Sam Twiston-Davies confirmed to the media this afternoon that he has chosen to ride Saphir Du Rheu in the upcoming Grand National at Aintree.
Saphir Du Rheu had become a bit of an enigma in the National Hunt world over the past two years. No-one would have guessed, when watching Paul Nicholls charge destroy his Grade 1 rivals by 15 lengths to win the Mildmay Novices’ Chase at the 2015 Aintree Festival, that less than two years later he would have to drop down to a Class 2 at Kelso to recapture his winning touch.
After an eight-race winless run, where third in the Sodexo Gold Cup and second in the Barbados Trophy Handicap were the best results he could muster, Nicholls sent his charge on that confidence finding mission to Kelso. He ran out a convincing winner over a small, mediocre field and Nicholls decided he had seen enough to throw his eight-year-old back in at the deep end.
Saphir Du Rheu went to post as one of the unfancied outsiders in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and no-one expected him to pull up any tree’s, but Sam Twiston-Davies got a great tune out of his mount that day and he eventually passed the post a highly-creditable fifth, just six lengths behind the brilliant Sizing John.
“He’s always been capable of being a decent horse, but things fell a little bit apart with his jumping,” Nicholls told At The Races at the start of this week.
“At Cheltenham he showed us he was coming back and that confidence booster at Kelso made a difference to him, that was good. The other day was a very good run and now he’s going to Aintree with a chance.
Sam Twiston-Davies has been Nicholls’ lead stable jockey for a number of years now and he was tasked with picking which of his bosses entrants he would ride in the Grand National. Although Scottish National winner, Vicente made a strong case for selection, Twiston-Davies only had eyes for Saphir Du Rheu and the duo will be reunited at Aintree when they bid for Grand National glory.
“Vicente usually finds his form in the spring, and we know he stays four miles from his Scottish National win, but it will be hard to get off Saphir Du Rheu.” Twiston-Davies told the Daily Mirror on Wednesday afternoon.
“He got into a lovely jumping rhythm in the Gold Cup and looks a well-handicapped horse. He’s got form round the Grade One tracks and he jumped from fence to fence the day he won at Aintree.”
Following that impressive return to form in the Gold Cup, Saphir Du Rheu is sure to garner plenty of support from punters in the build-up to the main event on April 8th. He certainly has the course form and quality to make a huge impact in the Grand National and Nicholls believes his jumping has come on leaps and bounds since his heavy fall in the Hennessy earlier this season.
Sam Twiston-Davies has tasted success on several occasions over the Aintree fences, but a seventh place finish with Hello Bud in 2012 is the best result he has managed in the Grand National race itself. This hasn’t been his most successful or consistent season to date, but he will fancy his chances of riding Saphir Du Rheu to victory when he returns to the Grand National in a few week’s time.
