RACING:LONG RUN'S jockey Sam Waley-Cohen could bring off a remarkable double at Liverpool on Saturday week if the Co Westmeath-based Oscar Time can win the Aintree Grand National.
The Martin Lynch-trained horse is currently as low as 10 to 1 second favourite for the world’s most famous steeplechase and victory would be a perfect Anglo-Irish success for his connections.
Waley-Cohen achieved Gold Cup glory at Cheltenham earlier this month when Long Run carried the colours of his father Robert to an emotional family success.
The English owner bought Long Run from France but the Waley-Cohens went to Castletown-Geoghegan in Co Westmeath last autumn to secure a deal for Oscar Time.
Lynch’s desire to keep the 2009 Paddy Power Chase winner in his yard was achieved when he contacted Waley-Cohen, who he used to ride for during his riding career in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s.
“We’d had plenty of offers for Oscar Time but they’d all been declined. Last autumn, though, the goalposts seemed to move and the owner was considering an offer which would mean the horse going to England. I rang Robert on a Monday, he and Sam came over on a Thursday and the deal was done before they left,” Lynch remembered yesterday.
The Irish trainer, who fell at the first fence in his first National ride as a jockey, and finished 10th on Cool Ground on his only other spin over the big fences, has long believed Oscar Time possesses ideal credentials for Aintree.
Runner up to Bluesea Cracker in last season’s Irish National, Oscar Time’s first run over fences since then resulted in a third to the National favourite The Midnight Club in Fairyhouse’s Bobbyjo Chase last month.
“I thought that was an exceptional run. I’ve always thought he is a genuine National contender and I still think he is,” Lynch admitted yesterday. “You dream of some day winning a race like the National and it would be absolutely huge if we could.”
Lynch’s small operation hasn’t had a winner of any sort since Oscar Time’s lucrative Paddy Power victory at the end of 2009 but the stable star is pleasing the trainer in his Liverpool build-up.
“He jumps and travels so well and he has the gears you need for Aintree. I’ve a feeling that a true three-mile horse could be a little too slow around there and this horse has the gears to be placed in two-mile hurdles.
“It’s a race you need a lot of luck in but if I was guaranteed luck in running I would be happy he’ll run a big race. I expect he’ll negotiate the obstacles and it’s a question really of nothing falling in front of him,” Lynch said.
Waley-Cohen will have the job of steering Oscar Time around the famous track and the Irish trainer has no doubts the top amateur is up to the job.
“All anyone has to do is look again at the last mile of the Gold Cup. He’s a very determined and fit guy and the horse will want for nothing,” Lynch added. “Considering the number of rides he has per year he’s a remarkable rider and his record around Aintree is encouraging. He’s had five or six attempts over the big fences and completed every time.”
Waley-Cohen won the 2005 Foxhunters over the National obstacles on Katarino and was also successful on Liberthine in the Topham the following year. Liberthine finished fifth under the amateur rider in the 2007 National.
Jim Culloty was the last jockey to complete the Gold Cup-National double in 2002 when Bindaree added to Best Mate’s Gold Cup success.
