Scottish trainer Lucinda Russell is set to end the 2022/23 National Hunt season with one of the most successful campaigns of her career. The highlight was Corach Rambler’s victory in the Grand National at Aintree, her second triumph in the world’s most famous steeplechase.
During the summer months, many of Russell’s leading stars will have a well-earned break. It is during that time that she will plot the paths they will take next season, with their opening appearance likely to be in September or October.
Corach Rambler is the horse she is likely to spend more time weighing up her options, but whichever route she goes down, he is most probably set to end his season at Aintree again where he will be bidding to defend his crown.
2023 Winner Tops Betting for Next Year’s Race
Fans can already place Horse race bets on the 2024 Grand National and it is Corach Rambler who is the 16/1 favourite in the betting. He sits ahead of Fastorslow and I am Maximus who are both available at 20/1.
An odds converter can calculate the implied probability of Corach Rambler coming out on top next season. With odds of 16/1, which is 17.0 as a decimal, his implied probability is just 5.9% at this stage.
Corach Rambler will be bidding to do what only two horses since 1974 have done, and that is to defend their crown in the marathon contest. The 2023 winner is likely to have much more weight on his back when the official handicapper releases the weights in February.
Ahoy Senor Remains a Top-Level Performer
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Ahoy Senor and Lucinda Russell after the Cotswold Chase ?? <a href=”https://t.co/NbUbuTw5n7″>pic.twitter.com/NbUbuTw5n7</a></p>— Racing Post (@RacingPost) <a href=”https://twitter.com/RacingPost/status/1619815801644531712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 29, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
It has been another solid campaign for Grade One chaser Ahoy Senor. He gave his trainer a victory in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham earlier in the season. That left Russell dreaming of a maiden Cheltenham Gold Cup triumph. Unfortunately for the Kinross-based handler, he fell in that race when leading the field.
Ahoy Senor bounced back from his Cheltenham Festival mistake to finish second in the Aintree Bowl at the Grand National Meeting in Liverpool. He made the running in that contest and was still leading when approaching the final fence, but he just got headed in the home straight by Shishkin.
At the age of just eight, Ahoy Senor has many more years ahead of him in the 3m division. His connections will be optimistic of another strong campaign next season. His target is likely to be the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Russell Has Blown Away Last Season’s Tally
With 46 winners last season, Russell was delighted with the campaign her team had on the track. She will be even happier when the current year ends, as she has already hit the 69-winner mark.
Russell has accumulated over £1,500,000 in prize money, with only the likes of Paul Nicholls, Dan Skelton, Nicky Henderson, Fergal O’Brien and Willie Mullins ahead of her in the standings.
With so many exciting horses to look forward to next season, Russell will be very excited for the new campaign to begin in jumps racing.
