Katie Walsh says times are changing for racing ahead of Grand National Share
Betway and
Katie Walsh and current competitor
Tom Scudamore, who each gave a different perspective on the significance of the
Grand National.
Walsh is one of the most successful women to have ever competed in racing, having achieved over 100 wins including the Irish Grand National, focused on the history of female jockeys, and their fortunes in the UK Grand National.
“Any child who was lucky enough to have a pony growing up has ridden the Grand National a thousand times in their head, hoping that one day it might happen in real life.
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“Having only arrived in February last year it was pretty daunting,” recalls Varma, 36. “Even though I’d been helping my predecessor, Andrew Tulloch, on race-days for 10 years, that had only involved arriving a couple of days before, getting through the three days and leaving.
“It takes time to get to know the track and the people at any racecourse but my head groundsman, Mark Aynsley, does not need a huge amount of interference from me and I’m inheriting something in a good place.”
A bit like a referee in football, if a clerk of the course is getting publicity it is generally because something has gone wrong.
UPDATED 7:12PM, APR 1 2021
Jonjo O Neill believes he has the horse to beat in Cloth Cap for next week s Randox Grand National but thinks his odds of around 7-2 are absurd in a race that is so famous for shocks and surprises.
O Neill knows all too well how bad luck can play out in Aintree s iconic steeplechase. In his riding days he competed in the race eight times and never finished, including in 1973 when he rode Ginger McCain s first string, Glenkiln, in a race famously won by stablemate and subsequent three-time winner Red Rum.
He had more luck as a trainer, winning the race in 2010 with Don t Push It, despite fielding a total of 32 runners in the event through the years.
Comment
Tiger Roll’s Grand National omission robs us of the chance to watch an icon become an immortal
If Red Rum s three-time National winning record were to be equalled, the significance both within racing and beyond could not be overstated
17 March 2021 • 7:30pm
Even if he cantered off today into a happy and supremely-indulged retirement, Tiger Roll would have nothing left to prove. With his astounding fifth Cheltenham win, one to stand alongside his two Grand National triumphs, his horse-of-a-lifetime status is safe for posterity. And yet it is part of the restlessness of sport that when an animal of his pedigree demolishes the field by 18 lengths, a margin of victory so vast that broadcasters should have shown the finish in panorama mode, the appetite is whetted for an encore.