WELSH WIZARD
Williams’ joy at Ayr raid with one-two
THE Welsh flag was flying high over Ayr after Glamorgan trainer Christian Williams pulled off a remarkable one-two in the Coral Scottish National with Win My Wings and Kitty’s Light.
Win My Wings’ seven-length victory was also a first for a mare in the £150,000 race since Young Ash Leaf in 1971 as a 15,000 capacity crowd returned to the course after last year’s behind-closed-doors event because of Covid and the 2020 renewal was scrapped because of the pandemic.
Former jockey Williams has rapidly built a reputation early in his career for precision training especially with his long-distance chasers and memorably won the 2019 Welsh and Midlands National with Potters Corner.
But neither win was anywhere near as spectacular as yesterday’s by Win My Wings, who had proved her stamina for the marathon chase when winning the four-mile Eider Chase at Newcastle in February.
She might have officially won by seven lengths from her fellow 13-2 co-favourite but the margin could probably have been doubled with jockey Rob James celebrating in the last 75 yards.
Kitty’s Light was a further five lengths ahead of Alan King-trained Major Dundee, who also saddled the fourth Fidux, and his performance can also be marked up as he made a bad mistake at the second fence that pushed her further back in the field than jockey Jack Tudor would have planned for.
Williams said: ‘We came here with two horses we thought could win the race, so we put pressure on ourselves.
‘Win My Wings always looked like a good mare. She needs good ground and makes hard work of it on soft ground. We’ve given her so much time to mature.
‘I feel sorry for Kitty’s but nothing would have beaten her today. It was some performance. I was pretty confident the whole race to be honest.
‘Jack said Kitty’s Light made a mistake at the second fence and did well to stand up.’
Williams finished second in the 2005 Grand National on Royal Auclair. Yesterday’s performance by Win My Wings suggested Aintree 2023 could be on her agenda but Williams is cool on that idea.
The trainer added: ‘I don’t know about Aintree next year. She wouldn’t be over-big which would be a concern and the thing about Aintree is you have to build your whole season around it and there’s a lot of fun to be had before then. I’ll talk to the owners.’
Win My Wings benefitted from a cool ride from Rob James, who has plenty of experience in the Irish point-to-point world with over 250 wins.
He was suspended for six months last year when he got caught up in the furore surrounding trainer Gordon Elliott when, like him, an historical image of him sitting on a dead horse emerged.
James has now had two wins in Britain — the other being Milan Native in the 2020 Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival.
Only nine of the 23 starters finished yesterday’s race. Four of the 27 fences had to be bypassed during the race after Jersey Bean was fatally injured after falling at the third.