‘Colin’ eyes National glory after injury woe
Quinn returns from breaking collarbone to ride Nassalam Further Aintree rain a bonus for Moore’s mud-loving entry
Caoilin Quinn, the conditional jockey attached to Gary Moore’s yard, will get his first taste of the Grand National on mud-loving Nassalam on Saturday after recovering from breaking his collarbone six weeks ago.
The 22-year-old has two rides at Taunton tomorrow as he gets back to race riding after the fall at Plumpton that prevented him from riding Nassalam in the Gold Cup.
Quinn, from Downpatrick in Northern Ireland and nicknamed “Colin” by Jamie Moore, may be one of the least experienced but successful jockeys taking part in Saturday’s race – indeed, in a normal handicap he would still claim 3lb – but three of his 63 winners have been in long-distance “Nationals”: the Surrey, Sussex and Welsh. It was in the latter that he shone on Gary Moore’s Nassalam when he came home 34 lengths clear.
The jockey has other things going for him apart from his rapport with the horse. It cannot be too wet for Nassalam and, after it rained heavily in Liverpool on Monday, the going on the National course is expected to be heavy.
Northern Irish jockeys have a good record in the race with, from a relatively small pool, Richard Dunwoody (twice), Tony Dobbin and AP Mccoy all winning in recent years.
Quinn has also been around the course on Nassalam, finishing fourth in the Grand Sefton over 2½ miles, which was too short for him, in the autumn. “Obviously the fences are not quite the same as they used to be and they didn’t ride much different from normal fences,” he said during evening stables at Moore’s yard on Monday.
“If it keeps raining they’ll jump bigger and jumping is one of his biggest assets. It’s definitely the more rain the better for him.”
Quinn said of Nassalam’s last run, when he pulled up in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham, that the tempo of the race was too fast for the sevenyear-old and that, with the National in mind, he was not quite fully tuned.
The only possible reason the horse is not vying for favouritism is his weight. He has been allotted 2lb more than Corach Rambler, last year’s winner.
Meanwhile, the jockeys for JP Mcmanus’s five National runners, three of them very fancied, were announced yesterday. Mark Walsh, his main jockey, will be on Cheltenham mares’ chase winner Limerick Lace. Paul Townend, who won the Irish National on I Am Maximus, is reunited with the second favourite.
Danny Mullins rides Meetingofthewaters, on whom he won a handicap chase at Leopardstown at Christmas, Keith Donoghue is on Capodanno and Jody Mcgarvey takes 100-1 shot Janidil.