Liberty Counsel (left) is given a peach of a ride by conditional jockey Ben Dalton. <\/p>\n
Liberty Counsels shock 50 to 1 victory in yesterdays Ladbrokes Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse was a skinning result for the bookies but a fairytale for trainer Dot Love that could have come straight from Hans Christian Andersen. <\/p>\n
Love may never rank with Denmarks most famous writer in terms of global profile but the woman born and bred outside Copenhagen now has a singular place to herself when it comes to Irish racing. <\/p>\n
Shes been in Ireland long enough too over 40 years to more than appreciate the significance of saddling the longest-priced winner in Irish National history that stunned the Easter Monday crowd and left Love, and 21-one-year old jockey Ben Dalton, celebrating the most notable win of their careers. <\/p>\n
She was foot-perfect: everything was perfect, exclaimed Love, a former eventing star who was set to compete for her native country at the 1988 Seoul Olympics only to be denied the chance to compete due to a clerical error. <\/p>\n
If that cured her of any belief in fairytales, yesterdays result will have restored the faith. <\/p>\n
Unconsidered in the betting on the back of a disappointing run at Cheltenham less than three weeks later, there must have been some in the huge holiday crowd that suspected an April 1st joke when Liberty Counsel swung into the final straight in the lead having left most of her 27 rivals gasping. <\/p>\n
Dalton hadnt gone for everything on the 10-year-old mare either but after having left representatives from powerhouse operations such as JP McManus and Michael OLearys Gigginstown Stud in their wake, the natural pecking-order looked like being restored when Away We Go ranged up as Liberty Counsels big danger. <\/p>\n
Rare gap Willie Mullins had never won the Irish National before but that rare gap in the champion trainers big-race CV looked like being filled for much of the straight as Paul Townend sat comfortably on Away We Go. <\/p>\n
However, Dalton and Liberty Counsel were anything but cowed and at the last it came down to a slogging match in which the mare always looked to hold a slight edge. At the line there was only half a length in it, but the gap was decisive. <\/p>\n
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Liberty Counsel digs deep to land Irish Grand National<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Liberty Counsel (left) is given a peach of a ride by conditional jockey Ben Dalton. Continue reading