The home-bred Simon is the apple of owner and former trainer Mercy Rimell’s eye, being out of a winning half-sister to the 1983 Champion Hurdle winner Gaye Brief, who was trained by Rimell herself. Following a successful novice chase campaign, he stamped himself as a leading staying handicap chaser last season with victory in the Grade Three Racing Post Chase at Kempton. Rimell initially sent Simon to Ireland where he was placed under the care of trainer Philip Fenton, winning his only point-to-point at Ballysteen on April 25, 2004. The then five-year-old made a winning debut under Rules on soft to yielding ground in a two-mile novice hurdle at Wexford on November 12, 2004. Pitched into Grade Three company and upped to three miles on his second start at Cork, he went down by four lengths to the classy Homer Wells. Simon failed to win in five subsequent starts that term but proved to be game and consistent, only once finishing out of the frame at distances from two miles to two and three quarter miles. He returned home and joined the Kinnersley yard of John Spearing, where the Rimells previously trained, for the start of the 2005/2006 season. A disappointing start to his chasing career saw him finish a remote fourth behind Mount Clerigo at Uttoxeter in November. He improved to finish 13 lengths third, conceding 12lb to the winner Nadover in an extended two and a half-mile contest at Bangor in December, but again disappointed in taking fourth at Huntingdon later that month. He was fortunate to break his chase duck at Wincanton in January, 2006, when he benefited from Nayodabayo’s last fence fall to take the spoils. A heavy ground Haydock handicap was the setting for a creditable second in February, and he rounded off the campaign in fine style with victories over three miles on heavy going at Uttoxeter in March and over an extended three miles on soft going at Bangor in April. Last season began with a fifth place at Bangor, before coming a good second to Tana River in the extended three miles, five furlongs williamhill.co.uk Marathon Chase at Sandown in December. He was sent off the 11/2 favourite for the 2006 Coral Welsh National but paid the price for racing a touch too keenly under Andrew Thornton and crossed the line sixth of the 12 finishers behind Halcon Genelardais. An improved effort at Southwell in January, 2007, brought success in the Listed Sky Bet Chase over an extended three miles, when nine lengths clear of Ardaghey and he continued his upward curve in the Racing Post Chase at Kempton with a 10-length defeat of Cornish Sett before falling at the 25th when still in with a chance in the 2007 John Smith’s Grand National. He returned this season in a Grade Three handicap chase at Cheltenham in November, when finishing fifth to Sir Rembrandt, and went on to be runner-up a month later at Prestbury Park in a 3m 2f handicap chase. He was travelling well when unseating his rider in the Grade Two Letheby & Christopher Chase at Cheltenham in March and his latest start came when a staying-on fourth to Gungadu in the Racing Post Chase.

Race Record: Jumps Starts: 24; Wins: 6: 2nd: 6; 3rd: 2; Win and Place Prize Money: £178,236

Mercy Rimell
Mercy Rimell, 88, has been one of the most famous figures on the National Hunt scene for over half a century. She has spent her entire life around horses and was an international junior rider when only seven, before competing for England in France aged 10. She rode her first point-to-point winner four years later. Mercy married the four-time champion jump jockey Fred Rimell at the age of 17 in 1937 and, when Fred turned his hand to training in 1945, played a key role in the success of their Kinnersley yard, which enjoyed four Grand National successes (1956 ESB, 1961 Nicolaus Silver, 1970 Gay Trip, 1976 Rag Trade). The yard also sent out two Gold Cup winners (1967 Woodland Venture and 1976 Royal Frolic) as well as a dual champion hurdler in Comedy Of Errors (1973 & 1975). Following Fred’s death, Mercy took over the training licence in July, 1981, and continued the yard’s success. Her first winner came with Tru Mar at Worcester on August 8, 1981, and she saddled 232 winners in all. Up to her retirement in 1989, she continued to enjoy success at the highest level, most notably with 1983 Champion Hurdle winner Gaye Brief. That gelding’s full-brother Gaye Chance landed the Sun Alliance Novices’ Hurdle and the Stayers Hurdle (now the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle and Ladbrokes World Hurdle, respectively) at the Cheltenham Festival. She also trained Three Counties, ridden by her granddaughter Katie, to win the 1989 Christies Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham. Her grandson Mark Rimell is a trainer. Mercy, who also bred Simon, saddled Gala’s Image to finish seventh behind Little Polveir in the 1989 John Smith’s Grand National while Pilot Officer was still well in contention when departing at the Chair in 1983. Simon was her first runner in the race as an owner last year when falling at the 25th when still in with a chance.

John Smith’s Grand National Record: 2007 Simon (Fell 25th)

John Spearing
John Lionel Spearing, 67, was born into a farming family in Moreton-In-Marsh, Gloucestershire, on May 7, 1940. He spent his early years around horses and rode in point-to-points and under Rules as an amateur, numbering a hunter chase at Cheltenham among his handful of victories. He turned to training in 1971 when the owner of a mare he had ridden asked him if he would be interested in training her. Glendale, the horse in question, won nine times for the accidental trainer, who was initially based at Kineton, Warwickshire. As his one-horse string expanded, he moved to a bigger yard at Sherriff’s Lynch, and further successes took him to Moor Hall Stables at Wixford, near Alcester, Warwickshire, where he established himself from 1975. Spearing trains under both codes, but his biggest successes to date have come over jumps. Run And Skip was the star of the yard in the 1980s, capturing a host of races including the Coral Welsh National in 1985, while last season, Simon captured the Grade Three Racing Post Chase at Kempton. His Flat successes include Vax Lady in the Listed Pearl Sprint Stakes at Phoenix Park in 1990, while in April of that year he sent out Lucedeo to win four races in eight days. Spearing also expertly handled Beverley specialist Rapid Lad to collect 12 victories at the East Yorkshire track. Since February, 1998, he has been based at the historic Kinnersley Stables in Worcestershire, made famous by Fred and Mercy Rimell.

John Smith’s Grand National record: 1985 Solihull Sport (Fell 1st); 1991 Run And Skip (Fell 2nd); 2007 Simon (Fell 25th)

Dominic Elsworth
Dominic Elsworth, who hails from Guiseley near Leeds and was born on January 17, 1980, has come a long way since “wobbling off” his first ever ride in public. He has ridden since the age of eight, mixing hunting, eventing and point-to-pointing and says he ended up as a jockey because he wasn’t bright enough to do anything else at school! He joined Sue and Harvey Smith near Bingley in West Yorkshire at the age of 16 but left to become a freelance in July, 2006. He had one of his biggest successes when winning the totesport Becher Chase over the National fences on Ardent Scout at Aintree in November, 2002, and won the Castleford Chase twice aboard Mister McGoldrick, who gave him a first Cheltenham Festival success this year when winning the Racing Post Plate aged 11 at odds of 66/1. He won the 2007 John Smith’s Red Rum Handicap Chase on Bambi De L’Orme and came in for the ride on Simon following an injury to regular pilot Andrew Thornton.

John Smith’s Grand National Record: 2003 Southern Star (14th); 2004 Arctic Jack (Fell 1st); 2005 Native Emperor (UR 9th); 2006 Ross Comm (Fell 4th); 2007 Le Duc (UR 6th).