'IF the Handicapper doesn't put him up enough now to get in the National field, I'll shoot him!'
That was the booming message from Cheshire trainer Ginger McCain as he unleashed another star horse for the Grand National.
It is impossible to keep the man from Cholmondeley out of the headlines, and he was at it again last weekend.
He has always quietly fancied Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse regular Ebony Light as a potential runner at Aintree in April, but the horse has never quite been rated high enough to get into the final 40 runners.
All that changed last Saturday when Ebony Light - defying all the odds - won one of the biggest races of the season at Haydock Park against, among others, one of the leading fancies for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Ginger has now got his wish from the Official Handicapper, with Ebony Light's rating going up sufficiently for him to make the Grand National.
The 10-year-old horse has shown his staying credentials twice already this season at Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse.
The most recent was in the middle of last month when he defeated a reasonably talented field over a distance of three and three-quarter miles.
The horse is a frequent visitor to Bangor-on-Dee where he has made 10 of his 40 racecourse appearances.
In his final season as a trainer, Ginger could be about to go out on another high in the race with which he is synonymous. Despite his advancing years - the horse is now 14 - 2004 hero Amberleigh House is set to run again in the National along with his stablemate. It is going to be some swansong.
The next racing at Bangor is on Friday, February 10. More information is available at www.BangorOnDeeRaces.co.uk or contact the racecourse on 01978 780323.
