the grand national as it never will be again.

​The 1965 Grand National, the first of many ‘last’ Grand Nationals, provided as its star act a horse and rider the like of which I doubt we will ever see again at Aintree. In attempting to make the perilous safe and effective, the romance and adventure of the race has been stripped away.
Horses from afar never venture to Aintree any more. Steeplechase enthusiasts in the U.S. no longer, seemingly, dream of Aintree. Nor the French. No more the hapless or hopeless long-shot from Russia, the Czeck Republic or Japan, their riders startled and no doubt a little chilled by the sight in real life of Aintree’s character-defining fences, fences that these days are more unusual than huge and daunting as they were in the times when foreigners came to sample the thrill and buzz of the truly unique.
Jay Trump was a horse saved from, and saved is not too strong a word, believe me, the outback of a minor dirt track in Pennsylvania. When asked about Jay Sensenich, the trainer of Jay Trump when a 2-year-old, an official praised the man for his integrity and dedication to his horses before adding. ‘He trains the walking wounded, the halt and the blind, rakes, rogues and misfits, others have given-up on and sold for dog meat’.
Back then, perhaps less so now, drugs were freely administered to keep the lame sound and racing.
A more unlikely winner of 3 Maryland Hunt Cups, the third after his triumph at Aintree, there has never been nor perhaps likely will be. Jay Trump’s owner, Mrs Stephenson, had dared to dream and her jockey, Tommy Smith embraced the challenge, dedicating his life to the horse by uprooting himself from his home in the U.S. and living in England for the period required to get Jay Trump qualified to run at Aintree and being with him every step of the way.
Fred Winter had twice won the Grand National and he was entrusted to give Jay Trump and his amateur rider the best chance possible of achieving the dream, without ever, I contend, believing it remotely possible.
47 went to post on the 27th of March, of which 14 finished. Mill House was one of the original 112 entries and it would have been interesting to see how he might have fared as he would perhaps have been the best chaser to face the challenge since Golden Miller in the 1930’s. He was allotted top-weight and when taken out of the race the work of the handicapper was turned upside down, with the weights raised to the point where the bottom weights carried 10st 13Ibs, with Freddie topping the handicap on 11st 10Ibs. Jay Trump ended-up carrying 11st 5Ibs.
Jay Trump was no forlorn hope, having won three-times since coming to England. Groomsman, though, was a long-shot, one of many attempts by the Duque de Alburquerque to finish the race. In 1965 he took a heavy fall at Valentine’s first-time round.
Rondetto was the unlucky horse in the race, capitulating at the 26th fence when seemingly travelling the best, certainly better than in subsequent attempts.
Freddie, trained by a Scottish permit-holder, was favourite, something else we are never likely to see in a Grand National ever again, and was the horse most people wanted to see win. He was valiant in defeat, as he was to be the following year when denied by another Fred Winter trained horse, Anglo, who he took on due to the Jockey Club unfairly taking away Captain Ryan Price’s trainers’ licence. There was ¾ of a length at the winning post, those 5Ibs perhaps the difference between winning and losing, with 25-lengths back to the third. The following year Freddie conceded 21Ibs to his conqueror.
Jay Trump jumped well all the way round and was a deserving winner, with Tommy Crompton Smith becoming the first amateur to win since Captain Bobby Petre in 1946 who triumphed on Lovely Cottage. Jay Trump and Tommy Smith returned to the U.S. feted as conquering heroes. In 1966, having already won 2 Maryland Hunt Cups, he shot for the stars again by attempting an unprecedented third triumph. During his time in England, his crown had passed to Mountain Dew and perhaps for the first time 2 twice-time winners of the race clashed and was was a cause of great excitement and Mrs.Stephenson persuaded Fred Winter to travel over to witness both the clash of champions but also Jay Trump’s final race.
At Aintree, the peoples’ horse was Freddie, at Maryland that role fell to Jay Trump, though the majority thought the younger Mountain Dew would prevail. But as at Aintree, Jay Trump rose to the occasion, easily outpowering his younger rival. He was ten-years-old and had achieved every goal his owner had set for him; it was time for a life of leisure.
Jay Trump lived a happy retirement. Fate, though, was not so kind to Tommy Smith who suffered a life-altering injury that put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.