Tiger Roll wins the Randox Health Grand National!
Back-to-back Grand Nationals and a place in history pic.twitter.com/vcF6v9JEOL
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) April 6, 2019
Last year, my partner and I went to Aintree to see a horse called Tiger Roll scrape home in the Grand National. He won by a head and if the finishing line had been five yards further , he would not have won at all.
Yesterday we went again. Since Cheltenham we had been putting money on him and the accumulated bet I made on him was the biggest I’ve ever made.
I don’t know why I like Tiger Roll so much but, watching him in the parade ring yesterday I saw a diminutive horse, imperturbable and commanding. What he did on the course was quite remarkable, this is the third major win this horse has had this year and they’ve also included wins over hurdles and cross-country fences.
If he is the people’s champion – he is of the Daley Thompson variety.
After the horse had finished his race , he sauntered good naturedly from interview to interview with jockey Davey Russell. The same calm and unflustered horse as before this four and a half mile epic.
It brought the crowd together. No one cared that this was Michael O’Leary, Giggesdown, Gordon Elliott and the Irish who owned the horse. Yesterday , Tiger Roll belonged to the 70,000 of us who were at Aintree and the 500m who weren’t but who will watch the race.
A word for Aintree – sun – easy drinking – great racing and nothing but smiles
Aintree belles pic.twitter.com/eWaCnHQhOc
— Pension Plowman (@henryhtapper) April 6, 2019
Aintree deserved its once in a lifetime moment and yesterday it got it!
Davy russell, Gordon Elliott and Mrs O’Leary as Tiger Roll returns to the parade ring
Sorry to pour some cold water on your grand day out and very successful AgeWager, Henry.
But how do you respond to the cruel sports lobby?
I watched on TV and was struck at first by how few horses fell on the first circuit. But then I watched the field bypass the 17th as the screens were up where a faller at the 1st first time round had died after bring “brought down” by another faller.
Three horses died over the three days of the Aintree meeting.
I also never remember so many buckets of cold water being poured on the head (and rear)
of the Grand National winner by both jockey and stable team members on the walk from the course to the unsaddling enclosure/winner’s circle. Some may have preferred to see a bucket poured over part-owner Mr O’Leary.
Finally, how were the handicap weights set? Was Tiger Roll’s size the reason why the saddle bags seemed to carry less weight than Red Rum used to carry?
Willie Mullins “One for the record” died at the first and became the first horse to do so since 2012. We were right besides the unsaddling and though it wasn’t too hot, the horses were exhausted and over-heated (except Tiger Roll).
I think that he’d been brought down by Vintage Clouds and it’s very sad. Cruel sports? I think most horses- if they had a choice – wouldn’t mind being a race horse.
the handicapper thought he’d under weighted Tiger Roll, the weights are set by the handicapper on his or her view of the horse’s recent form , age, sex . Beyond me, but the idea is that if all the horses ran to their full ability, they’d finish in a dead heat.
Racing’s not for everyone but the National is the one race that brings most of us together
Well done Henry! Likewise, I backed him last year and this year as he had improved so much from last year romping home at Cheltenham in between. He will most likely have more weight to carry next year if he returns for the treble!