Captain Cody has the perfect conditions to bounce back to form and add to his triumph in the Scottish Grand National last April.
Willie Mullins’ stable in Co Carlow is the dominant force of National Hunt racing – a sovereignty that now extends to the world’s most famous steeplechase, once the very emblem of the lottery where even the small-stakes player could hit the jackpot.
Mullins has now won the National three times but, tellingly, that tally includes the last two runnings, with I Am Maximus and Nick Rockett.
The latter’s late withdrawal leaves the 69-year-old trainer with eight of the 34 runners, and drying weather on Merseyside has enhanced the chances of the eight-year-old Captain Cody.
It’s hard to see the son of 2010 St Leger hero Arctic Cosmos coming home in front if he repeats the form of four underwhelming runs this season.
But the key to Captain Cody’s chance today is Aintree’s drying terrain.
It’s a year minus a day since my selection enjoyed the biggest victory of his career so far on Scotland’s west coast.
There are ‘Nationals’ run everywhere in Britain and Ireland nowadays – Midlands (Uttoxeter), London (Sandown), Somerset (Wincanton), Berkshire (Ascot), Sussex (Plumpton), Borders (Kelso), Leinster (Naas) and Kerry (Listowel), to name but a few.
But there are four Nationals that really count – the English which, being the first, doesn’t need a geographical qualification, the Scottish, Irish and Welsh.
Of the 23 runners who lined up at Ayr last year, 10 turned for home with any chance of success, with Captain Cody moving with menace on the outside.
His jumps at the final two fences weren’t pristine, but the casual ease with which the bay gelding lengthened to overhaul Klarc Kent – Harry Cobden had merely to shake the reins – and score by a length had to be seen to be believed. The handicap system rewards excellence with extra lead in the saddle, and Captain Cody is 12lb higher in the ratings today.
But his rise in the weights is well earned, and an eight-year-old jumper should be at the peak of his powers.
The Scottish National’s distance is three miles, seven furlongs and 176 yards, and Captain Cody will have no problem galloping for an additional two furlongs and 118 yards.
He has his own way of getting from one side of a fence to the other, but the National obstacles, with plastic cores replacing the timber of yore, are more tolerant of such eccentricity these days.
Jockey Johnny Burke, whose best National placing from six attempts was a fifth aboard Goonyella in 2016, gets the leg-up today and the British-based Irishman represents a safe pair of hands.
Of Captain Cody’s 33 rivals, Mullins’ I Am Maximus, first in 2024 and second last year, Grangeclare West, third 12 months ago, and talented outsider Champ Kiely are all dangers, while Gorgeous Tom, whose trainer Henry de Bromhead won the race with the Rachael Blackmore-ridden Minella Times in 2021, is also in the mix.
But it’s the improving novice Oscars Brother, bidding to give his owner JP McManus a record fourth National triumph, who is feared most of all.
The eight-year-old, one of just two horses trained in Co Tipperary by 29-year-old Connor King, looked an embryonic stayer when fourth at the Cheltenham Festival and has more to offer.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login