide audience and that makes it very special.”