ALL THE FUN OF THE SAD, MAD AND BAD NATIONAL.

​To review the 2001 Grand National, the sad, mad and bad National as Alastair Down coined it, is to be reminded how times have changed. No matter how important the Grand National is to racing in general and the bookmakers in particular, I doubt if similar conditions were to prevail in any future Grand National that the race would be postponed to another day. The ground was not merely soft-to-heavy in 2001 but river-bed muddy. There were puddles on the course, with lakes forming on the inside of the track.
The 2001 National was a throwback to the days when single digit finishers were the norm. In some ways the race was comic, though it was gratifying, and perhaps fortunate, that no horse was seriously injured despite some pretty awful falls. But did it deserve Alastair Down’s swingeing criticism? It was, at times, an unedifying sight, it has to be admitted, but did it deserve Alastair’s judgement? It is sad when the National becomes eligible for ridicule and complaint, and it was bad for the image of both the sport and the race. But I will contend that it was not in the least sad.
There were good aspects to come from the race, not the least being the good sportsmanship exercised by unnamed jockey who pulled Norman Williamson clear of the prostrate Village King at the Canal Turn, and the sensible riding of all the jockeys. I doubt if the whip was brandished once by any jockey in the entire race.
It was the fences and the riderless horses that caused the mayhem, rather than the ground conditions. Seven had fallen before Bechers first time round. Two more capitulated at the Foinavon fence. At the Canal Turn the riderless Paddy’s Return ran across the fence ensuring a melee erupted, with eight horses coming to grief, with one unseating its rider without help from Paddy’s Return or any other horse.
Crossing the Melling Road only thirteen remained, with Noble Lord falling at the first in the home straight, whilst three others, including Richard Johnson on the front running Edmund, came to grief at the Chair and Listen Timmy unseating at the water jump.
Only seven remained going out on the second circuit and with any luck all seven should have made it to the finishing line. Yet fate had more farce up its sleeve. Beau stumbled at the first in the back straight, resulting in both reins ending up on one side of its neck and despite measured and slightly frantic efforts to retrieve them Carl Llewellyn was forced to sit tight, his fingers in the neck-strap over the next two fences before succumbing to gravity at the next. ( The sight of Carl Llewellyn running at full pelt after Beau was like something from a Buster Keaton silent movie) If that was not tragedy and comedy enough a loose horse then managed to take out four out of the other six runners, including Tony McCoy who in flying through the air with the majesty of a trapeze artist managed to get closer to the fence than his horse.
Fate, though, was still not finished mocking the race. Lance Armstrong was the first to be remounted but he thought poorly of the idea and refused once more, and then going to the Canal Turn second time round a loose horse (it couldn’t be Paddy’s Return, could it, in wait to perform his party trick a second time?) ran between Red Marauder and Smarty as they approached the fence. I think by this time God had woken from his nap and decided enough was enough and space opened up between the two horses to allow the loose horse safe passage to wherever he was heading.
Although the site of two mud-spattered jockeys and two tired horses from Valentines to the finish made for uneasy viewing in case another calamity awaited us, it did give the television viewer a good insight into how hard a jockey must work and concentrate to keep a tired horse galloping and jumping. Indeed it couldn’t be said that Red Marauder won the race through his tidy jumping as at times it seemed odd-on his name would be added to the list of non-finishers and though Richard Guest was known for being a stylish jockey the 2001 National demonstrated he was also a capable horseman, too.
The race is remembered for the battlefield condition it was run over. But it should also be remembered for the lucky and unlucky heroes. Strangely, Red Marauder who usually required oxygen after a race did not on this occasion. He, of course, was the real hero, though Smarty, too, should never be forgotten. And how many unlucky losers were there? Beau and Carl Llewellyn were truly unlucky. How much further he would have got under top weight we will never know. He jumped for fun and at the time of the partnership coming apart looked the most likely winner. A.P. says that this National was the one that got away from him as Blowing Wind was simply being nursed round when the loose horse intervened. And Papillon, too, was only being hacked around by Ruby Walsh when he too was wiped out. And, of course, had either McCoy or Walsh made the decision to come down the nearside where Red Marauder was and not the far side where Smarty was the outcome could have been a whole lot different. But that’s a case of if, what and maybe.
Let’s hope the 2018 renewal of the race is recorded in history as an event of joy and sporting spectacle and that Alastair has no reason to either complain or to defend.