Aintree countdown: Hamilton seeks landmark win with Battle Born Lad

He remembers the feverish excitement of pitching up at for the first time. And the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins as he prepared to take on the most famous fences in the sport.

He vaguely recalls the unrelenting din of a thronging Liverpool crowd, the hushed silence that seemed to drag on for an eternity as 28,000 punters held their breath on the outcome of a photo finish, and the sheer elation when judge Brian Goodwill called “number 23, Tartan Snow” the winner. 

Other than that, Jamie Hamilton’s recollections of the day he won the 2013 Fox Hunters’ Chase on 100-1 outsider Tartan Snow, as a 7lb claiming amateur with only three winners under Rules, are restricted to a handful of isolated snapshots. 

“The whole day has always been a bit of a blur,” the Scot says wistfully. “I was so young, only 18. I’d never ridden at before in any race, let alone one over the National fences. So I really didn't know or understand how to take it all in. 

“It was a tight finish and I remember looking across at Oli Greenall, who rode and trained the runner-up, and muttered something along those lines of ‘What do you think?’. When the judge called out the result, I just couldn’t believe it. I did this kind of awkward fist pump. It’s a bit cringe looking back. But at least my riding in a finish has improved. 

“Another thing I remember is Sam Coltherd, who’d led us up, coming bounding over to greet us. He was leaping all over the place. Sam would have been only 12 or 13 at the time, but I think he’d won a few quid! 

“It’s easy to say now, but I wish I’d been able to take in so much more of it at the time. At that age, you don’t appreciate just how big a deal those days are, how much of an achievement it is to ride a winner over those fences. I naively thought I’d go back every year and keep doing it. Loads of good jockeys, professional and amateur, spend years trying to get a ride in those races. So to win one on my first ride was unbelievable, really.” 

There is one other moment that sticks in Hamilton’s mind. He added: “At that time I was working for Richard Fahey, so I knew Tom O’Ryan quite well. I’d go to Tom’s to use his Equicizer, and he became a bit of a mentor to me. 

“Tom was working for Racing TV that day at Aintree and before the race he approached me about an interview. Jokingly I said he could interview me if I won, not thinking I’d have to because I was riding a 100-1 shot! I was as good as my word, though.” 

Curiously, that neck success on Tartan Snow - trained only 12 miles from Hamilton’s hometown of Hawick by Selkirk sheep farmer Stuart Coltherd - remains the only Aintree winner of Hamilton’s career. 

Understated and underrated, he has spent most of the intervening dozen years plying his trade away from the spotlight in the hope, one day, of finally getting his chance to shine brightly in it. 

That opportunity is set to present itself on Friday when Hamilton partners Battle Born Lad, who is unbeaten in two starts over hurdles for his main supporter Mark Walford, in the Grade One Sefton Novices’ Hurdle. 

The lightly-raced six-year-old beat subsequent Challow Hurdle runner-up Wendigo (also an unlucky-in-running fifth in Cheltenham’s Albert Bartlett) over 2m at Hexham in October; then made light of a four-month injury lay-off, and his own inexperience, to furnish Hamilton and Walford with the first Grade two triumphs of their respective careers over 3m at Haydock six weeks ago. 

While undoubtedly the beneficiary of a soft lead there, Battle Born Lad nevertheless impressed with the relentless way he drew five-and-a-half lengths clear of a horse who had previously been beaten only narrowly by Albert Bartlett fourth Yellow Car in Doncaster’s Grade two River Don. 

Hamilton has been pleasantly surprised by Battle Born Lad’s progress, but feels he heads to Merseyside with a bona-fide contender for top-level novice honours and a cherished first Grade One win. 

“He’s always been a horse Mark and I have liked,” Hamilton explains. “But at the start of the season I thought the 0-135 limited handicap at Ayr’s Scottish National meeting would be a good target for him. 

“I never expected him to be competing in Grade Twos and Grade Ones, especially at this stage of his career and given how inexperienced he is. But his form is rock-solid. It was a big step up in grade and trip from Hexham to Haydock on his second start over hurdles, but he took it in his stride. Now he has to make that next step up from a Grade Two to a Grade One.” 

Naturally, Hamilton has plenty of respect for Friday’s opposition that could include Nicky Henderson’s Sidney Banks winner Califet En Vol, and Familiar Dreams, a recent Limerick Grade Three scorer for Gordon Elliott. There’s also the highly-touted Mister Meggit, who has been absent from the track since making an impressive winning hurdles debut for the O’Neills at Aintree in November.

However, the 30-year-old is focusing only on the job in hand; and making sure he does all he can to curb Battle Born Lad’s unhelpful tendency thus far to try to run out on the turns. 

He said: “He’s a tricky ride because he always wants to lug right on you. He did that to me at Haydock. The turns there are quite tight and he didn’t like going round them at all. 

“If you watch the video back, you’ll see I had both of my hands hard on the left-hand rein on that final bend, just to make sure we got round it in one piece. We did, although he managed to put me on the deck after we crossed the line! 

“The only time I haven’t ridden him was in a bumper at Newcastle a year ago, ironically on day. I watched it on my phone. He tried to duck out with a circuit to go and must’ve lost 20 lengths, but Tom Midgley got him back and ended up only being beaten around five lengths into second. He’s only run on left-handed tracks so far, so it would be interesting to see if he did it going the other way around. 

“He’s not easy on himself, either, because he does like to get on with things. But in a stronger-run race, which you’d expect at Grade One level, I might just be able to drop him in a bit. It looks like we might get a decent-sized field on Friday too, so I’ll do my best to make sure I’ve got something on my outside on the turns.” 

Should Battle Born Lad find himself in the firing line with only three flights up the Aintree straight to negotiate, who knows what might happen. Hamilton, who is only five winners shy of his personal-best tally of 32 set last season, can be forgiven for allowing himself to dream. 

“Once we’d turned in at Haydock, I couldn’t believe how well he was going,” he said. “Then when I asked him, he just kept lengthening all the way up the straight to the point that by the time we hit the line, it felt like he was only just getting going. 

“Once he learns to relax properly, there should be even more improvement to come. He’s still a big, raw horse. I’d like to think we’re nowhere near to getting to the bottom of what he’s capable of.”