Brooke’s date with destiny looming thanks to McCain

“I was tacking up a horse and Donald said ‘As long as everything goes to plan, Jason (Maguire) rides Ballabriggs and you ride the second string Across The Bay’. I didn’t know what to say, I just got on with the job,” says the Yorkshireman.

“Inside, I was really pleased. A few people had said that I would ride it, but I wouldn’t believe them until I had heard it from Donald.

“The horse is a grand sort, he’s very laid back and chilled out and it was nice to win on him last time out at Haydock.

“I wouldn’t want to be on a 
National horse coming from any other yard. They know what they’re doing, Donald and the team, when it comes to Aintree – it must have been bred into them by his dad, Ginger.”

It is a measure of 22-year-old Brooke’s rise to prominence – he was born in Tadcaster and his family are steeped in the Middleham racing community – that he has been asked to continue the 
McCain family’s unrivalled record in the iconic race.

It was Ginger McCain, a taxi driver, who had the foresight to buy Red Rum at Doncaster Sales for £6,000 and train the fragile horse on the sand dunes of Southport. He would race in the 
National five times, winning on three occasions and finishing second in his two other runs.

McCain senior and his son then master-minded Amberleigh House’s come-from-behind win in 2004 under Bedale jockey Graham Lee.

Another success came two years ago when Ballabriggs provided McCain junior with a poignant first victory, just months before his irascible father succumbed to cancer.

The McCains’ stables in Cheshire are not for the faint-hearted. The long hours demand an insatiable work ethic – and horsemanship of the highest order.

Champion conditional last season, Brooke could actually become one of the few up-and-coming riders to retain the title because he did not ride out his claim – the weight allowance allocated to apprentices – until he rode a treble at Sedgefield 
recently.

Five behind North Yorkshire-based Lucy Alexander, who is bidding to become the first female rider to take the accolade, Brooke was buoyed a fortnight ago when he was presented with his first ‘Lester’ – racing’s equivalent of the Oscars – in recognition of his blossoming talent.

Asked what he has learned from McCain, he pauses and then says: “A lot of abuse.” And McCain’s father? “I kept out of his way,” he jokes.

“Seriously, I’ve still got a lot to learn, but it’s great that my little brother Danny can ride out here when he’s off school – and be inspired by the plaque outside Red Rum’s box, and that of Ballabriggs.

“I won’t do anything different. I’ll go down to Aintree the night before and walk it in my own time. I’ll then run round on the day of the race. The horse doesn’t like to be crowded, and he may not have much room with 40 runners. I think the key will be to find a bit of light when they spread out.

“I’ve watched a lot of past 
Nationals and all of Across The Bay’s past winners. It’s hard to believe I grew up Middleham where the last Yorkshire winner, Merryman II, was trained in 1960. It’s the race of all races – every jump jockey wants to win the Grand National. Look what it meant to AP (McCoy) when he won on Don’t Push It – or Jason with Ballabriggs.”

Brooke can take confidence from the fact that Across The Bay’s National trajectory is heading in the right direction.

A second fence casualty in the 2010 Irish National, he was seventh in this season’s Welsh National and continues to give great pleasure to the Scotch Pipe Syndicate who own the nine-year-old.

Their number includes Kevin Coyne, a lawyer from Merseyside whose exploits with the horse have captivated the legal profession in Liverpool.

He said: “I go into court every day and even the clerks are saying, ‘Hello, Mr Coyne, is Across The Bay all right?’ It’s fabulous.”

It is a question that Henry Brooke keeps asking as Across The Bay completes his preparations. Horse and rider are 24 hours away from their date with destiny.