Aidan Coleman could be called the luckiest and also the unluckiest jockey taking part in next Saturday’s Grand National. His good fortune lies in having inherited the mount on The Druids Nephew, a leading contender after a storming success at last month’s Cheltenham Festival. For examples of Coleman’s bad luck, look no further than recent Grand Nationals.
Two years ago, when all 40 runners made it to the Canal Turn, Coleman was knocked out of The Rainbow Hunter’s saddle in the inevitable crush. Twelve months on, the pair made it safely past the notorious 90-degree turn, only to find a fallen horse in their path as they landed over Valentine’s, the next fence, ending their race.
Most famously of all, Coleman had the chance to ride Mon Mome, the eventual winner of the 2009 National, but passed him over in favour of Stan, who fell at the seventh fence, the smallest on the course. It was a perfectly sensible decision. Mon Mome was a 100-1 shot who had been stuffed out of sight in the previous year’s race but the stars must have been perfectly aligned for him that day, because he won by 12 lengths with the unsung Liam Treadwell aboard.
Any young jockey in that situation could be forgiven for fearing his best chance in the world’s most famous race had come and gone. After making sure the fallen Stan was uninjured, Coleman cheered Mon Mome through the race but as the familiar green colours winged past the post with someone else inside them he was overcome with unexpected despair. “I was 20 and it was only my second year race-riding, so I was immature for my age as well because I hadn’t a vast range of experience,” Coleman says.
His career to that point had been entirely without setbacks. He had been champion conditional, the title given to each season’s best apprentice jump jockey, and he had had no injuries of any significance. “I thought, this is easy. And then something like that happened and you really thought: ‘Oh, wait a minute, this is a man’s world.’ It did get me down for a bit but since then there’s been so many good and bad days, you realise that it’s unfortunate, but it’s the way it goes.
“You get older, you get more mature. When I missed it, it wasn’t as if I was a fully fledged, experienced person, I was very inexperienced, in life as much as in racing.”
This is no longer the case. The seasoned Coleman is an affable figure who smiles easily while describing the peaks and troughs of his professional life. He has partnered more than 500 winners, including December’s Welsh National hero Emperor’s Choice. His record in the Grand National is not yet enviable but he has won a race over those famous green fences, in the 2011 Grand Sefton on Stewarts House.
Aged 26, he is one of several jockeys well placed to benefit when the ageing stars of the weighing room start to move on, led by Tony McCoy, taking his final rides this month. Asked to name the jockeys he most admired when he was a 12-year-old in Cork, just learning to ride and taking a first interest in racing, Coleman offers McCoy, Richard Johnson, Paul Carberry, Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty. “And they’re all still there. I hope I’m still there when someone who’s 15 at the moment is coming along.”
He thinks Johnson, Tom Scudamore and Sam Twiston-Davies are the most obvious candidates to succeed McCoy as champion next winter but is aware there will be enough rides available for other jockeys to benefit. “A good solid year next year might put me in the mix for the year after. You never know.
“It’ll be interesting to see how it unfolds, because I’d imagine trainers are just living in the moment, they just need to get this season out of the way and then probably after Aintree they’ll be seeing what they’re going to do next year.”
It is an indication of Coleman’s status that he was picked for The Druids Nephew by the trainer Neil Mulholland after a disastrous weekend when the horse’s most recent riders, Barry Geraghty and Davy Russell, suffered bone breaks. Mulholland said at the time that he was fielding phone calls from almost every agent with a jump jockey on his books, but that he would take time to identify the best.
“I thought he’d suit the horse,” the trainer says now of Coleman, who has had three rides for him in the past five seasons. “He’s got a quiet style, horses seem to jump well for him and he’s very professional. I’ve always held him in high regard.
“He’s in great form, everything is going to plan,” Mulholland adds of The Druids Nephew. “Aidan schooled him in Lambourn over the Grand National-style fences and he took to them well. But however much luck you need at Cheltenham, you need more in the National.”
The orthodox thinking these days is that Grand National horses should ideally not be exposed to a hard race at the Festival but Mulholland is unconcerned. “He was still on the bridle at the top of the hill and when the pace quickened, it was because he quickened it. He won by eight lengths, so I don’t think it was the hardest win of Cheltenham week. His weight is good, he’s been eating well. He’s been campaigned for these two targets.”
So Coleman really does have an excellent chance to turn his National luck around. The betting market has predictably focused on McCoy, whose mount, Shutthefrontdoor, is 7-1 favourite, but The Druids Nephew is also strongly fancied and the current 14-1 is not expected to last until the off on Saturday. The respected Timeform organisation have him rated as the most likely winner.
“I’ve ridden in the National every year I’ve had a licence and this will be my best ride I’ve ever had in it,” Coleman says. “If you had the pick of the top four in the betting, you’d have had a hard choice, so I’m just delighted. I really appreciate the chance to ride a horse like him.”
