Waley-Cohen: Long ambition

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For every Ruby Walsh and Richard Dunwoody, who have both won the race twice with a completion record way above the norm, there is a John Francome or Peter Scudamore, multiple champion jockeys who failed to record a success.

Even Tony McCoy needed 15 attempts before Don't Push It won in 2010, so Sam Waley-Cohen must be doing something right.

Still very much a Corinthian, Waley-Cohen's record over the spruce fences is nothing short of phenomenal. He won the Fox Hunters' back-to-back in 2005 and 2006 on Katarino, trained by his father, Robert, and finished second on the same horse in 2008.

Given they were the only three runs the horse had in that four-year period it is even more meritorious.

In 2006 he pulled of a notable double by also winning the Topham Chase, another run over the National fences, on Liberthine. At the time Waley-Cohen had ridden over the National fences five times and won on three occasions.

Liberthine returned to Aintree a year later and finished fifth in the National itself.

More recently his Grand National ride has been the Martin Lynch-trained Oscar Time, runner-up in 2011 and fourth 12 months ago.

Perhaps we should not be surprised Waley-Cohen does so well at Aintree - in 166 runnings of the National the great race has been won 41 times by an amateur.

This year Waley-Cohen is riding the Nicky Henderson-trained Long Run, on whom he made history by winning two King Georges and a Gold Cup.

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Waley-Cohen: Long ambition