Owned by a seven-strong syndicate known as ‘The Ramblers’ and trained by Lucinda Russell in Milnathort, Kinross-shire, Corach Rambler justified favouritism in the 2023 Grand National in the hands of Derek Fox, winning by two-and-a-quarter kengths, despite idling in the closing stages. Prior to Aintree, Corach Rambler had done the same thing when just holding on to win the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, for the second year running, on March 14, 2023. Importantly, though, that victory came after the Grand National weights were officially announced by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) on February 21, such that he could contest the National off an unchanged handicap mark of 146, rather than a revised mark of 156.
Effectively 10lb ahead of the handicapper, Corach Rambler made steady headway from midfield after Valentine’s Brook, went third two out and led over the final fence. Shaken by Fox, he soon went clear and, although he downed tools to some extent close home, he was always doing enough to win. Three Irish-trained horses, Vanillier, Gaillard Du Mesnil and defending champion Noble Yeats filled the places.
After three unsuccessful starts in 2023/24 – one of which, to be fair, was a 13-length fourth behind Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup – Corach Rambler returned to Aintree for the 2024 Grand National. Despite racing off a handicap mark 13lb higher than the previous year, he was sent off marginal third favourite, at 15/2, behind 7/1 joint-favourites I Am Maximus and Limerick Lace. Neither his handicap mark nor his starting price mattered much, though, because he stumbled and unseated Fox at the first fence and was knocked over at the second when running loose. After failing to finish in the Punchestown Gold Cup on May 1, 2024 when, according to Russell, “he never looked happy”, he was retired from racing two weeks later.