McLernon eyes National atonement

McLernon appeared to have won the Aintree marathon on the Jonjo O’Neill-trained chaser before they were caught on the line by the fast finishing Neptune Collonges. The winning margin of a nose was the closest in the race’s 173-year history.

The likable 26-year-old, buoyed by his Cheltenham Festival-winning ride last month on Holywell, hopes to renew acquaintances with Sunnyhill Boy this Saturday – but it does depend on the decision of 17-times champion jockey AP McCoy.

McCoy, who won the race in 2010 on Don’t Push It, is said to be torn between last year’s runner-up and the Ted Walsh-trained Colbert Station. Both are owned by JP McManus.

While Sunnyhill Boy, now 10, has appealing course form, he has risen significantly in the weights and missed his intended prep race in the Cheltenham Gold Cup because of the arduous going. He has not raced since pulling up at Warwick over hurdles in January. This is not ideal, given that the horse won at the National Hunt Festival a year ago before his Aintree near-miss.

Conversely Colbert Station has won each of his two last starts, and with the legendary McCoy in the saddle. The downside is that the lightly-raced nine-year-old has only raced five times over fences, winning twice.

Still favourably treated by the handicapper, the champion is thought to be leaning towards taking this ride – a decision that would suit McLernon whose uncle Tommy Carmody enjoyed so much success with the Dickinson dynasty when they trained at Harewood near Wetherby.

“Last year was gutting,” McLernon told the Yorkshire Post. “He gave me some ride but I knew on the line Daryl Jacob had just got me, I could see his horse getting closer all the way down the run-in, but I wasn’t going to use the whip.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything more, but my gut instinct was that we had lost. It’s a long way from The Elbow, never mind the last fence. You feel sorry for yourself and then I heard that the yard had lost Synchronised, the Gold Cup winner in the race, and that puts everything into perspective. It was very sad, but you had to try and be strong for the whole stable and hide your own disappointment.”

In many respects, the National owes McLernon. His prone body took a heavy kicking from the hooves of horses after he was unseated from O’Neill’s Can’t Buy Time at The Canal Turn in 2010. This was the horse that McCoy should have ridden before O’Neill used his legendary powers of persuasion to convince jump racing’s winning-most rider to switch to Don’t Push It.

Yet, for a brief moment, the whole Aintree crowd thought that McCoy’s Aintree jinx had struck again as they saw the green and gold McManus stripes fall to the turf. There then followed audible sighs of relief when it was confirmed that it was Can’t Buy Time that had come to grief.

A jockey at O’Neill’s Jackdaws Castle stables for six years, McLernon accepts that he has to play second fiddle to the champion.

Yet, if McCoy does side with Sunnyhill Boy as conditions fasten at Aintree, his understudy will switch to the stable’s second string Lost Glory. Also owned by the aforementioned McManus, he has winning form at Chepstow and Stratford, albeit at a modest level.

“AP is stable jockey and it is a great position for me to be in. I learn every time I see him ride on the gallops or on the racecourse. Mr McManus and his racing manager Alan Berry have been great. So, too, Jonjo and his family,” added McLernon.

“They are very understanding. They love to win these big races like a Gold Cup and a National, but they also realise that it isn’t going to happen every year – and there will occasionally be sadness along the way. It’s a special team.

“I’ll be happy to have a ride in the race but yes, ideally, it will be Sunnyhill Boy. And I’ll tell you this. For a horse that has only raced twice this season, he looks very well in himself and the experience of last year can only help him try and go one better. These are the days that you live for.”

The entries are headed by 2010 Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander, with the Sue Smith-trained pair of Mr Moonshine and Auroras Encore both guaranteed a run for the Bingley handler.

A maximum of 40 runners will go to post. First reserve is Ferdy Murphy’s Poker De Sivola, though he is very unlikely to run because of various training setbacks.