Commentators & "Useless" Stuff

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Ever wondered who that loose horse was that`s fighting out the finish ? No.....Well here are some notable performances by loose horses. Since 2009 with the new "running out" areas on all the fences such achievements will be rarer.

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1990 - UNCLE MERLIN (3rd) - The American winner of two Maryland Hunt Cups put up a great front running performance before landing too steeply at Bechers when leading and pitching Hywel Davies over his head (incidentally the Welshman who won the National on Last Suspect in 1985 came to grief at second Bechers no less than four times during his National career).

1997 - NUAFFE (3rd) - With a reputation for being a notoriously dodgy jumper he put in a clear round after he had fallen at the eleventh.

2000 - MICKOS DREAM (3rd) - Owned by a syndicate of Irish prison guards and ridden by a former winning jockey in Jason Titley there were high hopes for this winner of the valuable Thyestes Chase in Ireland. Unfortunately these were dashed at the very first fence with a typical "too fast, too steep" fall. Thererafter apart from a mistake at second Bechers he jumped superbly. He didn`t return to Aintree but became a top class two mile chaser in his native Ireland the following season.

2001 - MERRY PEOPLE (1st) - Made his debut in 1999 as an unconsidered 200-1 shot but ran out of his skin and was challenging for the lead two out when he hit the top and came down. The following year he unseated at half way and in 2001 he only got as far as the seventh when, disputing the lead he appeared to get squeezed for room and his rider was shot out the side door. He continued riderless and completely oblivious to the carnage that unfurled around him and had built up a considerable lead by the Anchor Bridge. Of course the TV cameras were not interested in a blinkered loose horse and concentrated on events behind him but every now and then he came into shot, jumping on his own for fence after fence. He was a good fence ahead by the second Canal (you can see him making his way towards Valentines in the BBC footage of Red Marauder & Smarty clearing the Canal). In the Racing UK footage you can see him jumping the last. I like to think that he didn`t do what so many loose horses do and run onto the MIldmay Course at the Elbow but that he finished first in splendid isolation - the riderless performance of the last thirty years.

2002 - RED ARK (6th) - Unseating at the very first fence, Red Ark thereafter ran a superb race. Always up with the leaders he finally finished sixth. In fact he seemed to fare much better without a rider as the following year he toiled in the rear until being pulled up after the Canal Turn second time. DJEDDAH finished fifth this year but he only jumped three fences without a rider so it doesn't really count.

2003 - THE BUNNY BOILER (1st ?) -  Unseated at the first fence and then put up a faultless display of jumping. With the leaders throughout he led at the last fence and disappeared pretty much like Merry People had done two years earlier. I assume he either finished the course or ran onto the Mildmay course. It was a brilliant performance and he was another who appeared to do much better without his rider than with one as he sulked round in rear the following year and finished a distant eleventh of twelve finishers, WONDER WEASEL (5th) - A third fence faller he continued to finish fifth. The following year he fared much better with a rider and nearly got round.

2007 - KANDJAR D`ALLIER (2nd) - I will give this one the benefit of the doubt although I think he ran onto the hurdles course in the closing stages and missed out the last two fences. With a rider he was in mid-division when he fell at the Canal Turn first time but despite it being a nasty looking fall he got to his feet and rejoined the field. By the Melling Road first time he was in the lead and, hugging the rails down to Bechers he didn`t see another horse until the closing stages. Missed out completely by the BBC cameras he is picked up by the Racing UK footage ploughing a lone furrow on the stands side and he almost dead heats with McKelvey for second place. 

2013 - THE RAINBOW HUNTER (2nd) - After the course was widened in 2009 to allow loose horses to run out it did look like no horse would ever complete the course riderless and jump every fence again. In fairness why would they want to when it was now so easy to run around them. In the immediate years after the changes loose horses could happily amble around the fences but in 2013 the year the National changed forever The Rainbow Hunter brought back memories of the loose horses of yore. As we all know the whole field completed the first seven fences intact but as the enormous field approached the Canal Turn several horses were unsighted and whilst no horse fell three riders were unseated including Aiden Coleman on The Rainbow Hunter. The horse continued and despite many opportunities to run out he stuck with the field and jumped every fence. A brilliant performance and he was the only horse who could match Auroras Encore as he drew away from the field and finished a clear second. The following year he only got one fence further when Coleman was again hampered and knocked out of the saddle. He got a lot further in 2015 but fell again, this time at the twenty sixth fence.

2016 - HADRIANS APPROACH  & THE ROMFORD PELE  - 2016 was an excellent year for our riderless friends. Hadrians Approach unseated at the very frst fence but continued to jump every fence riderless. He was even leading approaching the thirteenth and the Chair when he got a little too close to the leaders for comfort. He dropped back thereafter and it looked like he was going to bypass the Canal Turn second time but another loose horse, Gallant Oscar cut across him and he was forced to jump the fence. The Romford Pele also departed relatively early and continued with the field for the remainder of the race. Two horses who unseated early on the second circuit Gallant Oscar (who`s rider clung on for dear life until gravity won the day) and Ballanagour also crossed the line in fourth and sixth place.

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Thats Galling - Falling when Leading

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The nineties only saw one horse come down when leading UNCLE MERLIN at second Bechers having made most of the running up to that point in 1990.

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Since 2000 we have seen BEAU in 2001 unseat when leading at the twentieth and BALLYCASSIDY another front runner taking the most horrible looking fall at Valentines second time in 2006. BEWLEYS BERRY in 2007 was cantering when he fell at second Bechers and in 2009 a similar fate befell BLACK APALACHI after what appeared a fairly innocuous mistake. Particularly galling for my wife who chose him over her original selection Mon Mome !! 

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In 2015 THE DRUIDS NEPHEW took the lead at Valentines and looked to be travelling like a winner until he simply slithered to the ground at the next fence having looked to have jumped it perfectly well. He was very fancied to make amends for his misfortune a year later but the ground went against him and he was pulled up. In 2018 I JUST KNOW took the lead at the second until he hit the top of Bechers first time and came down in a very "old style Bechers" fall. The fence also claimed two backmarkers - it was just like the old days.

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The following horse and mare deserve a mention as although their National experience was extremely brief (for both this was their only Aintree visit) but they were all leading when they fell at the very first fence. There is nothing like going out at the top :-

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WICKED CRACK (2002), ERIC`s CHARM (2010)

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He didn`t fall but spare a thought for poor ACROSS THE BAY and Henry Brooke who held a clear lead at the water in 2014 but as he tried to set out onto the second circuit found the riderless Tidal Bay on his inner. The loose horse had decided he had done enough and was trying to make his way to the stable entrance. The two locked horns and despite Brooke's best efforts he was carried right across the course where he collided with a plastic rail. He was able to continue but he had dropped from first to last in a matter of strides. The pair eventually finished fourteenth but oh what might have been. An understandably dejected Brooke described himself as "gutted" after the race.