Upwardly mobile Caroline Bailey may not have Saturday’s Grand National in her sights this week but the trainer’s historic Holdenby North Lodge stables was this week celebrating its most valuable success.
Bailey, whose father Dick Saunders became the oldest man to win the National at the age of 48 in 1982 on the Frank Gilman-trained Grittar, saddled Noble Legend to take the £50,000 BetVictor Handicap Chase over 2m 6f under Andrew Thornton at Haydock Park last Saturday.
Six wins in the space of 12 months for Noble Legend and the fact the Bailey yard is in the rudest of health after also saddling Dermatologiste to win at Wetherby last week, suggests the Northants handler, who only took out her professional licence in 2007, is in red-hot form.
In fact the only recent body blow Bailey has suffered of late was when Noble Legend knocked her to the ground in the parade ring at Haydock before the race.
She said: “He is charming at home but as soon as he gets on a racecourse he is a real handful. On Saturday he suddenly whipped round and knocked me to the ground in the paddock. I’m just glad the Channel 4 cameras weren’t there at that precise moment!”
Thrilled by the success of Noble Legend, Bailey added: “The horse had qualified for the race some time back, so it was a race we had penciled in for him but you know these plans don’t always go smoothly.
“However, we knew the track, trip and ground would be in his favour.
“He is only a six-year-old and we are undecided if he will run again this season. He is owned by Peter Dixon-Smith at East Norton Hall in Leicestershire and we have always sat down and discussed it with him, although the horse wouldn’t want fast ground. Either way he is progressive, and looks as though he will stay further than three miles next season.
“It is easily the most valuable race we have won. Doctor David competed at that level but let us down on the big occasions while Castle Mane’s win in the Cheltenham Foxhunter’s Chase was before we had a professional licence.
“We have a staff of ten here and I am pleased for them. They have all ridden the horse at one time or another and it gives everyone a buzz in the yard.
Maintaining touch with grass roots is central to the Bailey operation, so it was important husband Gerald should saddle two winners on the same day at Garthorpe point to point in the form of Speckled Door and Sandpipers, especially as Noble Legend began life under this code. Speckled Door, who is named after a pub in Ireland, won his maiden race while the Alex Vaughan-Jones-ridden Sandpipers took the Intermediate contest.
Involving the family team is also central to the plot as twins Robert and Michael both had a day out, the former with his mum in Lancashire while the latter accompanied dad.
With parents both fully committed to the day jobs, switching attention to the winner of Saturday’s Grand National is best left to the eager young students of form, and Robert spends more time than most engrossed in the pages of the Racing Post.
While stable loyalty extends to a small place bet on the largely unconsidered Tatenen, trained by Richard Rowe but ridden by the Baileys’ stable jockey Thornton, the analysis is complete after a brief mid-morning break from activity in the kitchen. “I’ve narrowed it down to two,” says Robert. “Back Seabass and Cappa Bleu.”
OK Robert, I will.