WINNING the Scottish Grand National doesn't normally earn a jockey his P45, but it's perhaps just as well the autograph hunters ensured Charlie Huxley got plenty of practice writing his name after he'd steered Iris De Balme to a shock victory at Ayr.
It will stand him in good stead when he goes to sign on at the dole this week. Beating one of your boss's horses in the richest jumps event run north of the Border is bad enough, but beating two of them takes biting the hand that feeds you to new he
ights, so the young amateur can expect to pay a hefty price when he turns up for work at Alan King's yard this morning.
"I'm delighted for Mr Huxley but he faces the sack," joked King after seeing his two runners, Halcon Genelardais and Old Benny, finish second and fourth behind the easy winner. In the heat of the moment, Huxley's post-race assessment that his mount was 'class all the way through' was understandable although it came as a shock to many given the 66-1 shot had just one win to his name and was racing from almost two stones out of the handicap.
The sooner someone teaches horses to read the form book however, the better punters will like it, and Iris De Balme clearly had no idea he wasn't meant to win, far less as easily as he did.
While earlier efforts began to take their toll on his rivals in the latter stages of the four-mile marathon, Sean Curran's gelding went to the second last as if he'd just been shopping in the Tesco supermarket next door and decided to join in the race for a laugh. Once he'd pinged the last, it was all over and with nearest pursuer Halcon Genelardais blundering badly at the same obstacle, there was a yawning 14-length gap between the pair at the line.
Next home was Flintoff who, like several in the field, ran surprisingly well on ground that didn't play to his strengths with the testing conditions that had been forecast all week by clerk of the course Katherine Self failing to materialise.
Jointly owned by ex-footballer Lee Power, whose career took in stints with Dundee, Hibs, and ever so appropriately, Ayr United, Iris De Balme could now head for this weekend's bet365 gold cup at Sandown, although ultimately, Aintree is the goal.
"We entered him at Liverpool two years ago but he had such a lowly rating we had to take him out," said Curran after what was easily the biggest success of his embryonic training career. "We'll take each race as it comes but the amazing thing is he's still a novice over fences and over hurdles.
"He was 26lb out of the handicap and we just wanted him to run respectably," admitted the Oxfordshire handler who'll be back doing his other job this afternoon when riding Explosive Fox at Plumpton.
"If he'd have finished about 10th, and not been beaten by far, we'd have been thrilled. Going down the back straight, I'd have just been happy to get a place but he stayed and jumped and then showed that amazing speed.
"It's a massive victory for everyone at the yard and hopefully it has put us on the map. To have a runner in a big race like the Scottish National is a huge achievement for a small yard like ours. To actually win it, is something else."
Iris De Balme has been cut to just 10-1 to for back-to-back wins at Sandown this Saturday and while it's a tall order, Hot Weld proved it wasn't mission impossible 12 months ago. The National apart, it was a good day for the home side at Ayr with Jim Goldie sending La Vecchia Scuola out for her second success in as many days, Peter Monteith extending his lead in the race to be Scotland's leading jumps trainer thanks to Marcel's triumph, and owner Ray Green enjoying a big priced double with Overserved and Merigo.
Mind you, given the way results went, the 25-1 Overserved was allowed to go off on almost made him quite well fancied as 40-1 shot Border Castle also hit punters hard when landing the Scottish Champion Hurdle. In the circumstances, the only people happier than the bookmakers might have been the Ayr executive who saw a crowd of over 17,000 flock to the Craigie course to add to the 5,000 plus who attended on Friday.
Among Saturday's crowd was an impeccably turned-out, elegantly dressed young lady who I spotted with a glass of bubbling pink champagne in one hand and a cheeseburger in the other.
Before you ask, yes, she did have onions on the burger.
