Corach Rambler on Saturday gave trainer Lucinda Russell and rider Derek Fox their second Grand National in six years, winning in impressive style after the race had been delayed due to animal rights protesters.
Fox — who had just returned from injury — eased alongside long-time leader Mister Coffey at the 30th and final fence to give Scotland their third win in the world’s greatest steeplechase.
Fox and Russell combined with One For Arthur to win in 2017, with Rubstic Scotland’s first winner in 1979.
Photo: AP
For Fox it was a remarkable return to the saddle as he had suffered a serious shoulder injury in a dreadful fall nine days ago.
It was a case of deja vu, as prior to One For Arthur’s win, he had broken his collarbone and wrist, only to make it back in time.
“He’s just a phenomenal horse,” Fox said of Corach Rambler. “I can’t believe it to be honest. He’s the cleverest horse, so intelligent, he won so easily.”
Fox, 30, returned to the winners enclosure grasping the Scottish flag to be greeted with raucous cheers.
Awaiting him was Russell, her boyfriend and eight-time champion jockey Peter Scudamore, and the owners, the seven-member Ramblers syndicate.
“It is very personal this one,” 56-year-old Russell said. “I will always remember One for Arthur, he was a brilliant horse, but this was very special.”
“It is fantastic, fairytale stuff. They [the syndicate] have got themselves a very, very good horse,” she said. “He is a very intelligent horse and when he jumped the last I just felt he would win.”
One of the syndicate owners is 21-year-old student Cameron Sword.
“Derek Fox rode a blinder, and Corach Rambler — what a horse. I’m lost for words,” he said. “I’ll be out in Liverpool tonight.”
Aintree management and the police reacted quickly to break up the protest shortly before the horses were to exit the saddling enclosure.
The police arrested 118 people — including nine protesters who had managed to get onto the track — while some spectators out on the course also helped prevent more people getting past security.
It prevented a repeat of a 1993 debacle when activists delayed the National and then two false starts led to the race being declared null and void.
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