Gina Andrews could make racing history and become the first female amateur jockey to win the Randox Grand National when she teams up with Latenightpass, the horse bred by her mother-in-law Pippa Ellis and a first runner as professional trainer for her husband Tom Ellis, at Aintree on Saturday.
With 388 point-to-point winners, including 92 in regulation, the 32-year-old jockey has more experience than many of her professional counterparts. As the race moves with the times and, arguably, further and further away from its roots, and her 11-year-old partner can take it back to subterranean levels by winning it with, essentially, an overachieving point-to-pointer.
Latenightpass has spent most of its life chasing £150 pocket money prizes in places its neighboring community had only just come to know about. The last horse to win the prize was Grittar in 1982. On Saturday he will be going for the jackpot, the chase of just £1 million in jump racing and the race with global reach.
He has a lot coming his way. Despite being one of the smallest runners, he has already proven himself on the course, having finished second, first and fourth on the Foxhunters course and although two and three quarters of a mile on decent ground seems like optimal conditions, his best run on form in the cross-country at Cheltenham, a race that has become a national test par excellence, over five miles on soft-hard at his penultimate start.
That day he had both Minella Indo and Galvin behind him and completed the fastest final furlong of the meeting. That may say more about the early speed they were going, but he stayed the best up the hill and won as he went away.
The last 11-year-old was Pineau de Re 10 years ago, but he was the third in a row and more seasoned legs may have the advantage over youth on Saturday.
I Am Maximus either wins or goes nowhere
Meetingofthewaters is the biggest draw for the Willie Mullins-trained octet and its price has dropped accordingly. His profile is not dissimilar to that of previous JP McManus winner Minella Times (second in the Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown at Christmas, Meetingofthewaters won that race in December) and his Ultima third put him and jockey Danny Mullins in the mix.
I Am Maximus, last year’s Irish national winner and the most sought after of the eight with stable jockey Paul Townend on board, has its own way of doing things. For the first circuit of the Irish National he didn’t go a meter and for me he wins or is nowhere, although he will love the ground. On tough terrain, however, every 1lb over the 11st will be like throwing an extra sandbag on board and the conditions suggest the 176th National is one for the lightweights.
I also like the Mullins-trained Adamantly Chosen for his most recent win over three and a quarter miles at Down Royal for Sean O’Keeffe, although he seems the forgotten horse when it comes to dispatches from Closutton.
Gary Moore’s runaway Welsh National winner Nassalam should appreciate the conditions and is a great jumper, but the handicapper appears to have taken that result too much at face value and will undoubtedly be anchored in 11th at 8lb on Saturday.
His Scottish national winning counterpart Kitty’s Light has no weight on his back and although Christian Williams says he did the heavy lifting last time out at Cheltenham, that’s because he’s older and stronger. It may hamper his efforts to become the first Welsh winner in more than 100 years and provide the fairytale tonic for the Williams family while daughter Betsy, 6, is treated for leukaemia.
Don’t write off previous winners
Proven stamina and a love of the course bring with them the two previous winners, Noble Yeats and Corach Rambler, the latter of whom is again a few pounds ahead of the handicapper after his fine third place in the Gold Cup. Both have top six potential.
Double national winners don’t tend to grow on trees and the handicapper usually ensures previous winners don’t repeat the feat, but 10-year-old Lucinda Russell perhaps deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Third Gold Cup National winner?
The class act is Minella Indo, who is the first and second to have a Gold Cup on his curriculum vitae. He dropped the weights. I’m sure he’ll give Rachael Blackmore another great turn on the course, but can he join Golden Miller and L’Escargot as Gold Cup-National winners?
Delta Work is akin to Gordon Elliott’s selection of runners. Jack Kennedy chose him, although you wonder if his chance has passed. I finished The Goffer at Cheltenham and although he filled me with confidence against the first, the soft ground seemed to be his downfall in the Ultima and he might struggle on the ground on Saturday.
The third female jockey is Lucy Turner with Chambard, also a proven course winner, ahead of Venetia Williams who won with 100-1 shot Mon Mome. Had the air ambulance been available, Turner would have left the racecourse on her first ever point-to-point ride and it says something about the resilience of jockeys that now, a decade later, she is on a 14-1 ride . shot for the National. The pair should not be discounted.
The last mare to win the race was Nickel Coin in 1952 and two, Galia Des Liteaux and Limerick Lace, tried to put that right. Staying in the mud is Galia Des Liteaux’s strong point, but the question is whether she has enough speed to match that endurance. But she should at least come home. McManus’ homebred Limerick Lace, on the other hand, has the speed but may not have the stamina, although she is the choice of the owner’s stable jockey, Mark Walsh.
With a field of up to 34 runners, Lady Luck’s role appears to have been reduced to a cameo role, but I hope she decides to ride Latenightpass as a duo with Gina Andrews.