The 2018 Grand National at Aintree Racecourse provided another dramatic finish, and this time around, it was Tiger Roll, the diminutive but accomplished eight-year-old gelding, who romped to victory.
The race was not without its share of drama from the outset. The first fence claimed Perfect Candidate, bringing down one of the favourites, Blaklion.
Tiger Roll, ridden by the experienced Davy Russell – the oldest jockey in the race – bided his time in the early stages. As the race progressed, the Irish challenger began to make his move.
With three fences to go, Tiger Roll surged to the front, taking command, and as they approached the final furlong, it seemed he had the race in the bag.
He was six lengths clear at the Elbow, and victory appeared assured. However, the Grand National is known for its unpredictability, and the race was far from over.
In a heart-stopping finale, Pleasant Company, who had seemed beaten, found a second wind. As Tiger Roll began to tire in the run-in, Pleasant Company launched a desperate late surge.
The two horses thundered towards the finish line, with Pleasant Company eating into Tiger Roll’s lead with every stride.
The crowd held its breath as the pair flashed past the post, so close that even seasoned observers couldn’t be certain of the winner.
After an agonising wait, the photo finish confirmed that Tiger Roll had held on by the slimmest of margins – a mere head.
This victory was not just a personal triumph for Tiger Roll and his connections but a testament to the horse’s versatility and heart.
Already a winner at the Cheltenham Festival in various disciplines, Tiger Roll had now conquered the most famous steeplechase in the world.
For jockey Davy Russell, trainer Gordon Elliott, and owner Michael O’Leary of Ryanair fame, it was a moment of pure elation.
It solidified an epic seasonal campaign for trainer Gordon Elliott. Not only did he have a superb Cheltenham Festival, but he also won the Irish Grand National.
What he did not do, however, was win the Irish Trainers Championship. That went, once again, to Willie Mullins.
Heading Into 2019
With a new season in 2019 came new prospects and potential wins, so plans were well underway to send Tiger Roll back on the same route that proved so successful for him in 2018.
The Grand National winner looks poised to bid for the same spring double after Elliott confirmed his latest chasing star was back in training.
Speaking to the Racing Post, Elliott said: “Tiger Roll is back in training and, while there are no definite plans yet, we’ll probably run him in some cross-country races, like we did last season, before heading back to Aintree.”
Winning back-to-back Grand Nationals has proved to be almost impossible. No horse had done it since Red Rum, and that’s what jockey Davy Russell kept in mind when asked about Tiger Roll’s chances.
When asked if he had a chance of a second National, Russell said: “You need an extraordinary horse to do that.”
That’s not to say that Tiger Roll wasn’t an extraordinary horse. But the conditions were ideal in 2018, and his weight of 10-13 was almost certainly going to be increased, making things significantly more difficult.
Added to that was a subpar seasonal return when he could only manage 4th from seven runners at Cheltenham in the Cross Country in November. Although in the previous season he ran that same race and finished in 5th place. So all was not lost.
While Russell may have played down Tiger Roll’s chances of another win, he hadn’t ruled it out completely, saying: “He is probably the type of horse that could because he doesn’t over-exert himself through the season.”
And that’s what Gordon Elliott was banking on. With a spin in the Cross Country at Cheltenham on the cards before the 2019 Grand National, bookmakers installed Tiger Roll as the joint-favourite on ante-post odds of 20/1.
Second Incredible Win
As predicted, the BHA Handicapper did not go easy on Tiger Roll and promptly piled 11-05 on his back. But that didn’t stop the little gelding, standing at just 15.2 hands high, from becoming the first horse in 45 years to win back-to-back Grand Nationals, captivating the hearts of racing fans everywhere.
He went off as the 4/1 favourite, and as the race progressed, he began to make his move. With his characteristic determination, he steadily worked his way through the field.
By the time the horses reached Becher’s Brook for the second time, Tiger Roll was tucked in behind the leaders, poised to strike.
The tension mounted as the remaining horses cleared the final fences. Tiger Roll, displaying his impeccable jumping ability, joined the brave mare Magic of Light at the second-last fence.
While Magic of Light’s jockey, Paddy Kennedy, was working hard to maintain position, Davy Russell remained almost motionless atop Tiger Roll, a testament to the horse’s effortless power.
At the last fence, Magic of Light made a slight mistake, giving Tiger Roll the opening he needed. As they hit the famous Elbow on the run-in, Tiger Roll surged forward, responding to the wall of noise from the ecstatic crowd.
Davy Russell, sensing victory, finally asked his mount for everything, and Tiger Roll responded with the heart of a champion.
They crossed the line two and three-quarter lengths ahead of Magic of Light, with Rathvinden finishing third.
The roar from the crowd was deafening as Tiger Roll cemented his place in racing history, becoming only the fifth horse to win multiple Grand Nationals since the race’s inception in 1839.
The Treble Is In Sight
No sooner had the 2019 Grand National ended, and bookmakers were already offering odds on the Grand National 2020.
Even crazier was that they were as low as 8/1, and that was despite the fact that he wasn’t even guaranteed to run.
But he did get an entry. And it all hinged on the weight.
Ahead of the 2020 race, Michael O’Leary gave an honest assessment of his chances of running. He made it clear that if he were given top weight, he would take him out of the race.
Despite the fact that no runner in the race’s history has won three in a row, O’Leary made his feelings clear.
“I feel no pressure to go back and try to win a third time,” said O’Leary.
“Tiger Roll isn’t Red Rum – he’s Tiger Roll.”
The main target for Tiger Roll in 2020 would again be the Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, with the caveat that retirement would be a possibility if he won.
O’Leary said: “He has won four times at Cheltenham, and if he were to go back and win five times at Cheltenham – what more do you want from the horse?
“I think at that stage I would mind every precious hair in his body.”
And who could blame him? Yes, Tiger Roll was a magnificent chaser, but there’s only so much you can ask from a horse. And he had more than delivered on all of his potential.
While it may have seemed premature to discount the chances of Tiger Roll returning for the 2020 Grand National, O’Leary was laying the ball firmly in the BHA Handicapper’s court.
Unlike so many other hotly contested National Jumps races in the UK, the Handicapper does have discretion over the weights allocated to the National entries.
But the likelihood that BHA jumps handicapper Martin Greenwood would give Tiger Roll a pass was remote.
When the handicap ratings were announced in May, for the 2018/19 jumps season, Tiger Roll was rated at 172. That made him the third-highest staying chaser in training.
Only the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo (175) and Punchestown Gold Cup winner Kemboy (177) rated higher. And neither of them looked set to take to the Aintree fences.
Greenwood said: “I have never seen a horse in my memory travel so strongly on the Grand National. He was still on the bridle at the last fence.
“I thought he would struggle after the mistake he made at the fourth last fence, but he just kept going. He is an unbelievable horse.
“Like he did the previous year, I think he was dossing when he got to the front, and the winning margin did not reflect his superiority. If he had run in the Gold Cup, I think he would have been placed.
“Weights have been compressed in the Grand National before but not with horses who have won two Grand Nationals. The only reason to compress Tiger Roll’s weight is if the Grand National form does not work out.
“You would love to see Tiger Roll run in the Grand National, but this is not the Tiger Roll fan club. We have to be fair to the other horses.”
Before the entries were even announced for 2020, it was confirmed that Tiger Roll would head back to Liverpool in an attempt to make history and win his third Grand National.
Tiger Roll was promptly installed in the betting markets with ante-post odds of 8/1, with plenty of promotions and offers based on him winning three in a row.
Trainer Gordon Elliott revealed that a trip to Aintree was his primary target and also likely to be his last-ever run, potentially giving him the greatest send-off possible.
And Then Disaster Struck
For a while back in February 2020, as punters adopted different strategies to try and win the Grand National, the jury was out on whether Tiger Roll would be able to make his hat trick attempt.
It looked like Michael O’Leary’s popular star horse wouldn’t even be running in the National after the team declared that his attendance would be “50-50” following the publication of handicap weights.
Martin Greenwood handed Tiger Roll a top weight mark of 170lb, putting him alongside stablemate Delta Work.
It was a decision that the champion thoroughbred’s owners declared “a very unfair rating”, particularly since, in 2019, he was raised by 12lb after winning the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
Eddie O’Leary, Michael’s brother and racing manager for the Gigginstown Stud, clarified that the last time Tiger Roll competed in a standard chase was back in 2017, where he “pulled off up to 150”.
The handicapper’s decision was deemed especially unfair when former Gold Cup winner Native River’s weight was compressed by 2lb, with Tiger Roll and Delta Work giving him a 4lb advantage.
As it turned out, none of that made any difference whatsoever.
On Monday, March 16, 2020, The Jockey Club officially announced that the 2020 Randox Health Grand National Festival had been cancelled due to the pandemic.
The race did not take place, and the chances of Tiger Roll ever getting his shot at a third National looked very slim indeed.
Withdrawn in 2021
With no race in 2020, faith in Tiger Roll hadn’t dwindled, with racing fans hoping against hope that he would still return in 2021 for one last go around the fences.
He was as short as 12/1 ante-post for the Grand National. However, talk of retirement and the uncertainty of what caused such a lacklustre performance in his previous race at Navan had bookies worried.
He was given one of the 106 Grand National 2021 entries, but at the first scratching stage following the allocation of weights, Tiger Roll was withdrawn.
The dual-winning 11-year-old was given 11-09 in weight by the BHA Handicapper. Unsurprisingly, the O’Leary’s were not happy. They had already stated that if he were given too much weight, he would be taken out of contention.
And they stuck to their word.
In a statement, Gigginstown said that a handicapper mark of 166 – seven pounds higher than Tiger Roll’s second National win in 2019 – was “patently unfair, unjustified and does not reflect the horse’s age or form over the past two seasons”.
They added: “We made clear that if Tiger Roll was rated in the 150s (ie where he was two years ago) which is what his age and form now warrants, he would be allowed to run this year’s National and go for a historic three in a row”.
“However, the Handicapper has decided to rate him on his reputation rather than his form – which we fully accept is his prerogative – but we have a duty of care to Tiger, and so we will not ask him to carry an unfair weight burden especially as he gets older and his form declines.”
And there ended Tiger Roll’s Grand National journey.
One Last Cheltenham Before Retirement
With Aintree no longer an option, attention turned to Cheltenham, where faith in Tiger was duly rewarded with a fourth Glenfarclas victory in 2021.
His career probably should have ended there, but connections saw fit to give him a few more runs, none of which were particularly impressive, before an attempt at his 6th Cheltenham win in 2022.
In what was the narrowest of defeats, he was beaten by stable-mate Delta Work by ¾ of a length, crushing the hearts of everybody who wanted to see him win one last time.
His career had come to an end, but his incredible tally at Cheltenham lives on with wins in the Triumph Hurdle in 2014, the National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup in 2017 and the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
His owner, Michael O’Leary of Gigginstown Stud, announced the retirement, stating:
“I would have loved to see Tiger go out with a win, but on ground that doesn’t suit him, he went out on his shield. He’s a warrior.
“The great thing is he has finished in one piece and has come back safe and sound. He will now have a very long and well-earned retirement.”
Tiger Roll returned to Gigginstown Stud in Ireland and has since been retrained for a new career in the show ring.
In August 2022, he won a racehorse to riding horse class at Tullamore Show in Ireland, qualifying for the Dublin Horse Show, in which he placed third in his class.
Tiger Roll’s retirement marked the end of an era in National Hunt racing. His unique achievements at both Cheltenham and Aintree have secured him a special place in racing history.
In recognition of his accomplishments, he was inducted into the Cheltenham Hall of Fame in November 2022.
