Grand National 2017 – Kim Bailey hoping The Last Samuri can go one better in the National at Aintree this year
The Last Samuri finished second to Rule The World in the famous race last year and Bailey admits he could hardly speak after his agonising defeat at Aintree
KIM BAILEY admits he could hardly speak for a couple of days after The Last Samuri finished second in the Randox Health Grand National 12 months ago.
Although it might have given wife Clare and his staff a bit of peace it’s not something anyone at his Cotswolds stables wants to repeat.
The Last Samuri returns to Aintree today aiming to go one better in the world’s greatest race.
Bailey told me: “Jumping the second-last I thought we were going to win - jumping the last I realised we weren’t.
“You should never think during a race that you’re going to win. I made the cardinal sin as he was going so well.
“The feeling was far worse for thinking that. I really was in a bad way afterwards – I could hardly speak for two days.
“It was a bit like being told you’ve won the Euromillions and then 30 seconds later they say ‘actually the last number is a five not a three’. You’ve had that moment when you dream – that’s something you shouldn’t do. No race is won until they’ve passed the post.”
Despite being one of the smallest horses in the field The Last Samuri hardly put a hoof wrong over the 30 unique National fences when chasing home Rule The World 12 months ago.
But it was painful viewing for his trainer as his second Grand National victory was ripped away in the closing stages.
Bailey added: “I’m not good at being second – I found it very hard. I was completely and utterly gutted.
“My next worry was the horse never appeared in the unsaddling enclosure. I started to panic that something had gone wrong.
“I rushed off to see where he was and found him in the wash down area. He had slightly overheated. They were more interested in looking after the horse than bringing him into the unsaddling enclosure which is 100 per cent right. They do a phenomenal job and he was absolutely fine when I got there.
“That brought me back to reality because it could so easily have gone wrong and it didn’t.
“Then you get a camera shoved in your face saying how nice it is to be second. You have to put on a brave face when all I wanted to do is kick the box in.
“Having seen him run like he had the whole way around – attack every single fence, look like winning at the second-last and then getting beaten, although fair and square – it was a shocker.”
Just to compound the agony the handicapper shoved up The Last Samuri – owned by Estate Agency tycoon Paul Rooney and his wife Clare - so far for his Aintree efforts that he has to shoulder top weight today.
But his preparation has gone well. After a comeback run at Down Royal he was beaten little more than a length when third behind Vieux Lion Rouge and Highland Lodge in the Becher Chase over the National fences.
A bout of coughing hit Bailey’s team during the winter months. They are in flying form now and The Last Samuri returns to Liverpool following a promising second behind today’s rival Definitly Red in the Grimthorpe Chase at Doncaster.
Bailey explained: “It’s all gone swimmingly so far. We took him across the water to Northern Ireland to see whether he was good enough for Grade 1 races and he wasn’t.
“The National has always been his aim so we took him back to the Becher Chase and that was good – he loved it.
“We just needed to get one more race into him which was the race at Doncaster which he won last year.
“Actually, I think he ran better this year for the simple reason it was a far better quality race. The ground was not very nice and, bizarrely, Doncaster is not a galloping course – they go so quick round there. He was off the bridle a long way from home – even ITV’s Alice Plunkett thought he was going to pull up - and he ran on to be second. I was very happy with that run.
“Four and a half miles is what he’s for. The biggest problem is we’ve got 11st 10lbs and for a small horse that is very hard work.”
Red Rum was the last horse to lug top weight to National glory more than 40 years. But not even Ginger McCain’s legendary three-time winner can match Bailey’s previous Aintree hero Mr Frisk.
His 1990 victory came in a record time that still stands today despite the course being shortened in recent years.
Bailey is one of only two current trainers to have won jump racing’s holy trinity of the Grand National, Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup. Paul Nicholls is the other.
And he acknowledges how important Mr Frisk’s Aintree win - under amateur jockey Marcus Armytage – was to his career. He also remembers how winning the world’s most famous race came with some unusual perks.
He chuckled: “It’s the silly little things. On the way home I went to have a pee in a service station – it was full of football fans. There I was dressed in a suit and, as you can imagine, they weren’t.
“There was about 60 people in front of me in the queue. I tapped the guy in front of me on the shoulder and I said ‘sorry, any chance of me getting in front I’m desperate’. You can imagine what he said.
“When I told him I had just won the Grand National he shouted ‘this guy’s just won the Grand National’ - they parted like the Red Sea.”
READ MORE
Since Mr Frisk’s day in the glorious April sun 27 years ago Bailey’s hopes of another National have been flushed away by a combination of misfortune and circumstance.
Master Oats fell at the 13th when carrying just 10st the year before he won the Gold Cup.
He had top weight when he returned three weeks after his 1995 Cheltenham success. The ground was faster than ideal for the 5-1 favourite but he ran well to finish seventh behind Royal Athlete.
Don't miss any of the action at Aintree today by following our live blog
Romany King – also trained by Bailey and ridden by Armytage – finished just in front of him in fifth.
A hefty weight and good ground again didn’t help when Master Oats finished fifth in the Monday evening National in 1997 when he ended his career with a fine fifth behind runaway winner Lord Gyllene.
Supreme Charm’s fifth in 2002 and a seventh place for Longshanks in 2007 followed much later but the one that might just have got away was Docklands Express 12 months after Bailey had lifted the National trophy with Mr Frisk.
He had won what is now the Betbright Chase at Kempton on his previous start but got no further than the first fence on his National debut. A year later – carrying nearly a stone more – he was fourth when favourite for champion jockey Peter Scudamore.
Bailey reckons current hope The Last Samuri – set to be his 24th runner in the great race - is very similar to Docklands Express, who went on to win Aintree’s Betfair Bowl twice.
He said: “I never thought Docklands Express would jump a fence – I thought he was too small. I actually told one of his owners that and he sold his share. He did buy Man O’Magic instead – he won 22 races so he didn’t do too badly.
“Everyone who rode Docklands Express said when you sat on him he feels much bigger – they say the same about The Last Samuri. They are very similar - same stature, same build.
If his current little ‘un does grab glory in the £1million National today Bailey says he will appreciate it all the more - especially if he happens to be ‘caught short’ on the way home.