The One for Russell
Scottish trainer is experiencing a mixture of nerves and excitement as she prepares for a fourth crack at the Grand National. Paul Wheeler reports
SOMEONE once asked the best way to come away from racing with a small fortune. “Start with a large one,” was the stark reply, the truth of which has been verified by those whose bank accounts have moved through the various shades of red.
There will be fortunes won and lost on the Randox Health Grand National at Aintree on Saturday, with bookmakers expecting more than £200 million to be wagered on a race worth £1m in prize money.
A fair chunk of the betting cash will be placed on One For Arthur who will be attempting to follow Rubstic, in 1979, as Scotland’s second Grand National winner.
A fancied National runner brings a buzz to any yard and One For Arthur’s trainer, Lucinda Russell, admitted to a mixture of excitement and nerves as she ticks off the days, then hours, and then minutes until the race starts.
“I’m just looking forward to the day – I feel a bit sick even talking about it,” Russell admitted. “But he doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s very relaxed and happy.
“I always think that when your horses run, that’s when your work is over. I think when you start going off your routine, that’s when you’re in trouble. This is the time when you have to get it right. But this horse is so straightforward to train and he just fits into the routine and that’s what we’ve done.
“We have one horse, Quito Du Tresor, who works alongside him and he goes out in the field with him and that’s worked quite well. But we’re training him like all the others. His natural ability is what takes him to being a long-distance horse and being suited to those fences. He’s just got loads of scope and I suppose his only problem is jumping too big.”
That was part of the problem when One For Arthur finished an eyecatching fifth in the Becher Chase at Aintree in December.
“Our plan had been to have him prominent, in the first three throughout,” Russell recalled. “He hit the second and then he was a bit novicey. But, by the time he jumped the last in the straight first time round, he’d got it by then. He made up a lot of ground late on and, if he hadn’t made that mistake, he’d have gone very close.”
It was Derek Fox’s patient riding that helped that day and again at Warwick next time out when they were hampered early on before powering clear to win by six lengths.
Fox, who broke his left wrist and right collarbone when Ryalex fell heavily at Carlisle three weeks ago, has had intensive rehabilitation at Jack Berry House, the Injured Jockeys Fund centre at Malton, to be passed fit to ride and Russell said: “Derek is a huge part of our team here and our success with all the horses is in no small part due to him.
“So the right thing is for him to ride him and the owners want him to.”
This would be a first National ride for Fox and a fourth runner in the race for Russell. All three previous runners completed the course but Silver By Nature’s 12th place behind Ballabriggs in 2011 was the best they achieved.
“Strong Resolve and Silver By Nature were fantastic stayers and jumpers, the same as him, but they were pretty ground dependent,” Russell said. “They really had to have it soft but we’re lucky with One For
It’s the race I’ve always wanted to win. We’ve won at Cheltenham but the National would top that
Arthur in that he’s got form on good ground.”
There are certainly grounds for hope of something that Russell has on her wishlist since she started training.
“The Grand National has always been at the top of it. Everyone can remember their first National, mine was Red Rum’s third win” she said. “For me it was part of growing up. I remember Red Rum and the race really got hold of my heart.
“It’s the race I’ve always wanted to win. We’ve won at the Cheltenham Festival but the National would top that.”
One For Arthur was bought at Cheltenham Sales in December 2013 and runs for owners Belinda McClung and Debs Thompson who call themselves the Two Golf Widows.
“Their husbands are members of Muirfield and they decided they wanted a horse together,” Russell said. “The idea started during the racing and was tidied up by the end of the evening.”
When it comes to the big money on the golf course, the key to success was perhaps best articulated by Bobby Locke. Asked to reveal the key to winning, the South African replied: “You drive for show, but putt for dough.”
If One For Arthur has the drive he can certainly pick up the dough.