St Johnstone Chairman Geoff Brown hopes for week to remember

Mar 25 2011 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

ST JOHNSTONE chairman and horse lover Geoff Brown is dreaming of a unique April sporting double.

The well-known businessman will have Big County punters backing him all the way as Saints bid for their first-ever Scottish Cup final seven days after a potential Grand National triumph for his highly-rated grey, Silver by Nature.

With his football team this week setting-up an April 16 trip to the National Stadium, with Dundee United or Motherwell standing between Saints and the final he has craved since rescuing his ailing local football club 25 years ago, Mr Brown is bracing himself for an extraordinary sporting week.

Seven days before going to Glasgow, Brown could be cheering on his cherished nine-year-old at Aintree, with the bookies already fancying his chances of becoming the first Scottish winner since Rubstic more than 30 years ago.

No grey has won over the notorious Liverpool fences since Nicolaus Silver in 1961 but Silver By Nature won a second Grand National Trial at Haydock by 15 lengths recently and the odds for the big race were quickly reined-in to around 16/1.

But yesterday the St Madoes family man cautioned that he wouldn’t gamble with Silver By Nature in the world’s greatest steeplechase if the Aintree ground wasn’t to his liking – because wife Joyce would never forgive him!

The emotional bonds between the Brown family and Silver By Nature were forged even before Mr Brown helped delivery him at a Kinfauns stables.

“If the ground doesn’t suit him he won’t run. It’s as simple as that,” stressed the GS Brown Construction founder.

“Silver By Nature is Joyce’s baby. We have fed him Polo mints and carrots at the stables since he was a bairn.

“Now he is probably one of the top 10 horses in the country. He is gutsy, fleet of foot and has extraordinary stamina.

“I’ve had horses now for a long time, since 1984 in fact. And I’ve been breeding them since 1987.

“The National is one of the great races and he has been installed as one of the fancied runners. But the ground has to be wet for him to stand a chance over 4½-miles.”

Milnathort trainer Lucinda Russell and jockey Peter Buchanan will have their say but Mr Brown stressed: “We go back three generations with Silver By Nature.

“His mother was Gale and she was out of Dalkey Sound. So sentiment does come into it. Joyce is worried about running him in a race as dangerous as the National.

“Maybe I’ll be accused of being hen-pecked but Joyce will have her say. It will probably be fall-out time whatever decision we make!

“I’m not a gambler in terms of putting cash on at the bookies but life is a gamble.

“But the horse won’t run unless we think he has a chance. It certainly won’t run just to make up the numbers.”

On the football front, the chairman has seen his team lose to Rangers in a League Cup final but has longed to cheer them on in a Scottish Cup final at Hampden.

He said: “I have always wanted to see my team lift the Scottish Cup and we have half a chance. People are already asking what I would choose if I had the option – winning the cup or seeing my horse win the National?

“But I’m greedy. It would be some double wouldn’t it!”