By Damien Maher
The diminutive Tiger Roll confounded his doubters to win last Saturday’s Aintree Grand National in a dramatic photo finish, defiantly staying ahead of the fast finishing Pleasant Company to prevail in a dramatic photo finish.
Jockey Davy Russell carried the Gigginstown House Stud colours to victory on another famous day for the Michael O’Leary-owned yard. It follows O’Leary’s triumph with Rule The World in the most famous steeplechase of them all just two years ago.
O’Leary was quick to pay tribute to the horse, jockey and trainer, Gordon Elliott, after Saturday’s triumph at odds of 10/1 landed him the first prize of £500,000.
“If you look at the size of him, we never thought he’d make a chaser; he’s got the heart of a lion,” said the Ryanair boss.
“We kept him hurdling for two years and then there was nothing else to do, so we tried him over fences. He wasn’t a particularly brilliant novice chaser, either. But the phenomenal training performance here is that this horse has the speed to win a Triumph Hurdle and only four years later, he’s winning four-mile races at Cheltenham and Aintree on soft and tacky ground. It’s a phenomenal training performance by Gordon Elliott,” he added.
Many of the experts predicted that the big Aintree fences would prove too much for Tiger Roll, but with Davy Russell superb in the saddle, he picked up the running from two fences out and gained a valuable edge on Pleasant Company, who came within two strides of victory in a sprint for the line. After a brief delay came the result, declaring Tiger Roll the winner.
“At the elbow we were all celebrating, at the line we were all panicking,” quipped O’Leary. “It’s a wonderful day for Davy, and for Gigginstown.”
The horse was bought as a hurdler by Eddie O’Leary, and it was a very smart move by the Gigginstown House Stud manager, who also won rich praise from his brother Michael afterwards. Tiger Roll was also successful at the Kilbeggan races in 2016 and has now won close to €1m in prize money.
LOT OF LUCK
“It’s brilliant; it’s beyond dreams,” declared Michael O’Leary.
“Some people don’t think I have a heart, but it was beating very hard and very fast for the last 100 yards of that race! It was much more comfortable two years ago. You need a lot of luck, and the luck was shining down on us today,” he remarked.
O’Leary and Russell famously parted company in 2013, but there was mutual respect on Saturday as they embraced after the finish.
When we parted,” remarked O’Leary, “he could have easily gone in a huff, given up. He went back, he had one or two tough years and started riding out for Charles Byrnes and Gordon and built himself back up. This year he’s been riding better than ever before. It’s the way he keeps bouncing back,” he said.
“He wasn’t particularly good on Petit Mouchoir at Cheltenham, where they went off like scalded cats, and he’d say that himself. But he keeps going and keeps delivering. I think the person I feel happiest for today is Davy.
“He’s in a group of elite Irish jockeys. There’s Ruby Walsh, Barry Geraghty. Paul Carberry was one of them before he retired. Barry and Ruby have always been champion jockeys, winning all the best races. Davy’s career has been up and down, characterised by periods of great talent and achievement but also fallow periods. And it’s the way he keeps coming back and back again,” added O’Leary.
After winning the world’s most famous jumps race for the first time at his 14th attempt, Russell dedicated victory to Offaly jockey Pat Smullen, who has been diagnosed with a tumour. His mother, Phyllis, died shortly before last month’s Cheltenham Festival and he paid tribute to her.
“I’ve won this race a thousand times in my head, in my dreams as a child,” he said, recalling how he built pretend National fences out of grass as a child when the garden was mowed.
“We would have races over them and kick the grass into the air like the spruce flying,” he added.
Saturday was the 171st Grand National and was sponsored by Randox Health.
O’Leary’s wasn’t the only Westmeath interest in the race: Total Recall, who has strong Drumraney connections, was well fancied and went off the 7/1 favourite, but he struggled with his jumping and failed to finish the gruelling four and a half mile race.
