| Venue: Cheltenham Racecourse Dates: 14-17 March Races: 13:30-17:30 GMT Main race: 15:30 |
| Coverage: Commentaries on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, with feature races on BBC Radio 5 Live. Racecards, live text, results & reports on the BBC Sport website & app |
They’ll have hit the road early on Thursday, Milnathort to Cheltenham, a shade over 360 miles stable-to-stable, a touch more than six and a half hours with a clear run.
With Ahoy Senor settled in his box, Lucinda Russell’s staff will travel with excitement and hope.
Excitement because Hank, as he’s known, is running in the Gold Cup on Friday. The big one. The Festival’s history books are not exactly full of Scottish hopefuls in the blue riband event but the country has one now.
And hope because Russell’s yard is bang in form, already with more winners than last season or the season before last or the six seasons before that.
Yes, they’ll be outsiders in the Gold Cup, but few thought that a Scottish trainer would deliver a Grand National winner, as Russell did with the mighty One For Arthur in 2017.
And yes again, they’re going up against the mightiest operators in the game. Galopin Des Champs for Paul Townend and Willie Mullins is the deserving favourite. A Plus Tard, the reigning champion, for Rachael Blackmore and Henry De Bromhead is just behind him.
Ahoy Senor is currently seventh in the betting but has beaten three of the horses ahead of him.
There might be questions about how he will like the ground at Cheltenham and how he will handle his fences in the white heat of a Gold Cup. Racing is a savagely hard game, but there’s always room for dreamers.
“He’s a fabulous horse,” says Russell. “Very strong, immense power and strength, a great talent and we’re lucky to have him. Staying is a big part of his forte and you need to be a stayer to contend in a Gold Cup.”
It was only in January that the eight-year-old stayed up the hill at Cheltenham and won the Cotswold Chase. People took notice.
That was a huge return to form after finishing fifth of five at Wetherby in October and in mid-division at Aintree in December and in the King George on Boxing Day.
“The thing that held him back previously was that he was a total lunatic,” says Russell. “He used to get totally wound-up by the excitement of being at the races, but he’s growing up.
“The most impressive people you meet have a confidence about them and that’s what he’s like. He’s a very confident horse, he’s very aware of his own ability and power and tries to intimidate other horses.
“Even when he’s on his way out to the gallops he’ll try to intimidate them just by his size and sheer strength. He’s not an aggressive horse, he’s very kind, but he’s proud of himself.”
‘Gold Cup is like a chess game’
Ahoy Senor was part-owned by Russell’s father, Peter, who passed away in January at the age of 95. As the horse’s fortunes started to improve, Peter’s health failed.
Just like the 50-strong staff at Russell’s Arlary House yard, he adored Ahoy Senor. “I remember Dad was in tears when Hank won a novice hurdle at Aintree a few years ago,” says Russell.
“We work to an intense standard, everybody’s on board, a lot of them have been here a long time and I’m very proud of them. Scu [the great Peter Scudamore, her partner and assistant trainer] is as passionate as ever and there’s a fantastic buzz.
“The exciting thing is that when you get to this level you’re dealing with incredible horses. We’ve beaten some of the horses in the Gold Cup and they’ve beaten us. It’s like a chess game.
“Galopin Des Champs is the really interesting one. If he stays, and he looks like he will, then he’s very, very good. I’ll be nervous but that comes with the territory.”
It’s already been a memorable week for Russell and her team.
On Tuesday, Corach Rambler went back-to-back at the Festival when winning the Ultima Handicap Chase under the astute horsemanship of Derek Fox, a pilot who Russell says is riding as well as any of the more celebrated characters in action this week.
He beat one trained by Fergal O’Brien with his 124 winners this season and prize money of £1.3m, and Paul Nicholls with his 138 winners and £2.6m in prize money, and Gordon Elliott with his 172 winners and his E3.2m in prize money.
Most of the winners at the Festival on the day Corach won were owned by millionaires. A former hedge fund manager, an investment strategist, the owners of a construction company, mega-rich art collectors, assorted other founders and CEOs of giant companies.
Owned by a syndicate called The Ramblers, Corach showed that the fairytale can still come true for those in a different financial stratosphere.
Russell talks about the next wave among her stable of 100 horses. a promising little thing called Apple Away which is owned by 3,000 people paying £60 a year for a micro share. Apple Away has already won three times.
“I meet one or two of them sometimes when I’m doing my shopping,” she says. “They’ll come up and say, ‘We have an interest in Apple Away’ and it’s really lovely. It brings more and more people into racehorse ownership. I love it.”
As a child, Russell was always fascinated by horses. All she ever wanted to do was look at them. If she heard one trotting, she’d immediately run to look at it.
She has a memory of her university days at St Andrews when a nearby museum had a horse’s skeleton on display. She’d go in often and just stare at it. “All my life, I’ve loved horses,” she says.
On Friday, she’ll try to keep a cool exterior but as the horses leave the parade ring and head out into the unknown you know the excited little girl in her will return.
If Hank wins, then another dream will come true. Even if he doesn’t, just being there will be special.
