Adam Wedge shoulders injury burden to lead Secret Reprieve to Welsh National win

A wincing fall from Espirit Du Large in an earlier race left Wedge requiring extensive shoulder strapping from medics in a desperate bid to save his day. Another heavy fall in the next contest compounded matters.

It did not end here – the 31-year-old was then beaten on the favourite Can You Call before his luck changed in the big race when his saddle remained in place – just – on Secret Reprieve as a breast girth came loose.

Ridden patiently, Wedge nursed the lightly-raced horse, who is just seven and at the start of his chasing career, into the Chepstow marathon before asserting in the home straight to provide trainer Evan Williams, a proud Welshman, with the most special win of his life.

The jockey said it was “touch and go” whether he would be fit to ride Secret Reprieve, the 5-2 favourite, who had been trained to perfection for a race delayed nearly two weeks because of inclement weather.

“I’m sore now and was holding on to it for the big race,” said Wedge, who was holding his shoulder gingerly in the post-race presentations.

Such words from such battle-hardened jockeys are usually code that they shouldn’t be riding – and so it proved. “I went back in and was very winded and very sore after Espirit Du Large, but the fact I had a ride to keep me going straight after probably helped as I didn’t get stiff,” he continued.

“Straight after the first fall I was questioning myself about riding, but I felt okay even though I fell on the next one. Once your adrenaline is up, you don’t feel anything. You know you’re sore, but you’re riding the race. It’s madness but we do it because we love it.”

As for the drama with the girth, he added: “I’m not sure what happened with the saddle, I think the girth snapped or came undone, but thank God we’ve got the overgirth and everything stayed in place.”

Secret Reprieve is owned by William and Angela Rucker whose horses have been placed in multiple Grand Nationals courtesy of State Of Play and Cappa Bleu, the latter chasing home Sue and Harvey Smith’s Auroras Encore in 2013.

Yet it is a measure of the aforementioned Williams that he couldn’t have been prouder of his horse finishing second to the Smiths at Aintree.

And it explains why the whole of racing were touched by his pride – and emotion – when he fulfilled a lifelong ambition to win his ‘home’ national at Chepstow.

“It’s more relief than anything else, which is a terrible thing to say. It means an awful lot to us,” explained Williams.

“It’s nice tension to have won being the favourite – that’s what we do it for.

“That was never a worry as far as I was concerned.

“The worry came today when Adam was on the floor. They patched him up absolutely unbelievably well and Adam deserves the plaudits – how he can ride after having two crunching falls like he’s had, I just take my hat off to him.

“The horse is a joy to deal with. You can never be confident when you’re going over this sort of trip, but in the pit of my stomach I though it would bring out further improvement and it looked to me like he galloped right through the line.”

The Llancarfan-based trainer confirmed afterwards that Secret Reprieve’s girth had broken in the latter part of the race.

He went on: “It’s mad how it works out. After the day ‘Wedgey’ has had, I was thinking ‘oh no, he can’t jump the last and then Adam falls off’. It must have happened later on in the race.

“You’ve got the girth with two buckles, which basically keeps the saddle on. Then you have an over-girth with elastic on that goes round the whole lot and without that, Adam would have fallen off.”

The winner received quotes of around 25-1 for the Randox Grand National, but Williams warned he is not certain to head to Aintree. He added: “The race that really comes to mind is the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. That is only because he’s a novice.

“The reality is that the Grand National would be higher on my list, but I’ll have to talk to Mr and Mrs Rucker and see how the horse comes out of this race.”

The win was effectively the second leg of a memorable Christmas double for Williams and Wedge after their surprise frontrunning tactics on Silver Streak dethroned Epatante, the reigning Champion Hurdle wnner, in the Grade One Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day.

This horse started its career in Yorkshire with Ann Duffield, racing at Beverley, before becoming one of the country’s best hurdlers thanks to Williams and Wedge who have grown in stature to become one of the most respected combinations in the sport. Secret Reprieve’s win proved that.