THE GRAND NATIONAL
Trainer Christian Williams tells Simon Barnes how he’s prepared his Grand National contender
ARE YOU READY for a serious name-drop? I once sat on Desert Orchid. He was the great grey horse that always seemed to win in the most courageous way possible, a horse that made jump-racing fans of the entire nation. Alas, I had to get off him again a few moments later, resisting the temptation to try a quick gallop. It was just as well, because even in retirement he would have probably pulled both my arms out.
I remember just as vividly the anguish of his trainer, David Elsworth, at the fact that “Dessie” never ran in the Grand National. He’d have been brilliant, wouldn’t he? A sure-fire winner. Maybe. But then again maybe he would have fallen, broken a million hearts and made the horse’s owners and trainers feel like murderers.
That’s the thing with the Grand National: it divides both crowds and individuals. On the one hand you want your beloved horse to run with the best and show the world what he or she’s made of – and on the other, you don’t.
That’s why I’m speaking to trainer Christian Williams – to gain insight into how it feels to prepare a horse for the Grand National. Williams first worked with Kitty’s Light when the horse was a yearling, but he’s now eight and I can hear affection and ambition, plus hope and anxiety, in every word Williams says. The horse is a 14–1 shot for the National as I write, which means he’s certainly a contender. Last year’s winner, Corach Rambler, is favourite at 5–1.
Williams trains in south Wales, near Ogmore Castle in Glamorgan. His horses do a lot of their work on the beach and, with one look at his horses in action, anyone with horsey blood in their veins would long to drop by for a gallop.
But when you’re a trainer you see a lot of horses. So what do you look for in a potential winner? Williams says it’s all about that moment when you say to yourself, “You know, I think we might have something here.”
“I’ve got a video on my phone,” he tells me. “Six years ago, and he’s having a canter, ridden by Jack [Tudor, his usual jockey]. Jack was only 15 then and there was something about that canter, the way the horse moved… a lovely lolloping stride. And he’s trained up to be a super-duper staying chaser.”
IT WASN’T EASY OR straightforward, but then it hardly ever is. “He came to hand quickly, but he struggled a bit with his jumping. He wasn’t fully mature and he needed time.” He
