Grand National beats the protestors as student owned horse wins big

The bookies’ nightmare was a student’s dream at Aintree yesterday as Corach Rambler beat the field and the Grand National beat the saboteurs. The first favourite to win the race since Tiger Roll in 2019 had the punters cheering but none louder than Cameron Sword, the 21-year-old Heriot’s Watt University student who is part of the syndicate that owns the horse.

Sword travels the 20 miles or so to Lucinda Russell’s Kinross stables to check in on Corach Rambler once a month. There will need to be an extra pack of Polos in his pocket next time.

“I was watching whatever sport was on TV in Covid because I was bored at home – that’s when I started taking an interest in horse racing,” said Sword. “I phoned Lucina and asked if I could come down to the yard and Corach was the only horse for sale so I paid my £3,400.

“I’m in dreamland. I don’t know what to do with money. I’ve not thought about it. I’m lost for words.”

The seven-strong collective – The Ramblers – paid just £17,000 between them for a horse which, having already won almost £200,000 from his two Chetenham victories, yesterday landed a £500,000 first prize. That’s Sword’s student loan taken care of then.

The rest of the gang include a Scottish accountant, Thomas Kendall, and an Australian-based Scot who flew in for the race called William Wallace. He must have been particularly overjoyed at a Braveheart run that saw the nine-year-old track then dispatch the leaders in magnificent style.

For Russell, who admitted afterwards she was in tears for most of the race, and jockey Derek Fox the National win was a repeat of the 2017 triumph with One For Arthur – one month after the horse’s death from colic.

“We’ve just spread some of Arthurs’ ashes at the finishing line. It’s very fitting he has passed the baton to Corach today,” said Russell. “Arthur was a life-changer – he gave me confidence and he taught us how to get a horse right for the day – and now Corach is as well. He will change the owners’ lives for sure.”

It was a glorious conclusion to a race that at one point looked like it might not go ahead after nine animal rights protestors breached the ring of steel around Aintree and carried through on their threat to disrupt the race. But they failed in their attempt to glue themselves to the fences and after a 14-minute delay – and the scrapping of the usual parade in front of the stands – the most famous horse race in the world was run for the 175th time.

The protestors may not have succeeded in their plan but the death of Sandy Thomson’s Hill Sixteen made an uncomfortable point for them.

Recite A Prayer and Cape Gentleman also needed treatment in the stables after falls.

Changes introduced a decade ago which saw the fences softened, the distance reduced and new procedures for loose horses have made the National a safer environment but three horses have still died in the race in the past two years.

The Willie Mullins-trained Dark Raven was also put down after a fall earlier in the afternoon in the Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle. That makes three fatalities in total at the meeting after the death of Envoye Special on Friday.

Racing for horse and rider, though thrilling and glorious, remains a dangerous – and sometimes deadly – pursuit.