RUSSELL'S HARD COR VALUES

Last year's winning trainer unphased by the chance to make history again

- DAVID YATES

UNEASY lies the head that wears a crown?

Minutes after Lucinda Russell saddles Corach Rambler for the Randox Grand National at Aintree next Saturday, the 10-year-old will seek to become the 10th horse in its 185-year history to win the great race more than once.

The returning champion will face the starting tape as the hot favourite after dominating his National rivals 12 months earlier.

But there's no evident sense of pressure or burden of expectation as the trainer breezes through her affections for "horse of a lifetime" Corach Rambler at her Arlary House stable near Kinross in Perthshire, half an hour north of Edinburgh.

"It's not all about 'Corach," protests Russell, with little conviction, before admitting: "But he adds so much joy to our life.

"He has taken over our life - of course he has. He's a remarkable horse, and a remarkable racehorse." Perhaps the 57-year-old's easy manner comes from the knowledge that, while all bar a handful of trainers get to savour glory in the world's most famous steeplechase, she has tasted it twice, having won with One For Arthur in April 2017.