Grand National History 1999 - 1990
Aintree Grand National 1999
The 1999 Grand National meeting was in doubt with critics reporting just a few weeks before that the ground was untraceable, fortunately for fans the world over and the winning father and son this wasn’t the case. Tommy Carberry the trainer of “Bobbyjo” and jockey Paul Carberry won at 10-1 on a 9 year old peaking at the right time to win by ten lengths.
Tommy Carberry who took park 24 years earlier when “L’Escargot” won in the middle of “Red Rum’s” dominant three victories in five years and must have felt extremely happy to watch his son finish first ahead of “Blue Charm”, “Call It A Day” and fifteen other runners.
Aintree Grand National 1998
"Earth Summit" was the last favourite to win the Grand National at 7-1 and is the only horse to win the Scottish, Welsh and English Nationals. The horse normally ridden by Tom Jenks however hasn't quite had the same level of success, with the Grand National being the major event of the year Tom would have been somewhat dismayed when he unluckily broke his leg and was replaced by then one time winner Carl Llewellyn. Tom was on hand on race day wishing Carl good luck and then cheering the pair on to victory.
Owned by The Summit Partnership, the bay gelding by Celtic Cone "Earth Summit" had earlier ripped his suspensory ligament in 1996 and wasn't expected to race again. The horse then spent 6 months in his box at trainer Mr. Twiston-Davis's yard being exercised by Marcella Bayliss after this time to a full recovery. Mr. Payne the partnerships main voice had dreamed of winning the world's greatest steeplechase and before the injury backed his horse to win by the year 2000 at 33-1 with a major bookmaker, which in hindsight seems like very good odds for the 1998 favourite.
Aintree Grand National 1997
The 1997 Grand National was disrupted by a bomb scare which saw everyone being told to leave and the race being put back to the following Monday with two days of delay. The winner that Monday, Tony Dobbin riding “Lord Gyllene” won emphatically by romping home 25 lengths clear of “Suny Bay” and the chasing pack. The unfortunate downside to his victory was the scare itself, which overshadowed the entire event.
1992 winner Carl Llewellyn finished third with “Camelot Knight” after beginning with odds of 100-1, odds, which were unusually high for a previous winner of a National. Fourteen other horses would follow these three to complete the course regardless of the scare.
Aintree Grand National 1996
"Rough Quest" the 7-1 10 year-old favourite won the 1996 Grand National ridden by Irishman Mick Fitzgerald, one of the most colourful characters in the sport who after winning went on to say that "sex is an anti-climax". Mick who later went on to say he regretted making the statement then rode the horse owned by Mr. Andrew Wales for a horse that started a trend that lasted 8 years with no horse older than 10 winning the National and no horse other than "Earth Summit" two years later winning as a pre-race favourite.
Richard Dunwoody again raced well, this time with the horse named “Superior Finish” as the 9-1 pair finished third ahead of 33-1 outsider “Sir Peter Lely” in fourth and just behind “Encore un Peu” who finished second from 14-1 odds.
Aintree Grand National 1995
1995 was the year when Aintree’s most famous horse "Red Rum" sadly died eighteen years after his third and final Grand National victory. All those close to him, especially previous owners, jockeys and trainers, will sadly miss the horse that had won three Nationals in five years. The Grand National itself was a race, which proved to be very positive for trainer Jenny Pitman, who won a National for a second time with 40-1 outsider "Royal Athlete". Jason Titley, an Irishman taking part in the Grand National for the very first time, rode the horse.
"Party Politics" made his second appearance in the top four, this time in second with a different jockey to that which won the 1992 Grand National with "Over The Deel" and "Dubacilla" completing the first four to finish from the fifteen that did.
Aintree Grand National 1994
One year after the Grand National that wasn’t, Richard Dunwoody again played a key part in the event by winning with the horse “Minnehoma” trained by Martin Pipe and owned by comedian Freddie Star. Although Freddie was not at the race he was interviewed over the phone for television in a bizarre interview that confused viewers who, could only hear one side of the conversation.
The 1994 Grand National was Richard Dunwoody’s second win for a jockey who had also won over 100 races in ten years from 1989 to 1999. Richard was also the was British National Hunt champion jockey three seasons in a row from 1992/93 to 1994/95 and became one of so few jockeys to win two Nationals.
5-1 Favourite “Moorcroft Boy” finished third in a year when only six horses completed the course, among those six was a horse called “just So” ridden by jockey Mr. S Burrough who finished second and “Ebony Jane” with jockey Mr. L Cusack in fourth.
Aintree Grand National 1993
The 1993 National will always be remembered as "the race that never was" and was the one and only time a National has been declared void, much to the dismay of the owner and everyone associated with the race. The problems started on an otherwise normal race day morning, but an attempt by animal activists to meddle with the start set the trend for the day. When the race actually did start Richard Dunwoody who won on "West Tip" in 1986 got the tape stuck round his neck and a false start was called. The flagman however didn't signal for a false start, as he never saw the flag and some of the horses raced on.
The rest of the horses stopped while "Esha Ness" ridden by John White and six horses went on to complete the course. The horse "Esha Ness" was owned by Jenny Pitman who had previously won the Grand National ten years earlier, but her second victory wasn't to stand in 1993. The owner did however win a second National two years later in 1995.
Aintree Grand National 1992
Two days after the General Election in 1992 Carl Llewellyn who would go on to win the Grand National for a second time won while riding the aptly named “Party Politics”. Owned by Patricia Thompson, “Party Politics” began at 14-1 and despite having a tube in his neck to help him breath the horse, which stood at an enormous 18 hands high horse well.
This same year the Seagram subsidiary Martell, which was formed in 1715 by Jean Martell, took over ownership of the Grand National by backing the entire three-day meeting. Around 100,000 people were at Aintree to watch the race and enjoy the pre-race activities from April 8th to 10th, activities that ended when “Party Politics” lead a field of forty to win the National.
Twenty-two horses finished the race with “Romany King” second, “Laura’s Beau” third and “Docklands Express” fourth ridden by jockey Mr. P Schudamore.
Aintree Grand National 1991
The 1991 Grand National was won by a horse called “Seagram”, which matched the name of the race sponsors who, due to the passion of Seagram chairman, Ivan Straker sponsored the event after he had built his passion for the sport from reading a newspaper piece by Lord Oaksey who, in his riding days had failed to win the National by just three quarters of a length in 1963 when riding “Carrickbeg”.
The Seagram Grand National sponsors were asked some time before the race if they wished to sponsor the horse but declined to do so. Seagram chairman, Iva Straker twice had the opportunity to buy the horse for the company, which replaced the Sun as the sponsors of the event in 1984, so it seemed quite fitting that in 1991, the last year Seagram sponsored the event a horse by the same name won.
“Seagram” was ridden by Nigel Hawke and finished ahead of Mark Pitman on “Garrison Savannah” in second. The pair were two of seventeen horses to complete the course with two unusual finishers “Auntie Dot” and “Over The Road” which had both began at 50-1 in third and fourth.
Aintree Grand National 1990
"Mr Frisk" recorded the fastest time ever in 1990 while ridden by an amateur, Marcus Armytage in under 9 minutes at 8 and 47 seconds beating the previous record of 9 minutes and 1.9 seconds set by "Red Rum" in 1973. "Mr Frisk" then went on to do the double by winning the Whitbread Gold Cup a few weeks later to become one of only a few horses to reach such a feat.
1990 also saw the most famous fence in the National altered with the bend changed and the ditch filled in with the fence since then been viewed as less of a test, but the changes were for the safety of the horses. The difficulty of the fence has not actually dropped and the likelihood of horses dying after falling has been reduced. "Uncle Merlin" was easily ahead until falling at Becher's Brook but it can't be argued "Mr Frisk" deserved to win as he set a new record time around the course.
“Durham Edition” returning after a couple of recent good performances finished second with jockey Mr. C Grant followed by “Rinus” in third and “Brown Windsor” in fourth.
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