No sporting contest makes ‘what might have been’ stories like the Grand National and, for the 42 years since Red Rum last won it, there have been plenty such stories created by the horses who have tried to emulate him. Mighty animals whose names are remembered still, such as Corbiere, Earth Summit and Hedgehunter, crowned their careers with a single victory but turning the same trick once more proved beyond them.
This is not a recent trend. Before Red Rum, in the whole of the 20th century, there was only Reynoldstown in 1935 and 1936, and he was the first dual winner for half a century. Golden Miller won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in five consecutive years but he managed only one Grand National, finding it hard to keep his jockey on board when he tackled Aintree on other occasions.
The National has changed a great deal since the Thirties but there are still 30 formidable fences and 39 formidable rivals for any horse who wants to win. To take them all on and emerge triumphant twice is to catch lightning in a bottle.
Merely staying fit enough to run in the race more than once is a considerable achievement by the trainer and reflects well on the constitution of the animal in question. Grand National horses are not youngsters; they have been racing for several seasons and most have clocked up a lot of miles.
Neptune Collonges was retired on the spot when he won his National by about an inch in 2012. Rule The World, who somehow overcame repeated pelvic problems to follow the grey into the winner’s enclosure four years later, had one more race, when he finished sixth.
Others have been affected by ‘Big Horse Syndrome’, not a term used by any reputable vets but nevertheless something that followers of racing have come to notice over the years. Big, talented horses so often seem to have some sort of athletic injury at some stage and it is often enough to interrupt their careers for a year or so. Some retain their former talent, others do not.
One For Arthur could be seen as falling into that category. A tremendously impressive physical specimen, he stayed on far too strongly for his rivals in this race two years ago, but then spent a year on the sidelines with a tendon problem and, until Saturday, had not completed the course in another race. He was a game sixth here and there could easily be another big day in him.
Other National winners, who bounded over the fences on their way to victory, perhaps took the jumping part of the job for granted when they returned to the Liverpool area. Aldaniti and Hallo Dandy fell at the first fence in the years after they won.
Corbiere, the 1983 winner, completed the course three times in a row, then fell at the fourth the next year. West Tip takes high rank among horses who came close to winning twice, as he was travelling best of all when slithering on to his belly at second Becher’s in 1985, then had his deserved success 12 months later.
Several winners have run well the next year but found the extra weight given them made all the difference between glory and a lesser place on the podium. Hedgehunter would have won a second National were it not for the pesky Numbersixvalverde, carrying a stone less than him.
If there is a bar where old National winners share hard luck yarns, Party Politics has a good one. Trying to win the race for a second time, he looked menacing until being pulled up along with most of the field at halfway as jockeys realised there had been a false start and the race was void.
Tiger Roll has had better luck than some of his predecessors. His small size, which led to the ‘little rat’ nickname being bestowed on him by Michael O’Leary, has worked in his favour as he has proved remarkably durable, avoiding major injuries. Quick on his feet, he has dodged all the familiar trouble that bedevils the National, memorably sidestepping a faller at Becher’s Brook last year.
“You see him walking round out there with big, hairy chasers, much bigger than him,” O’Leary said. “But he’s always been a battler. People warm to an underdog who overachieves.”