Tiger’s feat: Sacked jockey gets back in the saddle to win National
Oldest rider on smallest horse bounces back to win big race
Airline chief Michael O’leary was toasting jockey Davy Russell yesterday after the rider he once sacked steered home the winner in the Grand National.
The oldest jockey and the smallest horse triumphed after a thrilling photo-finish in the big race at Aintree.
The veteran rider, who lost his job as O’leary’s principal jockey five years ago before winning back the racehorse owner’s confidence, brought home Tiger Roll in a thrilling race at Aintree.
The race went right to the post with Tiger Roll, at 10-1, just holding on in a photo finish after a late surge by Pleasant Company.
Mr O’ Leary said: “I was panicking at the line. It was pretty close at the finish. Tiger Roll is extraordinary. I did not think he would handle those fences because he is so small.”
Irish horses filled the first four places courtesy of thirdplaced Bless the Wings and Anibale Fly in fourth.
The Ryanair chief said: “We’re in a golden age in Ireland, and we’re keeping a lot of the best horses. It may turn in the next few years and, while we win, we should enjoy it.”
At 38, Russell, whose mother Phyllis died last month, was the oldest jockey in the race, which he had never own in 14 previous starts. He admitted concern after almost being caught at the finishing post.
He said: “I did have a big fear. That would have been heart breaking. I was thinking of my mum and my kids.
“I was also thinking of all the times my dad cut the grass when I was young and it was the only time of the year I enjoyed picking it up because we would make our own Aintree fences around the garden.
“I’ve won this race thousands of times (in my imagination) and I’ve never won it like I’ve won it today. You watch it on television then you get a chance to ride in it.
“He really did tire under me but he was so brave. I thought I might have been done on the line, and it would have been heartbreaking but this is right up there.”
Davy Russell continued a glorious autumn to his career by steering Tiger Roll to a thrilling victory in the Randox Health Grand National at Aintree yesterday.
A dual Irish champion jockey, Russell’s career has not been without the odd bump in the road and was famously informed he had lost the job as number one jockey for Gigginstown House Stud over a cup of tea with Michael O’leary late in 2013.
However, his skills in the saddle have never been in doubt and just a few weeks after claiming the Leading Jockey Award at the Cheltenham Festival for the first time, the 38-year-old secured a narrow success in the world’s most famous steeplechase aboard Gordon Elliott’s Gigginstown-owned runner.
Russell said: “I’ve tried not to think about the race, to be honest. I heard some golfers last week saying you could over-prepare – I’m not sure if you can do that, but I came here thinking I was just going to go down the middle and to hell with everyone else.
“This is the race. As a kid, when you got the first cut of grass, we always used to gather the cuttings and pretend they were Grand National fences, it was the only time I liked collecting the cuttings, but all those people saying this is my first National – I’ve won it thousands of times in my head!
“As a jockey this is the one you want to win, especially for someone like me having 14 goes. On the way down the commentator said I was the oldest in the race so I thought ‘I’d better not come back next year.’ “The Gold Cup is the Gold Cup and I’ve been lucky enough to win that (aboard Lord Windermere in 2014), but the National is so hard to win.”
It has not all been plain sailing for Russell in recent weeks. His mother Phyllis died at the beginning of March, while his close friend Pat Smullen, a multiple champion flat jockey, was diagnosed with a tumour last month.
It is a measure of the man that only moments after claiming the biggest success of his career, he said: “This one is for Pat Smullen. I was speaking to him the other morning and he’s as tough as nails.” With Elliott and his team planning to catch the ferry back to Ireland last night, celebrations were likely to go long into the night at his Cullentra base in County Meath.
However, Russell was planning to have a quiet one.
He said: “Gordon might be having a big celebration tonight, but I won’t be, I’m riding at Tramore tomorrow. And I can’t afford to retire, I’ve got four kids!”