RACHAEL Blackmore is still basking in her famous success last year and looking forward to tackling the unique test once more on Minella Times.

Blackmore said this week: “I’m very excited and it’s great to be here. The track looks great and I’m just really looking forward to the whole meeting kicking off.

“Having top-weight is not ideal but that’s the situation we’re in. He’s in great form at home and Laura (Hoey) who rides him out is very happy with him. His runs this year have been disappointing, but he really does seem in great form now and Henry (de Bromhead, trainer) is extremely happy with him so we’re really looking forward to it.

“Henry found a few niggly problems with him and he’s sorted them out and he’s in top form at home now and schooling well and seems in great nick.

“We couldn’t be happier with him in that sense coming into the race. I worked him probably two weeks ago now and he felt super.

Fence to fence

“To me he’s one of those horses who just likes Aintree, he really enjoyed it last year and jumped from fence to fence and that has to be a big plus. The weight is the weight and there’s no point me getting too cut up about that, because that’s the situation and we’ll be going out giving it our best shot.

“It’s a big help knowing he enjoys it here. Last year after I jumped the first two fences I knew he was going to take to them. He was always an exceptional jumper at home and I’d got some great spins off him before we came over last year, so I was always hoping he’d take to it but I suppose you don’t know until you try it because these fences are a unique challenge. He really enjoyed it last year so hopefully we get a similar spin around and who knows what will happen?

“The Grand National does have a different feel to it – there’s so many variables and so many different things that can happen. So I don’t think owners or trainers can really tie jockeys down to major plans – you just have to ride as it comes.

When asked to reflect on last year’s victory, she added: “You just can’t compare that feeling of crossing the line (in the Grand National) – it was just a phenomenal feeling and it’s a race that every kid wants to ride in.

“When you’re growing up, this is the race that captures your imagination and it’s just very special to be able to say that you’ve won it. I’ve definitely seen the replay of last year’s race more times than I can count!

Hemmings always remembered on Aintree’s biggest day

IT will feel strange to be at Aintree without Trevor Hemmings, who very much made the race his own in the past 25 years or so, having at least one runner in every single renewal this century. He won the race with Hedgehunter, Ballabriggs and Many Clouds.

That absence will almost certainly be felt most by Mick Meagher, Hemmings’ long-time racing manager who took up duties at Gleadhill House Stud in Lancashire back in 1999.

Meagher explained that it did not take long for Hemmings, who passed away in October last year, to outline his intentions. He explained: “When I joined, winning the Grand National was definitely a target.

“The first week I was here I went into the office with him and I asked what the long term plan was, as we were spending a good bit of money on young horses at the time. He replied: ‘I want to win the Grand National’ and I said he had no chance!

“He said he would put everything in place for us to have a go and that was as early as the first week I worked for him. I kind of had an idea of what I was looking for every time we went to the sales after that - something that would make up into a three-mile chaser.

“He just loved Aintree as a place and every year he’d be hugely excited and looking forward to the National, even last year when he couldn’t go due to the pandemic.

“He loved the hype around Cloth Cap being the favourite for the race and being talked about as being so well in at the weights - he was like a football fan looking forward to a European Cup Final. He just loved it.”

Love affair

Hemmings’ first runner in the race was with Rubika back in 1992 and Meagher recalled that his fondness for the Grand National was a love affair that grew from his friendship with the businessman and holiday camp pioneer Fred Pontin – who himself won the race with Specify in 1971.

He recalled with a laugh: “Fred Pontin said to him that he would never win one, so he had to prove his point and win three!”

While Hemmings will not be at his beloved Aintree to see them, Cloth Cap and Deise Aba are set to race in his famous silks in the Randox Grand National this weekend.

Cloth Cap was pulled up when favourite for the race 12 months ago, but Meagher is adamant he should not be written off this time around.

He said: “Looking back to last year, you’d wonder how the heck Cloth Cap is 25/1 for this year’s race. His form hasn’t been brilliant this year, but he has come back down to a proper handicap mark now and I feel he’s where he should be after what he did (in the 2020 Ladbrokes Trophy) at Newbury.

“He never made a mistake when running in the race last year and seemed to be enjoying himself, then he displaced his epiglottis at Becher’s Brook and it was only a matter of time after that. He kept going for four or five fences, but once that happens you’re cooked really – it’s like someone pulling on the petrol plug. If it happens that far out in the National, you’ve no chance.

“He was operated on the following week and touch wood he’s been good since. He’s been running alright this year to his credit and he doesn’t have to be in front when he races either, so we’ll see.

“It would be great if we could have one even hit the frame this year, as it would show that we’re still doing the job right for him. They’re his horses and that’s what he would have wanted for them.”

On Deise Aba, Meagher added: “He’s in great form and he probably deserves to be a 66/1 outsider. He only seems to run his best races over fences at Sandown – which is the wrong way round and is different in complexion to Aintree – but he’s a good jumper and has plenty of ability.

“He’s not badly handicapped so you never know, it may just light him up a bit.”