The Grand National, often described as the ultimate test of horse and jockey, will this year also be a significant test of Sir Anthony McCoy, reduced to the ranks of spectators after his retirement last April. He has seemed, on the whole, content that it was the right decision but on Wednesday he was giving off fairly clear signs of wistfulness about missing out on the thrill of Aintree next week.
“It’ll be a bit different, that’s for sure,” McCoy said as he contemplated his first Grand National as a pundit for Channel 4 Racing. “There won’t be the same excitement that there normally is. I’m getting used to it.”
In December he had what will probably prove his final spin over the famous green fences when filming a feature for next week’s coverage. Wearing a camera and a microphone so he could discuss the course as he tackled it, he rode a full circuit on Hello Bud, the fifth horse home when McCoy won the National in 2010 and twice a winner of the Becher Chase.
It was, the former jockey says, the time he has most missed race-riding. Hello Bud is 17 now but still hunts a lot, McCoy reports, and remains “a brilliant jumper”.
At this time of year McCoy has usually been pondering which of JP McManus’s many National entrants would give him the best winning chance. This time the choice belongs to Barry Geraghty and does not have to be made for another week.
McCoy says he has “no clue” about which way his successor is leaning, though he himself seems to think the choice boils down to two horses. “You could make a good case for Carlingford Lough. He’s a dual Irish Gold Cup winner and he stays well.
“Shutthefrontdoor looked as if he might not have stayed in last year’s race [in which he was fifth under McCoy] but he’s had a better preparation this time. He hadn’t had a run for a long time last year and he was fresher than you’d have liked.
“I always think Jonjo O’Neill is the best trainer of a staying chaser so, if he told me to ride Shutthefrontdoor, I’d do it. But Barry’s got a few good ones to choose from. You wouldn’t rule out Gallant Oscar by any means.”
Cause Of Causes would surely be the best-handicapped of the McManus horses if he made the cut at the bottom of the weights but McCoy does not think he will. He added that the owner was most unlikely to withdraw any of Carlingford Lough, Gallant Oscar or Shutthefrontdoor just to make it happen.
Cause Of Causes needs 16 withdrawals from those above him in the weights. It seems his backers can count on three, at least, since connections of Third Intention, Katkeau and Living Next Door have now said their horses will take no part in the National.
David Pipe said he expects to be represented by Ballynagour, Soll and Vieux Lion Rouge. A decision about which of those will be ridden by his main jockey, Tom Scudamore, has yet to be taken but Soll is the shortest priced at 50-1, having finished ninth last year.
He led over the second Canal Turn that day but faded after bursting a blood vessel. It is a problem that has dogged him for years and Pipe can only hope it does not happen again. Soll flopped at Kelso last month but Pipe believes a return to a drier surface will show him in a much better light. All three of the trainer’s contenders schooled well over Aintree-style fences this week.
