Coleman plans National repeat

It has been a cathartic experience for the level-headed and fresh-faced 21-year-old who, by his own admission, was reduced to tears when the unheralded 100-1 outsider Mon Mome created one of the greatest Aintree upsets.

Having suffered a crushing seventh-fence fall on Stan, with the horse landing on his back and nearly bringing down his stablemate and eventual winner, Coleman was a disconsolate figure as he walked his mount gingerly back to the stables.

He experienced both ends of the emotional spectrum – joy that his friend Liam Treadwell and his boss Venetia Williams had landed such an unexpected victory but dejection that he had missed out on a life-changing National ride.

Twelve months on, and the impeccably polite Irishman finds himself being tipped by many to ride Mon Mome into the record books as the first horse since the imperious Red Rum in the 1970s to win back-to-back Nationals.

History is against the market leaders, even though Coleman has recovered from being kicked in the stomach in a crashing fall on Thursday. Only Red Rum and Reynoldstown have achieved this feat in the past century. Many others have tried and failed.

But, with the handicap compressed as the National becomes the race for top-class staying chasers, the omens may be turning in favour of Mon Mome – French for 'My Kid'.

When Reynoldstown won his first National in 1935, his stable's second-string jockey Frank Furlong was in the saddle – just like 12 months ago.

More recently, 2005 victor Hedgehunter and also Comply or Die in 2008 both finished a hugely creditable second the following year when handicapped to the hilt.

"I try not to be fazed by such things – my plan is to go out there and ride my own race," Coleman, an ambassador for the Racing UK television channel, tells the Yorkshire Post.

"It's the race I've always wanted to win since growing up in Ireland and seeing Bobbyjo win for the Carberry family in 1999.

"I never thought I'd be one of the youngest jockeys ever to ride in the race when I finished 10th on Mon Mome two years ago. That was one of the thrills of my life."

Coleman is also searingly honest about why he deserted the horse – owned by bridge champion Vida Bingham – 12 months ago.

Connections, he said, needed a decision and Mon Mome had run a particularly disappointing prep race in the Midlands National at Uttoxeter.

It is why he chose Stan – "my best friend" and the horse who had carried the young rider to three breakthrough victories in major handicaps.

At the time, it was the right decision. As they jumped the first, the jockey knew he had erred.

"He just hated it from the start," says Coleman. "It was a sickening fall at the seventh. He landed on his back and I just ran over to him. Thankfully, he was okay. All sorts went through my mind as I listened to the commentary of Mon Mome's win – delight for Liam but the feeling I'd been run over by a bus."

He simply pulled down his racing goggles and cried. He was a lonely and dejected figure as he scuttled back into the sanctuary of the weighing room – Coleman's ignominy completed as he walked past winning connections and could barely glance towards them. It was, he says, impossible to raise a smile.

He is is not the first jockey to miss out on a winning National ride, either through injury or misjudgment. Inevitably, he will not be the last. He is also philosophical about his fate.

"A lot of better people than me have made worse decisions," he says. "No one died. Worse things happen."

Unfailingly courteous, he has the respect of the entire National Hunt fraternity.

"A real gentleman," says North Yorkshire trainer Ferdy Murphy. "A great head on young shoulders," says young Yorkshire-based jockey Andrew Kinirons, who sought Coleman's counsel at an Injured Jockeys' Fund money-raising event last week.

And, unlike 12 months ago, Mon Mome is going into the National in the form of his life after finishing a gallant third in last month's Cheltenham Gold Cup, at those magical odds of 100-1 again, behind Imperial Commander and Denman.

While the 10-year-old's Aintree odds shortened as a consequence, Mon Mome still offers great value for today's renewal – and Coleman plays down suggestions that the Cheltenham race took too much out of the horse.

"The Midlands National is always a day after the Gold Cup, and it didn't seem to matter last year," he says. "I just gave him one flick with the whip at the top of the Cheltenham hill and he galloped to the line. He was larking around in the unsaddling enclosure afterwards like a mad man so I don't think he bottomed out.

"On paper, it's one of the best pieces of form going into Aintree. But you don't win races on paper. It's what happens on the day."

Coleman is unlikely to be fazed by the pressure of expectation – and any desire for redemption on his part.

Brought up in Cork, where his parents are both teachers, he learned his trade on the Irish pony racing circuit, where he had over 100 winners.

"It's brilliant and you learn to deal with the nerves, too," he says. "There was a lot of betting and the owners always wanted them to win. I was 12 or 13 and had one owner who always told me how many grand he had on his horse, but I never let it get to me. I still don't."

He then joined Gold Cup-winning trainer Henrietta Knight's yard, and it was her horse Silverbar that provided the young jockey with his first ride under Rules on December 23, 2006, at Hereford.

The following year, he moved to the yard of Venetia Williams – only the second woman behind Jenny Pitman to train a National winner. Higher-profile successes soon followed, most notably with the aforementioned Stan and when Mon Mome got the better of Yorkshire businessman Sir Robert Ogden's Star de Mohaison at Cheltenham in December, 2008.

"It's a privilege to be where I am – and I am so grateful for Venetia and Mrs Bingham for giving me another chance," adds Coleman. "I'm not going to say, categorically, that Mon Mome will definitely emulate Red Rum – that would be foolish – but it's about time that record was changed.

"I'm going to enjoy it and not worry about anything else. You just

don't know what is going to happen, and I should know.

"One thing is certain, however. When the race is over, the winner's credentials will be obvious. Let's hope it is Mon Mome."