Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
National winner found dead at 34
Liam Treadwell stormed to 100-1 victory
LIAM Treadwell, the jockey who shocked bookies by winning the Grand National at his first attempt, was found dead yesterday.
Tributes poured in for the 34-year-old who shot to fame in 2009 when he romped home on 100-1 shot Mon Mome.
Alastair Ralph, a trainer to whom Treadwell had become an assistant, confirmed the “unbelievably sad” news.
Ralph said: “We found him this morning, it’s still very raw. It’s terrible, he had suffered depression and it was ongoing for a couple of years.”
The cause of death has not been revealed.
Treadwell’s National win “cemented his place in racing folklore”, British Horseracing Authority chief Nick Rust said.
It was soured at the time when broadcaster Clare Balding referred to the condition of his teeth in a post-race interview, saying: “Give us a big grin to the camera.”
A dentist then offered to fix them for free, which Treadwell agreed to as long as he didn’t end up “with a smile like Simon Cowell’s”.
Balding, who apologised for the joke, yesterday paid tribute to Treadwell’s “great sense of humour”.
She said: “I am desperately sad to hear of the death of Liam Treadwell. He was the loveliest guy.” Treadwell was married to Emily Warner, but they broke up 2018.
At the time of the controversy with Balding she said: “We’re not bothered.
“He rode a 100-1 National winner. That’s what people should focus on.
“I love everything about him. He just makes me laugh all the time.”
Treadwell was forced out of the saddle for six months after being knocked out in a fall at Bangor, in 2016.
The head injury left him with shortterm memory loss and difficulty concentrating. “My family and close friends told me I had changed,” he told a newspaper last year.
“They noticed little things. To me I was still me but they were saying I’d changed as a person.”
As well as winning on Mon Mome, Treadwell, who grew up in Arundel, West Sussex, came third in the 2015 National on Monbeg Dude and rode over 300 winners in a career which began when he was 16.
Mr Rust said the racing world “will be united in grief ” by his loss.
West Mercia police confirmed they had been to an address in Billingsley, near Bridgnorth, Shrops, after the “unexplained” death of a man in his 30s.
It’s very raw.. he suffered depression for a couple of years
ALASTAIR RALPH AFTER FINDING TREADWELL’S