It’s that time of year again when the last Grand National starts to fade a little as we begin to look forward to what the next renewal in 2025 has in store for us.
Willie Mullins reigned supreme with I Am Maximus, who will be back to defend his crown in April, according to his Champion trainer, and while back-to-back National wins are rare, if any horse can give it a good go, it is the little Irish gladiator.
Every year comes with its own drama. From the moment the entries are revealed, the weights become the talking point. Once the handicapper has worked everything out, the usual suspects complain about the unfair treatment of their horses – whether it is deserved or not.
Then, of course, we have a series of scratching stages, and unlike previous years, 2024 saw very few withdrawn, mainly due to the reduced number of spots at the starting tape when the maximum number was reduced from 40 to just 34.
But that’s what makes the Aintree Grand National so special. From favourites to outsiders, any horse can have its day, so as we prepare for the next showdown, let’s look back at one of our all-time favourite races.
Foinavon The Outsider
We don’t often get a dramatic Grand National quite as we did in 1967, which is probably why it still stands the test of time.
Foinavon entered the race as a 100/1 rank outsider. Almost nobody fancied the horse, and we doubt that even the jockey John Buckingham thought it could come home in first place.
Buckingham wasn’t even due to take the ride. The horse’s trainer, John Kempton, had bought him for 2,000 guineas in 1965 for owners Cyril and Iris Watkins and Mac Bennelick.
Kempton himself was supposed to take the ride that day. However, he couldn’t make the weight, so he opted to ride a different horse at Worcester.
As the owner wasn’t prepared to pay the additional fee for a ride in the National, three other jockeys passed on Foinavon. That is how John Buckingham ended up in the race.
Things could have been so different for Buckingham had Kempton made the 10st weight, as this was the ride that defined his entire racing career.
And They’re Off
For most of the race, it looked as though Foinavon was living up to his long odds.
He was well behind the field, and if in-play betting on the DraftKings Platform existed in those days, you probably would have got much greater odds than the 100/1 that was quoted pre-race.
However, everything changed at the 23rd fence. Popham Down, a loose horse that had lost its rider earlier in the race, veered sharply across the track.
This unexpected movement caused chaos among the leading group who were arriving at the scene.
Many horses either fell, refused the jump, or were unseated by their riders as they tried to navigate around the obstruction. Others attempted to jump the fence but failed.
The resulting pile-up effectively brought the race to a standstill, with horses running in all directions and some even turning back towards the previous fences.
It was absolute chaos. Horses were falling to the ground, jockeys chasing their rides, and almost nobody knew what was going on.
Calm In The Storm
Foinavon was not startled, though. Because of how far back in the field he was when the pile-up occurred, by the time he arrived at the fence, Buckingham managed to get Foinavon to jump it cleanly – the only one out of the entire field to do so on their first attempt.
This gave the pair an unexpected 30-length lead, which they managed to hold onto for the final seven fences.
After the epic win, Buckingham was interviewed post-race. He said, “Everything seemed to stop in front of me.
“I managed to pull onto the outside. I nearly got stopped by two loose horses. After he jumped it, we were just on our own.
“I couldn’t believe it. It was wonderful.”
And it was wonderful. It’s just a shame neither the trainer nor the owner was there to see it. Thinking Foinavon had no chance, they opted to go to Worcester instead!
A Lasting Legacy
Aside from the fact that almost anybody who knows anything about the Grand National knows who Foinavon is, more than 50 years later, the impact of his unlikely triumph still resonates.
In 1984, the Aintree executive officially named the 23rd fence the “Foinavon fence” in honour of this remarkable victory. It is a permanent tribute that ensures his name will live on in Grand National history.
There are a lot of lessons from that race, not least of which is that when faced with chaos, just keep going. You never know how things will work out in the end.
Anything can happen, and even the most unlikely contender can emerge victorious.
As we reflect on Foinavon’s legacy, we’re reminded of the words of commentator Michael O’Hehir, who captured the chaotic scene at the 23rd fence:
“And now, with all this mayhem, Foinavon has gone off on his own! He’s about 50, 100 yards in front of everything else!”
As for the great jockey John Buckingham, he passed away in December 2016, but will always be remembered as the man who won one of the most dramatic Grand Nationals in the history of the sport.
