Amateur rider Sam Waley-Cohen will bid to improve upon his fine record over the daunting Grand National fences when he partners Ollie Magern for Nigel Twiston-Davies in Saturday’s John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree.
Until he received a phone call from the trainer yesterday morning, the 26-year-old was not expecting to have a ride in this year’s renewal of the world-famous £900,000 steeplechase.
But having recently partnered Tricky Trickster to win the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival for Twiston-Davies, Waley-Cohen was delighted to be able to continue his association with the stable.
“To be honest, it was completely out of the blue,” said the jockey today. “I was surprised and delighted. Ollie Magern is a smashing horse who stays well, has plenty of experience and has plenty of class and the plan is for me to go down and have a sit on him later in the week.
“Mr Twiston-Davies thinks that I am the right type of rider for him and I hope we can look after each other. Hopefully we can have a great race together.”
Waley-Cohen finished fifth on Liberthine in the John Smith’s Grand National two years ago, after winning the John Smith’s Topham Trophy aboard the Nicky Henderson-trained mare in 2006. In the same year, he also completed back-to-back victories in the John Smith’s Fox Hunters’ Chase aboard Katarino, trained by his father, Robert.
However, despite his admirable strike-rate over the Grand National fences (three wins from six rides), Waley-Cohen says that he will be taking nothing for granted on Saturday when he has to negotiate 30 obstacles.
“I don’t want to set myself up for a fall and so far it has been 100 per cent about having the right horse to do the job,” he said. “I’ve been very lucky to have been riding some fantastic horses, who jumped well for me and did what I needed them to. Hopefully, Ollie Magern can keep up that record.”
Having left a job as a commodities trader in the City, in January Waley-Cohen started work for a healthcare business providing private dental treatment in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire and his job as chief executive means that he is in the company’s West End offices most days.
“I think I must have got the idea to move into dental care having spent the last few years looking at all of the bad teeth around in the weighing room! It’s busy but I have still been finding plenty of time to ride, both in point-to-points and in amateur riders’ races,” he said.
“After I rode Tricky Trickster to win the National Hunt Chase, I bumped into Marcel Rolland, a French trainer who I met when I worked in Paris, and he said that he had a horse for me to ride at Auteuil that weekend.
“I flew over the day after Cheltenham and the plan worked because we won.
“I am hoping that I might pick up a ride in the Fox Hunters’ Chase (Thursday, April 2, Aintree) on a horse called Blu Teen, so that will hopefully be a great warm-up for the big race. I can’t wait to be back there.”
While non-professional jockeys have a fine historical record in the John Smith’s Grand National, having won 41 of the 161 runnings at Aintree, the number of amateurs taking part has decreased in recent years. Waley-Cohen will bid to become the first successful amateur in the race since Mr Frisk won under Marcus Armytage in 1990.
