Comments on: Grand National Runners 2010: Rambling Minster

By: The Stayer

The Stayer — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:11:47 +0000

Pablo,

I don’t think class was really an issue. Let’s not forget that the Haydock race he won is a decent Class 1 and he beat some useful horses last season – Mon Mome was behind him that day and he finished in front of Character Building twice.

It’s possible that the Haydock race took more out of him than we thought – he is 11 so maybe his powers of recovery are slower than the 8 or 9yos. But to me it looked like he just didn’t enjoy himself, and that does happen in the National. That wasn’t his true running.

It will be interesting to see what they do with him this season. Understandably the Reveleys don’t seem very enthusiastic about a repeat trip to Aintree and he will be 12 next year so time isn’t on his side. As I said further up, he has loads of stamina and copes with very testing ground so the Welsh National would be an obvious target.

By: Pablo

Pablo — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:53:50 +0000

I backed Rambo to win some decent money last year (singles, doubles and trebles) and don’t regret it

But I have learned a lesson to be very careful about backing 11 or 12 year olds

The ones from this age group to have won the race since 1990 all were thought good enough to compete in a Hennessy or Gold Cup – or in the case of Amberleigh House a course specialist with a Grade 2 win under his belt previously placed in the National

Unfortunately Rambo wasn’t in this class at all and didn’t have strong course experience in his favour either

By: Ben Aitken

Ben Aitken — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:18:24 +0000

I would say the handicapper will have clobbered him sufficiently to stop him being competitive for a few races. I think I am correct in thinking he was ‘well in’ when running in the national as he won a race after the weights were announced, he is likely to find his ‘proper’ mark difficult to win from. A bigger concern may be the effect the national experience had on him, looked to hate every aspect of Aintree and at a rising 11 years of age may just have lost enthusiasm after his experience over the gruelling fences.

By: The Stayer

The Stayer — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:40:49 +0000

I backed Rambo at virtually every price from 40s down this year. Sometimes horses fall in the National, that happens, but to see a horse that I fancied so strongly run as poorly as that was bitterly disappointing, and I think I speak for the majority of the contributers on these pages as most of us backed him.

Let’s not beat around the bush here, the horse ran a shocker. I agree with James’ assessment in that the horse appeared not to take to it. Whether it was the fences, the preliminaries or the number of horses around him, he didn’t seem to enjoy himself. He looked a bit deliberate and sticky over the fences (though he was so far back you don’t see him often), and when he was hampered before pulling-up he was going nowhere very quickly.

I won’t be rushing out to back him for 2010. The horse will be 12 next year and if he didn’t enjoy the Aintree experience this time it’s unlikely that he will do next time. He’s won over 3m4f on heavy ground and over 4m on soft so the Welsh National might be a better race for him.