Such is the popularity of Scotland’s Cheltenham Gold Cup contender Ahoy Senor a tartan has been created in his honour.
The Grade One winning chaser is owned by Ellon residents Bruce and Carron Wymer, who are now selling scarves featuring the specially commissioned tartan, with the profits going to charity.
It’s only three years since the Wymers started owning racehorses but they already have a horse most can only dream about.
Ahoy Senor is trained by Lucinda Russell – whose father Peter also has a share in the horse – at Arlary House near Kinross.
The gelding has already won twice at the highest level and is being aimed at national hunt racing’s most prestigious contest, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, in March.
Carron Wymer said: “It’s been a massive dream, we pinch ourselves as to how we ended up with his incredible horse.
“We wanted to do something which gave something back to charity linked to racing because we’ve had such a great time as owners.
“The tartan has been commissioned and the profits will go where we want them to go.
“We’ve had so much fun and Hank (Ahoy Senor’s nickname) has taken us on such a journey we wanted to give something back.
“So we commissioned the tartan and we’ve had scarves woven which we are selling and the profits from them go to the charity Racing Welfare which supports racing staff.”
Anyone interested in purchasing an Ahoy Senor scarf can do so by emailing carronwymer@gmail.com
He wowed us
The story of how Bruce and Carron became owners is a poignant one.
Bruce explained: “We started just over three years ago after Carron’s father (Barnett Kay) had sadly passed away.
“He was an avid racing fan all his life watching on TV and placing small bets.
“When he passed away he left Carron a very small amount of money and we didn’t know what to do with it.
“About a year later we were getting our house decorated and the decorator was talking about some shares he had in a couple of horses.
“So we thought that might be something to do with the money Carron had been left.
“We viewed some horses with Jackie Stephen who was in Inverurie at that point.
“Then we went to see Lucinda and fell in love with a filly called Calle Malva.
“We bought an eighth share in Calle Malva which was the start of it.
“Her first race was in December 2019 which was pretty much the anniversary of Carron’s dad passing away.
“It was a very cold, snowy day at Hexham and she dropped about 12 lengths behind the field and we thought ‘what the hell have we done?’
“But then she charged up the hill and won and that was us hooked. We increased our share from an eighth to a half and we now have a couple of other horses as well.”
Ahoy Senor outclasses the field to win the Betway Mildmay Novices' Chase
The big guns just didn't fire#ITVRacing | #GrandNational pic.twitter.com/NmUkbujkBA
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) April 8, 2022
Recalling, how they first encountered Ahoy Senor – who has won the Grade One Sefton Novices’ Hurdle and Grade One Mildmay Novices’ Chase as well as two Grade Twos – Carron added: “Calle Malva won at Newcastle the day after Lucinda and Peter Scudamore had purchased Ahoy Senor at the sales.
“We were like ‘we need another one’ and we went in by the stables on the way back from Newcastle to have a look at Ahoy Senor.
“It was pitch black when he arrived, but he wowed us and we thought ‘yes.’
“We didn’t know anything about horses and hadn’t even patted one until three years ago so it’s all been fate I guess.”
Kempton date
Ahoy Senor is set to run today in the Grade One King George VI Chase at Kempton Park.
Previously this season he’s finished fifth in a Grade Two at Wetherby and third in a Grade Two at Aintree.
Although the Wymers had hoped for better displays they still have the belief their star – who is currently a 25/1 shot – can cut it in the Gold Cup.
Carron said: “I think we are still to see the best of him, you can see him learning as he progresses through his career.
“He hasn’t got that much experience and he has made some bad mistakes over his fences and he’s had us scared a few times when he’s got them wrong.
“But he does take that on board and he seems to be learning from it.
“We’ve still got incredible faith in his ability and we can’t wait to see what he does next.”
Bruce added: “The Gold Cup is still the plan and although his early races this season haven’t been particularly spectacular, they’ve not been damaging enough to say he’s not worthy of a place in the Gold Cup.
“If we can improve his jumping a little bit he deserves his place in the Gold Cup.
“Fingers crossed the conditions are right, he’s a horse that’s shown he’s better in the spring so conditions come March should hopefully suit him well.
“We think he could have a very good chance in the Gold Cup.”
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