Features / Dan Fitch / 02 March 2011 / 1

Dan Fitch takes a look back at the five 100-1 outsiders, who defied the odds to win the Grand National.

The Grand National course at Aintree has a reputation of being the toughest event in racing. Run over a distance of four miles and 876 yards and punctuated by 30 challenging fences, it's little wonder that sometimes the form book can go out of the window and a rank outsider can win the race.

Since the race was first ran in 1839, there have been a handful of occasions when a real no-hoper shocked the nation by winning at Aintree. Here are the five 100-1 outsiders to have won the Grand National.

1928 - Tipperary Tim

The first 100-1 horse to win the Grand National was Tipperary Tim. As the race was about to start, Tipperary Tim's jockey William Dutton heard a friend call out "Billy boy, you'll only win if all the others fall down."

As fate would have it, 41 of the 42 riders did fall down, leaving Tipperary Tim to win the race ahead of the re-mounted Billy Barton. The two horses were the only finishers, after a melee at the Canal Turn in treacherous weather conditions.

1929 - Gregalach

One year after Tipperary Tim made history, Gregalach became the second successive 100-1 shot to win the Grand National. The horse was given such lengthy odds having fallen at Sandown, just eight days prior to the race at Aintree.

Gregalach's jockey Robert Everett rode a clever race in which he gradually gained ground on the leaders and overtook the legendary Easter Hero on the second to last fence, before winning the race by six lengths.

1947 - Caughoo

As if the fact that the 100-1 outsider Caughoo won the 1947 Grand National isn't exciting enough, legend has it that his victory wasn't exactly legit. With the Aintree course covered in a thick fog, it has long been rumoured that Caughoo hid behind a fence in the early stages of the race, only to emerge towards the end of the race and win by 20 lengths.

Caughoo's jockey Eddie Dempsey was beaten up by another rider after the race, but it seems that this was unwarranted, as photographic evidence emerged years later, clearly showing Caughoo jumping Becher's Brook on two separate occasions.

1967 - Foinavon

The most famous 100-1 winner of them all was Foinavon, who entered into Grand National folklore by winning the race amidst a mass pile-up and ended up having a fence named after him.

Foinavon was lagging behind the other 27 remaining runners, as they approached the 23rd fence. Popham Down veered wildly to the right as it came to the fence, which resulted in a melee. The only horse to jump the fence first time was Foinavon, who was lagging so far behind that his jockey John Buckingham could steer away from trouble. Although 17 re-mounted horses gave chase, no one could catch Foinavon.

2009 - Mon Mome

A total of 42 years passed after Foinavon's victory, before Mon Mome became the next 100-1 winner of the Grand National.

Venitia Williams became only the second woman to train a Grand National winner, while Mon Mome's jockey Liam Treadwell rode the horse to victory on his Grand National debut.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

(1)

1. neil harrington | 25 March 2011

   Red Rum was certainly the greatest Grand National (Aintree)horse of all time. I come from Australia, and Crisp was also a champion.

:

:

:

?

: