The 2023/24 National Hunt season is officially underway in horse racing and although the 2024 Grand National in Liverpool is a long way off, trainers will be preparing the plans for their horses to get them in peak condition that race.
Scottish trainer Lucinda Russell is one trainer who will have the world’s most famous steeplechase at the forefront of her mind with Corach Rambler. The 2023 winner will be bidding to become only the third horse in the last 50 years to win the race in back-to-back years.
Corach Rambler and Derek Fox power up the hill to land the Ultima Handicap Chase! @lucindavrussell
— Sky Sports Racing (@SkySportsRacing) March 15, 2022
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The nine-year-old chaser had a fantastic campaign last season, as he also won the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. He powered home at Aintree a month later to win the marathon contest by just over two lengths.
Winning Major Races Not Easy
Every trainer in horse racing will vouch for how difficult winning the major races are. In Flat racing, Aidan O’Brien has made prevailing in the British Classics look easy. He has the 6/4 favourite in the Epsom the Oaks ante post betting this year with Savethelastdance. Success for the Irishman would bring up his fourth victory in as many years.
Russell will be hoping she can replicate some of the success O’Brien has had in jumps racing. She has already had a winner at back-to-back Cheltenham Festival meetings. If victorious in the Grand National next year, she will become one of a handful of trainers to win the race three times. Her opening triumph came in 2017 when One For Arthur won the Liverpool feature.
Corach Rambler is unlikely to make his seasonal reappearance until the back end of 2023. His opening run last season came at Carlisle in October in the Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase.
Gold Cup A Possibility for Aintree Winner
With an official rating of 159 over fences, we may also see Corach Rambler at the highest level next season in Grade One staying chasers. His mark suggests he is good enough to feature in the blue riband event of the sport, the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Russell had a runner in the Cheltenham Festival feature last season. She saddled Ahoy Senor who led the field in the first half of the race before making a mistake at the 17th obstacle which resulted in him coming down.
A superstar! Galopin Des Champs dismantles his rivals in the Gold Cup! pic.twitter.com/feYQLbHZiW
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) March 17, 2023
If he does line up at Cheltenham on the final day of the meeting, Corach Rambler is likely to take on the defending champion and star of the division, Galopin Des Champs. The Irish horse won three Grade One races in the 2022/23 campaign, including the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase and Irish Gold Cup at the Dublin Racing Festival.
Russell’s chaser could also bump into the 2022 King George VI Chase winner Bravemansgame at Cheltenham. Paul Nicholls’ runner finished the runner-up in the 2023 Cheltenham Gold Cup. His connections will be hoping he can go one place better next year.
Whatever the plan Russell comes up with, she can be excited to have one of the most talented chasers in the sport. Her Grand National winner has already cemented his name into history at the Liverpool-based racecourse. What he achieves in the future will add to the horse’s legacy on the track.
