Crunch time forces out trainer Steve; RELIANT WINDOWS LTD QUALITY SERVICE RELIABILITY.

Byline: BY BOB DOWNING

JUST over 11 years ago, Shropshire trainer Steve Brookshaw had his own chapter in the history of the Grand National.

That weekend in April was probably one of the most remarkable in the history of the great race when, for the arst time, it almost did not take place!

It was the year of the bomb threat, the evacuation of the racecourse and the frantic activities behind the scenes to get the race run again.

Eventually, it was - on a Monday teatime when Tony Dobbin made every yard of the running on the late Sir Stan Clarke's Lord Gyllene to take National glory.

Now, Brookshaw has been forced to relinquish his licence by the BHA because he has no horses left to train.

Instead, this man who has a unique history with the Grand National fences with four victories, is breaking in horses for a couple of stud farms after the last of his horses were sold.

And it is all to do with the credit crunch. Tom Kelly, the man behind TGK Construction and Brookshaw's principal owner, took the decision to sell his horses at the sales - and that virtually made up Brookshaw's decision.

But he insisted this week that he had not retired. He explained: "I have been told by the BHA that I had to relinquish my licence to train because I did not have any horses but I have certainly not retired.

"I am breaking in young horses for a couple of studs around the area and if I get some more horses to train, then my licence will return.

"It's too early to say what will happen in the future and I am keeping all my option open."

Brookshaw, who surrendered his licence on August 22, has not sent out a runner since The Sneakster won at Cartmel in May.

Brookshaw's daughter Heidi trains point-to-pointers, just as her father did in the early years but he said: "That is Heidi's job and there is no question of me joining her."

So, for the moment at least, the curtain has come down on a remarkable career with the most famous fences in National Hunt racing.

Apart from Lord Gyllene's success in 1997, Brookshaw had landed the biggest win of his training career, again for the Clarke family but his time for Lady Hilda, when Rolling Ball landed the Foxhunters Chase for amateur riders in 1996

Three years later, he was again celebrating a success that gave him a unique treble when Listen Timmy was successful in the John Hughes Trophy.

That was followed a couple of years ago when Cassia Heights won the Topham Trophy and in recent years, the horse was certainly his ag carrier along with Talbot Lad.

They were heady days indeed for Brookshaw, one of the brightest young trainers in the game at the time who also trained No Retreat, another New Zealand import who was to become one of the most successful hunter chasers.

Lord Gyllene, however, suffered an injury when he was being prepared for another crack at the National and never raced again and then Sir Stan moved him and other horses from Brookshaw's stable. His principal owner in later years was Tom Kelly but with the construction industry suffering from the credit crunch in recent years, the decision was made to sell horses that run under the name of the construction company.

It is fair to say he suffered a couple of lean years before the emergence of Cassia Heights and now it appears he will have to start all over again - if he can persuade owners to send him his horses.

Meanwhile, Seb Sanders, right, has had his ban for failing a breath test in Sweden reduced to four days.

He was initially handed a 14-day suspension but appealed and on Thursday learned that had been partially successful.

The reigning joint champion jockey said: "The ban has been reduced to four days and starts on 15th September. It's a weight off my shoulders and I can't thank Sir Mark (Prescott) and the owners enough for their loyalty. "I've had a lawyer out in Sweden who has been helping me out a lot and I'm glad to get it sorted out."

The initial ban was due to run from August 24th to September 6th.

Now, Sanders is eagerly anticipating Master Of Arts' next outing.

Sir Mark charge is among the market leaders for the totesport Cambridgeshire at Newmarket in the autumn after a fruitful campaign in which he has won his last six races.

He said: "He's entered in the Cambridgeshire and is a really nice, progressive type. If someone had said he'd have been rated over 100 at the start of the season I'd have laughed at them but he has improved tremendously."

CAPTION(S):

HAPPIER TIMES: Steve Brookshaw and Lord Gyllene bask in the glory of their National win