It sets up like a joke; an Englishman, and Irishman and a Scot go into Friday’s Cheltenham Gold Cup trying to win with Ahoy Senor.
The Scot is Ahoy Senor’s trainer Lucinda Russell. The Englishman is her partner and assistant, Peter Scudamore. The Irish part of racing’s pan-national trio is jockey Derek Fox. He’s the one tasked with bending Ahoy Senor’s mercurial nature towards the winning of steeplechasing’s greatest prize.
The trio have already won steeplechasing’s most famous race. From relative obscurity Fox steered One For Arthur to a resounding victory at Aintree in 2017. Now the 30-year-old rider from Sligo has a shot at pulling off a rare double.
If Fox pulls it off, he won’t want a return to obscurity but perhaps might appreciate a certain anonymity. Some riders expertly play the profile game but the Irishman appears happier to let his riding do the talking.
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How effective that can be was underlined on Tuesday at the festival when Corach Rambler recorded back-to-back wins in the Ultima Handicap Chase. Once again, the horse appeared less than straightforward. Once again Fox illustrated why Scudamore and Russell wouldn’t swap him for anyone.
Scudamore’s verdict as a former eight-time champion jockey himself is particularly notable.
“He’s a fantastic horseman. He lives and breathes them and his whole world is focused on the horses,” he has said.
It is 10 years since Fox opted to move from Ireland where his career had stalled after riding 27 winners. The first of those was Mighty Whitey at his home track in Sligo in 2010. Others were for his uncle, Mark McNiff, and Derry-based Noel Kelly. He also spent a year with Charles Byrnes.
By 2013 there seemed little to lose when a cousin working for Russell recommended he try his luck at her Kinross stable between Edinburgh and Perth.
In racing terms it’s very much an outpost. For Fox it turned out to be the opportunity of a lifetime. His first winner for Russell was at Hexham in 2013. He took on the mantle of stable jockey in 2016. A year later he was a Grand National hero.
“Not everyone can be champion jockey. That’s just the nature of it. But the Grand National gives a standard jockey like myself a chance to shine on the big day,” Fox said afterwards.
Those chances have increased noticeably since then. Far from the main racing circuit they might be, but the Russell team has grown to become a real force in cross-channel racing. And in Ahoy Senor they have a chance to underline a point Scudamore already feels has been made.
“I am a southerner and we used to look at the Scots and think ‘oh look at the dear little Scottish people coming down’. But now I feel we have commanded a respect, which is what I wanted to do.
“I want to move it on from the fact that we train in Scotland as we train in an area of Britain which happens to be Scotland – we’re not just little people. I just want to prove that we can train horses consistently to a high standard and we have done that,” he said.
Fox has been a key factor in that development, his horsemanship crucial to the development of Ahoy Senor in particular.
Grade One novice victories over both hurdles and fences at Aintree proved his quality and a Cotswold Chase success here in January indicated a newfound maturity that makes the horse known in the yard as ‘Hank’ a valid Gold Cup contender.
“Ahoy Senor is a fabulous horse but he has got his little bits that are good and bad – like his jumping and stuff – and Derek has had to see that through,” Russell said. “He’s quite a thug at times, so for me it mirrors the whole yard and what we are about.”
Significantly Ahoy Senor also has proven form on testing ground conditions which could prove a plus on Friday. Despite doing a lot wrong in last year’s Browns Advisory, he still finished best of the rest behind L’Homme Presse in monsoon conditions. He has continued since to learn on the job.
“I think he’s just growing up now and every race that he has helps him. We’re not protecting him and waiting for the right race – running him more often has proven to be quite a good thing.
“He’s always suited Aintree and he’s always run a race within a month of the Grand National Festival, so hopefully the Cotswold Chase will put him right for the Gold Cup.
“There’s still a little bit more improvement needed with his jumping but his confidence is much higher now, which is good.
“I just loved the way he came round that home bend [in the Cotswold Chase] after dropping back a touch, like he did in the Brown Advisory last year. He just shoots up that home bend before powering up the hill and if he can do that again next week that would be fine!” Russell said.
