BLACKBURN businessman Max McNeill is hoping for a spot of racing karma in next Saturday’s Grand National – one month after watching the horse he sold deny him a first winner at the Cheltenham Festival.

McNeill, who hails from Pleasington, is a prominent racehorse owner and his horses run in blue and white striped silks that are inspired by Blackburn Rovers.

However, he was dealt a day to forget when he was denied in the Magners Plate Handicap Chase at Cheltenham by the Irish raider Seddon, named after McNeill’s late mum, who he sold to new owners last summer.

Escaria Ten was pulled-up in that race for McNeill, but he is hoping that the nine-year-old can take advantage of a change of tactics and build on his effort to finish ninth in last year’s Grand National.

He said: “It’s really exciting to have Escaria Ten in the Grand National again. He travelled like a dream last year and never missed a beat, he just didn’t quite get home. We rode him prominently and we’ve done that a couple of times subsequently, so we’re going to try and drop him out a bit more this time.

“I’m surprised he’s 100-1 at the moment and he’s probably been ignored a bit, but people will probably be thinking that he just won’t get home. Things were all a bit quick for him at Cheltenham last time over two and a half miles, but in hindsight we probably shouldn’t have gone there. Gordon (Elliott, trainer) felt he needed another run before Aintree so we gave it a try and Adrian (Heskin, jockey) looked after him.

“This time we feel we’ve got something up our sleeve with the change of tactics, so hopefully he can better his effort to finish ninth last year. If everything goes our way, you never know. You always need a bit of luck in-running in the National and if we find ourselves making steady progress on the second circuit, you never know what might happen.”

McNeill admitted he was gutted in the aftermath of Seddon’s success last month – denying him of his ultimate goal in the sport in the process – but he revealed that he had no hard feelings towards his new owners, the Galaxy Horse Racing Syndicate.

He explained: “That’s life isn’t it and I’m going to have to live with it for a long time. It’s just racing, we sold him because we felt he still had a bit of life in him – we just didn’t realise how much life was left in him!

“We always knew he was a good horse and for whatever reason we never got to the bottom of him. It makes you think that if we’d have done things differently he could have been a superstar, because he’s doing all this towards the end of his career.

“He’s named after my mum’s maiden name, so it’s a name which is always going to mean a lot to us. The good news is I backed him, so he at least helped me drown my sorrows! You’ve just got to put it behind you and move on and just say well done to the lads that have him now.

“It does show that we’re picking up the right horses though and it’s just a case of getting a clear run with them. We never got that with Seddon, he had two bad foot injuries, so it’s just one of those things. His new connections are having a good run and it’s all falling into place, so good luck to them.

“We always knew he was a good horse and it proves that our recruitment strategy is good. We bought him from Sean Doyle from whom we buy a lot of our runners and sadly he’s fulfilling his potential once we’ve sold him!

“Hopefully racing has karma and we will have our day soon! We’ve got some lovely horses coming through and we know that Escaria Ten gets round and that he likes the fences – those are two big ticks. We feel he likes passing horses and by trying something different we’re hoping he can go well.”

When asked what he’d pick if he had to choose between finishing sixth in the Grand National or sixth in the Championship with Blackburn Rovers, he said: “Rovers have to finish in the top six, they’ve been up there all bloody season!

“They’re in a good position heading into the last few weeks, so hopefully they can seal a play-off place. The top two are out of sight, but if they could just get themselves into the top six it would be great for the town.

“As for finishing sixth in the National, I’d be absolutely delighted.”

ENDS