SCOTLAND’S Grand National hero One For Arthur will parade during racing at Kelso this afternoon.

Trainer Lucinda Russell, her partner Peter Scudamore, jockey Derek Fox and Golf Widow owners Belinda McClung and Deborah Thomson will be there to watch One For Arthur take his bow after jubilant scenes at the Russell stables in Milnathort yesterday.

Russell and Fox combine with Maraweh in the first race at Kelso, the Stable Shield handicap hurdle at 2.10pm. Later, as if to prove the point that you’re only as good as your next race, Scotland’s champion jumps trainer will try to land her own family National in the Brewin Dolphin Buccleuch Cup. She will saddle recent point to point winner Hey Listen, the mount of amateur jockey Donal Delahunt, for its owner her father Peter Russell.

She added: “The National for us was in Liverpool at the weekend but this is the National as far as my dad is concerned. He’s won it before and he’s mad keen to win it again.”

At the Arlary Stables yesterday, all eyes were on the winner of Saturday’s gruelling marathon at Aintree and he looked as if he had been out for a stroll up the gallops. Though he holds an entry for the Scottish Grand National, Russell confirmed that he will not be trying to emulate Red Rum, the only horse ever to win the Aintree and Scottish Nationals in the same season.

Russell said: “We put in an entry in the Scottish National just in case anything untoward happened yesterday but he’ll go in a big field now as he’s never been one to run too many times.”

Bookmakers have already installed the 14-1 winner as favourite for an Aintree double in 12 months’ time, after he became the first Scottish-trained horse in 38 years to win the world’s greatest steeplechase, emulating Rubstic in 1979.

Russell said: “The bookies have already made him the favourite for next year’s National, but there’s no pressure on him. He dictates the pressure and he’s been a super horse to train. He really does have some ability.

“Straight after the race I kept thinking, ‘this is incredible, I’ve just won the Grand National’ and it doesn’t really sink in. It’s just been my ambition all the time.

“I’m very proud for Scotland but first of all for everyone here.”

Her partner and assistant trainer Peter Scudamore, the former champion jockey, heaped praise on Derek Fox for his remarkable recovery from injury in order to ride the winner.

“We jockeys are not known for our brains,” said Scudamore.

“People say we’re very brave, but there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity. I felt so awful when Derek fell at Carlisle. He was in a bad way with a lot of pain.

“I’ve done what he did and had to have an operation on my wrist. Luckily he just bruised the bone.

“But without the medical care he had, he wouldn’t have made it. It’s a testament to his fitness and health that he got there. But normal people would not have been recovering in the time that he did.

“Would he have pushed himself had it been any other race? Well it’s the essence of sport,” continued Scudamore.

“If you’re not there, somebody else is taking your place. It’s not like an office job where someone else fills in for a few weeks and your job is there for you to come back to.

“But he would have done everything he could to get back as soon as he could.”

He and all of Scotland are very glad Derek Fox did make it back. Roll on next year.

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RACING LEGEND AND RETAIL PIONEER JIM GLASS DIES, 84

THE well-known racehorse and greyhound owner Jim Glass, the Hibernian supporter who once tried to buy rivals Hearts, died early yesterday morning in hospital at the age of 84.

Having suffered from pneumonia, his condition deteriorated recently and his death was confirmed by his family.

A former RAF pilot, Glass, from Cranstoun near Pathhead in Midlothian, was a successful businessman who was one of the pioneers of out-of-town retail and warehouse parks, having been responsible for the first two phases of what is now Fort Kinnaird in south-east Edinburgh among other landmark developments.

Greyhound racing was an early hobby and he would later go on to own the winner of the prestigious Edinburgh Cup at Powderhall as well as running the Brough Park track in Newcastle – his daughter Jane also trained many top racing greyhounds during her career.

The horses he was associated with included the popular Livio and also Moment of Truth which he co-owned with the trainer Peter Monteith and which enjoyed astonishing success in the early 1990s, winning 11 out 13 steeplechases in a row, including the prestigious Northumberland Gold Cup.

Glass was best known to the public for his audacious and ultimately unsuccessful bid to buy Hearts in the mid-1990s – the lifelong Hibs supporter always emphasised he saw the Tynecastle club as strictly a business opportunity.

He was attempting to wrestle control from Chris Robinson and Leslie Deans who, at the time, were overseeing a period of financial turmoil for the club. Glass was aiming to use his skills in attracting investment to bolster the club’s standing in Scottish football.

He is survived by his wife Iris, his children Karen, James, Iain, Jane and Kevin, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren.

Kevin Glass said yesterday: “He passed away peacefully at the end of a remarkable life during which he had an impact on many other people’s lives.”