time to take a breath and reflect.

​You couldn’t make it up, could you? Successful amateur wins Grand National on his last ride in public. Its less reality, more a synopsis for a third-rate novel. No amateur deserved a Grand National winner more, especially with Sam Waley-Cohen’s record around the big Aintree fences, and no family deserves to have the Grand National trophy in their display cabinet. Sam retires from race-riding with eight victories over those formidable fences, a record no professional riding can match and, I suspect, a record very few in history could match.
At the time of writing, and with crossed-fingers, I can report of no equine fatalities, which if it proves correct will be a great relief. Éclair Surf was being assessed by vets, though the horse had returned to the racecourse stables and Discorama pulled up injured entering the straight for the first time. Possibly a tendon-injury. Hopefully it was just a knock.
A lot of fallers this year, which is disappointing considering the small number of fallers in both the Foxhunters and the Topham. I don’t think the speed of the race accounted for the large number of non-finishers, even if the ground, as a consequence of the race starting at 5.15, allowing the sun and wind to dry the ground, was perhaps going towards good at the time of the race. Congestion was the likely cause. Certainly, the fall of Minella Times was caused by jumping into School Boy Hours. Racheal Blackmore did not rise as quickly as one would expect; a clear indication that she was injured in some way.
As I have mentioned Minella Times – the conditions of the race state ‘Highest weight 11st 10Ib’, a condition set to encourage connections to run higher quality horses in the race. Yet, as Ruby Walsh explained, the horse actually carried 12-st 2Ib due to the ‘covid allowance’ still being in place and 3Ib for a back protector, a higher weight than even Red Rum was asked to carry. This is surely a nonsensical state of affairs as going on it will actively discourage connections to enter the Gold Cup class of horse the race needs if the aspiration for the best horses available competing is to be achieved.
Also, Noble Yeats is a novice and though his merited victory yesterday pours cold water on my criticism, there is an almighty chance that in future the Grand National will, as with other big handicaps, be seen by trainers as a race where first-season are favourable weighted, ‘thrown-in’, as is said, and the race will attract more and more inexperienced horses. With health and safety and the perception of the public in mind, the conditions need to be tweaked so novices are excluded from the race.
On a personal note, I think my championing of Santini as a Grand National natural was all but justified. Not one of the I.T.V. ‘experts’ even gave him a mention and when I commented on a couple of YouTube channels of my liking for his chances I was ridiculed without mercy or indeed any degree of intelligence. He looked magnificent in the parade ring, a credit to Polly Gundry, though as I feared, it was perhaps a year too late for him. He jumped adequately, even if I was never convinced he was jumping with the slickness of those who were in front of him, perhaps the reason for not getting quite into the firing line. But it is clear as day if the owners should change their mind about retiring him, that long-distance chases are his forte, as has been obvious for several seasons.
The best horse yesterday, given he was trying to give the winner 12Ibs, was Any Second Now. They will doubtless give it another go next season but at 10-years-of-age time is against them. 
Delta Work will be a player next season if the ground is softer and Fiddlerontheroof will doubtless be targeted at the race next season as he ran a tidy race to get into the place money.
The hyped horses, as fate usually decrees, didn’t show, with Minella Times exiting at Valentines and Snow Leopardess finding it very hard work on ground far from ideal for her. Great jockeys not only provide excellence in a finish but also when displaying compassion and common-sense to pull-up when hope of winning is gone. There was no point in subjecting the mare to four-miles of needless exercise and Aidan Coleman once again displayed his horsemanship by calling it a day after a circuit. It is no wonder he is the go-to jockey in big races as he is an all-round great jockey and as far as I know a good human being.
The Sunday after the Grand National is time to breathe, to reflect and with nothing to look forward to but next week’s Irish National and the Punchestown Festival – I’ll get into the flat by June –all that is left for me is to dream of what lies in store for us of next season. Which is doubtless the same as all the losing connections from yesterday will also be doing. There is always tomorrow in racing.