Bridgnorth's Paul Sandy dreaming of Cheltenham Festival success with Luccia

Paul Sandy believes he may have a superstar on his hands in the five-year-old, who has won all four of her races so far, three of them listed.

The chestnut is favourite for Thursday’s Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle and while Sandy, founder of Pump and Plant Services, has been no stranger to success in a career as a racehorse owner which stretches back nearly a quarter of a century, he admits a victory at Cheltenham would represent a new pinnacle.

He said: “I have had a lot of good horses but nothing like Luccia.

“To have a horse running at Cheltenham and as favourite, is beyond belief. When you bear in mind there are about 12,000 racehorses in Britain and maybe just 100 of those running at the Festival, to be favourite is even more astounding.”

Luccia’s story is made particularly special by the fact Sandy bred her himself, a rarity in a sport where most horses are bought.

“Any mug can go to the sales and choose from about 800 horses. You pay your money and take your choice,” he explains.

“But when you breed yourself, what you get is what you’ve got. You’ve got no choice. Breeding is that much more difficult. But it’s more fun.”

Sandy, who previously enjoyed success when Veiled won the 2011 Ascot Stakes, laughs when asked the secret of breeding such a racehorse before replying: “A lot of luck!”

It’s an answer which reflects his modesty but is also in many respects true. After all, both Luccia’s dam Earth Amber and her sire, former French Guineas winner The Gurkha, were better known for their performances on the flat than over the jumps.

Were it not for the instinct of Nicky Henderson, meanwhile, her story could easily have seen a tragic ending. Last spring, Luccia was initially diagnosed with a broken pelvis after being found in a bad way on the floor of her stables and a vet was ready to put her out of her misery.

But Henderson urged them to hold fire and after stable staff had got the horse back to her feet, she was re-diagnosed with locked stifles, a significantly less serious condition affecting the joints which could be cured with surgery.

Since then, Luccia has gone from strength to strength, her most recent win last month at Exeter coming by 11 lengths. “She won with ridiculous ease,” says Sandy.

The victories and the manner of them have inevitably drawn admiring glances from elsewhere. Sandy has already turned down one lucrative offer to buy Luccia.

“I talked it over with my son and daughter and we decided to turn it down,” he says. “It was a lot of money.”

A bigger, emotional pay-off may come on Thursday should the race run true to form.

“When you breed horses it is a very long-term thing,” continues Sandy. “The timespan is about six years from when you start the process to when their first race, certainly no less than four.

“You go through all through the waiting, hoping and praying and then it has its first race and it is a bloody disaster or, in Luccia’s case, she wins comfortably and you think: ‘Christ’.

“The excitement is enormous. When you do breed a winner, it is a hell of an achievement.”

Though his grandfather was the founder of the former RJ Sandy bookmakers in Bridgnorth, Sandy admits to having had little interest in racing until being taken to Ludlow by a friend a little over 20 years ago.

“I loved it and thought: ‘I’d love to get involved in this’. When I was starting out, I must have made all the mistakes under the sun, with the trainer, the choice of horses.

“Nobody can ever be sure, even the trainers. Yes, you can see them going up the gallops and how they move. But you never really know until you get on the racecourse. It makes what’s happened with Luccia all the more exciting.”