Gary Rutherford’s humble role in Aye Right’s Cheltenham Gold Cup bid

Yet, as Aye Right canters to the start for Cheltenham’s blue riband race carrying the hopes of Northern racing, the quietly-spoken Rutherford will be 300 miles away doing what he loves most – looking after horses.

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And, while he is now the steeplechaser’s co-trainer after being recently added to Harriet Graham’s licence in an innovative partnership, there will be unglamorous work to do at their Jedburgh stables.

“TV in the tack room,” he told The Yorkshire Post. “We’ll have it on while doing afternoon stables – mucking out, grooming and sweeping up. Harriet and her husband (Robert) are going and Marjorie (Renwick) whose head lass and who has worked for Harriet for over 20 years.”

Is he disappointed? “No, I’m not,” explains Rutherford. “It’s still quite exciting to be just part of it. Marjorie has gone racing for Aye Right’s whole career and we’re not going to change it at this late stage. They are going down first thing on Thursday so I will be in charge at home. I suppose it’s what you dream of – to have a Gold Cup horse.”

In many respects, little has changed. Rutherford still has his pre-training yard, where he also breaks in young horses, adjacent to Graham’s well-established stables in the Scottish Borders and where he rides out Aye Right.

Yet a joint-licence gives the ever-enthusiastic Graham flexibility – she’s also clerk of the course at Hamilton – and a chance for horsemen like Rutherford to train without breaking the bank or finding a rich benefactor.

They had their first victory under the new set-up on February 21 when 66-1 outsider Don Brocco prevailed at Carlisle under former Grand National-winning jockey Ryan Mania – and they hope to saddle Flat horses this summer.

Even this was a distant dream for Rutherford – named after the former Scotland scrum-half – when he was riding ponies and hunting during his childhood. He went to the British Racing School in Newmarket before a stint in Lambourn with the aforementioned Henderson, a dual Gold Cup-winning trainer.

But he came into his own during four happy years with West Yorkshire racing legends Sue and Harvey Smith. “They were the ones who got me race-riding,” said Rutherford, whose success as a jockey was modest. “But I probably learned from them how to get horses fit and Harvey is a great man for teaching young jockeys and giving you opportunities to get going.”

The respect is mutual. “He was a good lad and we can’t speak highly enough of him,” says Sue Smith. “He was a very good worker and looked after horses well. Very good and very willing – joint licences have given him a chance that he perhaps wouldn’t be getting.”

Like many, Rutherford was inspired when the Smiths won the 2013 National with Auroras Encore under the aforementioned Mania and he also knew, after returning home to the Borders, that he’d be better to training horses than struggling to make ends meet as a journeyman jockey. “I’ve always been interested in the training side, even when I was a jockey. I wasn’t a jockey who just turned up on the racecourse – I wanted to be as hands-on as possible at the yards and work with the young horses to bring them on,” he said.

And horses like Aye Right – owned by Geoff and Elspeth Adam – have provided an unexpected opportunity for Graham, Rutherford and their select team to prove to racing that they’re top trainers despite just having 12 horses at their stables. Now nine years of age, Aye Right has become one of Northern racing’s flagbearers thanks to his partnership with jockey Callum Bewley, another rider who spent his formative years with the Smiths, and a string of high-profile performances.

These included a third-placed finish behind a scintillating Cyrname in the 2020 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby before Aye Right won Newcastle’s prestigious Rehearsal Chase at the end of last November – a very deserved big race triumph. Most recently the frontrunning Aye Right and Bewley were third to Chantry House, a leading Gold Cup contender, in Cheltenham’s Cotswold Chase at the end of January.

“Me and Marjorie (Renwick) ride him out at home,” said Rutherford as he assessed Aye Right’s chances in the Gold Cup. “He doesn’t like to be last – whether it is walking, trotting, cantering or galloping. He has to be in front. He always wants to win.

“I get a wee bit nervous, especially before the big races, but it is a great experience and I think he (Aye Right) has a good chance of being in the first five or six.

“I think he will run his race. He’s very honest and it will be hard to get past him. If he gets in his rhythm out in front, you know he will try his best.”

Just like Gary Rutherford himself.