When Corach Rambler won the 2023 Grand National, racehorse trainer Lucinda Russell had one dawning realisation: “This is going to get big.”
But the Kinross-based trainer and her partner, eight-time champion jockey Peter ‘Scu’ Scudamore, weren’t completely blinkered to what Aintree success would mean, as they’d already won with the late One For Arthur in 2017.
“We had a fair idea of what it was going to be like,” recalls Lucinda, 57, when I visit her and Scu at their expansive home yard, Arlary, in Milnathort.
“We knew the quality of horse would go up, so we were ready for it. On the way back up the road, we phoned Scu’s son Michael and said: ‘Can you come and give us a hand? We’re going to have to expand again.’
“So from a business point of view, it’s been really good.”
And from an emotional point of view, last year’s win gave Lucinda’s yard team a major boost.
“The atmosphere back here on the yard was fantastic,” she says. “It really did bring us together. It justifies everything.
“We’ve had a terrible winter, and through the wind and the rain, the lads have been working so hard, but at least they know why they’re doing it!”
A day in the life of Lucinda Russell
Looking out at the busy yard, it’s easy to imagine how charged with joy that homecoming must have been.
As we speak, stable hands bustle to and fro with buckets full of water for the horses, while three energetic dogs bound expertly underhoof.
There’s the constant clatter of horseshoes as each of Arlary’s 154 equines is walked out, mounted, taken for exercise, brought back, washed down and given their daily treat – a shovel of fresh carrots.
Corach Rambler will run again at this year’s event as favourite and the training regime, Lucinda explains, is a bit like rugby training.
“You have to train the horses to be fit and to be able to sprint, but you also have to give them a good bit of stamina as well.
“Our ideas here are really about exposing them to life, so they see a lot of life. They go around the fields, they go up and down the gallops, they go on the roads. It brings them to being quite well-rounded horses.
“It’s about keeping them physically right, but also mentally right. We like to make sure they’re enjoying their training.”
And when it’s Corach’s turn to go up the gallops (a 0.6 mile stretch of ground where the horses can run without obstacles) Scu is the one who comes to ride him.
That is, if he can get the rambunctious racehorse tacked up.
“Corach, don’t be horrible to me. He’s so grumpy!” the 61-year-old says jovially as Corach stomps in his stable. “But I absolutely adore him. Though I don’t think he likes me at all.”
Lucinda and Scu make dynamic duo
On a more serious note, Scu describes the “honour and responsibility” of looking after a champion like Corach as “sobering”.
“It’s a funny feeling, being so grateful to a horse,” he says.
“I’m slightly embarrassed to say he’s any better than any other, because every little kid thinks their pony’s the best. And this is my pony!”
Later, separately, Lucinda echoes her partner’s childlike joy over the horses when she says: “I never think I’m any different to when I was that 10-year-old girl, just loving my pony. I still feel exactly the same.”
And it’s clear from the results they get that together, Lucinda and Scu are a formidable duo. So what’s their secret to creating such a successful partnership in both work and life?
“I think we get on because we’ve got so many similarities,” explains Lucinda.
“When one of us is up, the other one’s down, so we can sort of cope. It’s just about meeting life together, head on, and doing what we love.”
That’s not to say life is easy for the pair. Training racehorses is gruelling work undertaken in rain or shine – and Lucinda has no concept of taking a day off.
“I’m never not doing this,” she smiles. “You have to be quite resilient, there are good days and bad days. The weather certainly doesn’t help.
“Things you can control are easy to cope with, but there are some things you can’t control, like the weather, and bad luck [on the course]. But I’ve got a great team around me, which makes it easier.”
Lucinda Russell on race risk: ‘Life is dangerous’
Indeed, despite its increased safety measures for this year – including cutting the number of runners from 40 down to 34 – the Grand National is a notoriously dangerous race.
As someone who clearly loves the animals she works with, how does Lucinda balance that risk with the potential reward of winning?
“I think it’s interesting when people say that because I think life is dangerous,” she reasons. “Every day I’m scared of things going wrong, and that’ll be on the day of the National as well as every other day of life.
“We could stop training the horses and just look at them in the field, and they’d still hurt themselves. So all we can do is produce them the best that we can for the race.
“The people that run the race have made it as safe as they can. We can’t eliminate risk, but you can’t eliminate risk in life, so we have to take that chance, and the reward we get for is it so far greater.
“When you see the horses, they love being in training, they do enjoy what they do, so I feel justified in it.”
As well as the horses, Lucinda takes pride in the risks taken by her yard’s jockeys each time they come out of the box.
“I respect the jockeys, they work extremely hard,” she says.
“The jockeys that ride for us all work on the yard. They were put through the yard, and they deserve the success. It means a lot to them.”
Does she ever wish it was her up there, riding to glory?
“Never!” she laughs. “I’m not that brave – or talented.”
Fame won’t go to Lucinda’s head
That down-to-earth attitude is one that Lucinda has been careful to maintain despite her rise to fame, both in the horse racing world and in her local community.
After Corach’s win last year, she and Scu were presented with the prestigious Freedom of Perth, which she says was “a lovely accolade”.
“We’re so much in a bubble of what’s so important for us – the Grand National, the horses,” she explains.
“And then when you get an award like the Freedom of Perth, you really appreciate how much it means to everyone.”
But the highlights of fame for music-loving Lucinda were her appearance on BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs – featuring Andy Williams, The The and ABBA – and of course, her local pub installing a custom beer pump named after Corach Rambler, to match the previous one for One For Arthur.
“Good old Tennent’s,” smiles Lucinda. “We had a very nice time in the Thistle Hotel celebrating last year, and there is indeed a Corach Rambler beer pump now.”
Indeed, the support of the local community is something Lucinda is grateful for not just in times of celebration, but year-round.
Community support keeps Arlary going
With micro-shares of as little as £60 now common in racehorse ownership, many local people have rallied behind Arlary and staked a claim in one of Lucinda’s horses.
“It’s really nice,” she says. “We go shopping in the supermarket and people come up and ask me about their horses, so that’s lovely.”
And it’s thanks to a local bakery that Lucinda and her team are kept going on the rainy days.
“Baynes in Kinross will get the phone call about 12.15pm that we need 25 sausage rolls please. And they produce them ready for us at 1pm,” she smiles. “I really do feel that support.”
Now that support is more important than ever, as Lucinda and Scu aim for an Aintree hattrick with Corach at the 2024 Grand National.
If he wins, he would be among only seven other horses to take the title twice in its 185-year history. The question is, can he do it?
“I don’t see why not,” smiles Lucinda. “Wouldn’t that be phenomenal?”
The Grand National steeplechase 2024 begins at 4pm on Saturday April 13.
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