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With the Cheltenham Festival done and dusted for another year, there is hardly any time to reflect on the four days of thrilling action that took place at Prestbury Park as attention is already turning to Aintree for the Grand National Festival.
Racegoers will be flocking back to the Merseyside course in their tens of thousands for the first time since 2019, hoping to pick a winner when scouring the horse racing odds today.
However, due to the testing conditions of Aintree, it is notoriously difficult to make a calculated selection for the National and a horse from the left of field can often cause an upset, while the bookies’ favourite is sometimes nowhere to be seen come the finish line. So, with that in mind, read on as we take a look at three of the biggest shock winners of the Grand National…
Tipperary Tim
“Billy Boy, you’ll only win if all the others fall!” Those were the words shouted to amateur jockey William Dutton by one of his friends ahead of the 1928 renewal of the Grand National. For context, the assistant solicitor was in the saddle of Tipperary Tim — a 100/1 outsider who had the backing of almost no one instead Aintree, including its jockey’s friends by the sounds of it.
But what happened next was extraordinary. With Tipperary Tim perhaps the likeliest entry to not make it all the way around the marathon track, he was, in fact, the only horse in the gruelling contest that didn’t fall! In terrible conditions, Easter Hero tumbled at the Canal Turn and brought down all but seven of the 42 entries in a major pile-up.
At the second last, only three horses remained. Great Span was leading until his jockey’s saddle slipped and knocked him off the horse, while Billy Barton fell at the last to leave Tipperary Tim unchallenged on the run-in and gift himan incredible victory. It turned out the ‘Billy Boy’ really did need all the others to fall!
Gregalach made it back-to-back 100/1 winners with a shock victory in 1929, hopefully a few punters were inspired by Tipperary Tim’s triumph and backed the outsider this time around.
Foinavon
Believe it or not, history practically repeated itself almost 40 years on in the 1967 renewal of the Grand National. With numerous jockeys refusing the ride, Foinavon set off at 100/1 and became the fourth horse to win the lengthy race from those lengthy odds — all thanks to another truly surreal occurrence mid-race.
With plenty of horses still left in the running, Popham Down, who had unseated his rider at the first fence, veered massively right at the 23rd obstacle, taking down Rutherfords and several others in the process. The race was almost ground to a halt as a massive mêlée occurred, with stray horses everywhere and some managing to even head in the wrong direction.
However, Foinavon was so far behind that his jockey, John Buckingham, was able to steer clear of the utter chaos and gain a 30-length lead. Somehow, other riders managed to remount their horses and get back into the race, but it was too little, too late as there was no catching Foinavon — who kept on keenly to win by a comfortable margin.
Mon Mome
There was no massive crash needed for Mon Mome to win the National from 100/1 in 2009.
Trained by Venetia Williams, who recently enjoyed a Grade 1 win with L’Homme Presse in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, Mon Mome made her move just after the turn for home and eased clear of the chasing pack after the final fence to by 12 lengths — becoming the first French-bred horse to win the race in exactly 100 years and crowning Williams as just the second winning female trainer.
“How can you ever expect that in a race like this?” the shocked handler said afterwards. “It was just unbelievable, the owner was watching the wrong horse for the first part of the race and she thought it was out the back.
“I'm so proud of the horse. I'm so proud of [jockey] Liam [Treadwell] for giving him such a good ride, and the girl who looks after him as well.”
Written by Ketan Patel
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