Harry Cobden's maverick flair is a glorious throwback to the past - and it's a crime he doesn't have more top-class rides

Watching Saturday's epic Scottish Grand National unfold as a disinterested spectator proved something of a bittersweet experience. 

A week earlier, in selecting a horse for the original version at Aintree, my couple of euros each-way landed on Kandoo Kid. Plenty about his profile appealed in that he has abundant stamina, a touch of quality, decent course form, scope to improve and had been trained for the race.

The final and arguably most compelling aspect was that he was being ridden by Harry Cobden. For someone who grew up in thrall to the graceful skills of John Francome, Jamie Osborne and Graham Bradley, watching Cobden in action has long felt like a throwback to that era, a quintessential English jump jockey who is in his absolute element riding good horses. They are a more endangered species now.