Disney set to make history in Foxhunters' on Gallery Exhibition

Guy Disney, who became the first amputee to win a race under rules in Britain when taking last year's Royal Artillery Gold Cup on Rathlin Rose, is to make further history by becoming the first amputee rider over Aintree's world-famous Grand National fences.

Disney, who rides with a prosthetic lower right leg, purchased the Kim Bailey-trained Gallery Exhibition as part of the Somerset Racing GD syndicate before his seasonal reappearance at Musselburgh in February.

The Randox Health Foxhunters' Chase has always been the target for the 11-year-old, who was fifth in the Topham over the same fences in 2016 when ridden by David Bass.

Trainer Bailey told The Jockey Club's Love The Jumps podcast: "The horse has got experience around there and Guy hasn't. Everyone has a dream, everyone has a wish to do something in life and this is Guy's. He wants more than anything else to ride around those fences."

Aintree: spruce fences offer a unique challengeCredit: Grossick Racing Photography 0771

Disney, a former Captain in the British Army, had part of his leg amputated when his vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan in 2009.

Bailey added: "I saw Guy when he was in hospital, in Selly Oak, so I've known the story from day one. When he was lying in hospital, all he wanted to do was ride in a race and get back in the saddle and that was his ultimate dream.

"We all thought he had no chance and he then rode in a charity race and finished second. Since then he's moved on to prove himself under rules and in point-to-points."

He explained how the current arrangement came about, saying: "Every time Guy came here he ended up riding Gallery Exhibition, who was a horse owned by four people beforehand.

"He has known the horse for a long-time, schooled him recently and then the horse has come up for sale because one of the owners died, resulting in the ownership group being dissolved.

"But Guy very quickly got his Somerset Racing team together to buy the horse so that he could ride him in the Foxhunters."

The Foxhunters' is next Thursday, day one of the Grand National meeting, which coincidentally this year will be marked by Aintree supporting the military including performances by the Red Devils and the Scots Guards Marching Band.

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