Lucinda Russell’s William Hill blog: Planning to run Corach Rambler at Punchestown

William Hill ambassador Lucinda Russell looks ahead to a potential Punchestown raid with Corach Rambler and gives her thoughts on what has been another fine season.

Punchestown

We haven’t made a definite decision yet, but as things stand the plan is to run Corach Rambler in the Punchestown Gold Cup.

The spill at Aintree probably took a bit more out of him mentally more than it did physically but he’s right back on it. He seems very well in himself and we’re training him as if he will head over.

It’s obviously a very competitive race with the likes of Galopin Des Champs, but we know he’s got the ability to be competitive as he showed at Cheltenham. I wouldn’t totally rule it out, but I’m not sure we’ll go for the Grand National again as he’s so high up in the weights now and it would be a real job to win off his mark. I’d imagine we’ll look at the big staying chases, like the Betfair Chase, next season as handicaps look tough now.

It won’t be easy placing him, but I don’t think he’ll be out of place in the Grade 1s over three miles or further. We’ll see how we go in those contests and then make a plan from there. I’m not ruling out another tilt at the National because I Am Maximus showed that you need proper Grade 1 horses to win it now, and Corach is certainly one of those.

He’s been an amazing horse for us and has given us some special days, so he owes us nothing. I still retain huge faith in him and I’d like to think he’ll give us a few more highs yet.

Season thoughts

It’s been another really productive season. We might not have had that big Grade 1 winner, but we’ve still had some great winners and I can only thank our staff for their hard work for that.

We’ve taken on a lot of horses this year, many of whom haven’t actually run yet, which bodes really well for next season and the future. They’ve been in training with us for a full season and so have matured massively for that and we’re really excited about plenty of them moving forwards. You almost have to work harder with those because they take more time to acclimatise to their new surroundings.

There have been many highlights, but if I had to pick one it would probably be Apple Away’s win at Perth this week. We’ve always thought the world of her, and so we’ve been a little disappointed with how her season had gone over fences. It was brilliant to see her do what she did and she’s one to really look forward to next season.

I must also give a word to Patrick Wadge who has won the Conditional Jockeys’ title. We’re very proud to have helped him do that and I’m sure it’s only the start of a brilliant career in the saddle.

Finally, I’m always asked for one horse for next season to keep an eye on and I’d say Primoz. He was brilliant at Ayr last weekend and I’m sure we’ll see a totally different horse when he jumps a fence. The way that he jumps suggests he’ll be even better over the big obstacles and he’s the one that is keeping me awake thinking about next season.