Sam Brown gained by far the biggest success of his career with a stunning victory in the £56,270 Betway Handicap Chase at Aintree on Saturday.
I’m over the moon for his enthusiastic owner breeder Tim Frost who lives not far from us and puts so much time, thought and energy into producing proper National Hunt horses.
By delivering our 34th winner of the season Sam Brown took the prize money earned by our horses past £400,000 – this is a huge achievement for all the team, a massive thank you to them for all their hard work.
While I’ve always felt there was a big pot in him, he has had his share of issues, has been a bit of a car crash to train and ideally I would have preferred softer conditions underfoot on the Mildmay course.
But my wife Rachael has built him up this season so that he has developed and strengthened at the age of ten.
I can’t say that I was that confident after his last run at Haydock where he had a torrid time and a very hard race.
But he has always had plenty of ability as he showed when only just pipped in a nail-biting finish by Royale Pagaille in the Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock a month earlier. I thought that was his day so it was a massive bonus to see him bounce back in style at Aintree.
Although Sam Brown missed a few fences early on he got rolling turning for home, took up the running from the favourite Shan Blue at the second last, breezed home by fifteen lengths and gave us a day we will never forget.
