2022 Grand National Review

Placing	Horse	Age	Weight	Trainer	Jockey	Starting Price
1st	Noble Yeats	7	10-10	Emmet Mullins	Sam Waley-Cohen	50/1
2nd	Any Second Now	10	11-08	Ted Walsh	Mark Walsh	15/2F
3rd	Delta Work	9	11-09	Gordon Elliott	Jack Kennedy	10/1
4th	Santini	10	11-02	Polly Gundry	Nick Scholfield	33/1
5th	Fiddlerontheroof	8	11-04	Colin Tizzard	Brendan Powell	12/1
6th	Longhouse Poet	8	11-04	Martin Brassil	Darragh O'Keeffe	12/1
7th	Freewheelin Dylan	10	10-10	Dermot A McLoughlin	Ricky Doyle	50/1
8th	Coko Beach	7	10-13	Gordon Elliott	Jonjo O'Neill Jnr	50/1
9th	Escaria Ten	8	11-01	Gordon Elliott	Adrian Heskin	25/1
10th	Romain De Senam	10	10-05	David Pipe	Philip Armson	125/1
11th	Samcro	10	11-01	Gordon Elliott	Sean Bowen	80/1
12th	Commodore	10	10-05	Venetia Williams	Charlie Deutsch	33/1
13th	Class Conti	10	10-10	Willie Mullins	Sam Twiston-Davies	100/1
14th	Blaklion	13	10-08	Dan Skelton	Harry Skelton	50/1
15th	Lostintranslation	10	11-06	Colin Tizzard	Harry Cobden	50/1
Did Not Complete
Brought Down	Anibale Fly	12	10-11	Tony Martin	Luke Dempsey	80/1
Brought Down	Minella Times	9	11-10	Henry De Bromhead	Rachael Blackmore	9/1
Fell	Agusta Gold	9	10-09	Willie Mullins	Danny Mullins	66/1
Fell	Run Wild Fred	8	11-07	Gordon Elliott	Davy Russell	8/1
Fell	Eclair Surf	8	10-06	Emma Lavelle	Tom Bellamy	14/1
Pulled Up	Brahma Bull	11	11-06	Willie Mullins	Brian Hayes	80/1
Pulled Up	Poker Party	10	10-08	Henry De Bromhead	Robbie Power	80/1
Pulled Up	Snow Leopardess	10	10-09	Charlie Longsdon	Aidan Coleman	10/1
Pulled Up	Top Ville Ben	10	10-11	Philip Kirby	Thomas Dowson	80/1
Pulled Up	Discorama	9	10-11	Paul Nolan	Brian Cooper	33/1
Pulled Up	Cloth Cap	10	10-10	Jonjo O'Neill	Tom Scudamore	33/1
Pulled Up	Good Boy Bobby	9	10-13	Nigel Twiston-Davies	Daryl Jacob	25/1
Puled Up	Mighty Thunder	10	10-10	Lucinda Russell	Derek Fox	40/1
Pulled Up	Deise Aba	9	10-08	Philip Hobbs	Tom O'Brien	100/1
Pulled Up	School Boy Hours	9	10-05	Noel Meade	Sean Flanagan	33/1
Pulled Up	Two For Gold	9	11-03	Kim Bailey	David Bass	33/1
Unseated Rider	Death Duty	11	10-07	Gordon Elliott	Jordan Gainford	33/1
Unseated Rider	Dingo Dollar	10	10-11	Sandy Thomson	Ryan Mania	25/1
Unseated Rider	Kildisart	10	10-11	Ben Pauling	James Bowen	40/1
Unseated Rider	Burrows Saint	9	11-05	Willie Mullins	Paul Townend	33/1
Unseated Rider	De Rasher Counter	10	10-12	Emma Lavelle	Adam Wedge	80/1
Unseated Rider	Mount Ida	8	11-05	Gordon Elliott	Denis O'Regan	66/1
Unseated Rider	Domaine De L'Isle	9	10-07	Sean Curran	Harry Bannister	125/1
Unseated Rider	Fortescue	8	10-06	Henry Daly	Hugh Nugent	28/1
Unseated Rider	Enjoy D'allen	8	10-11	Ciaran Murphy	Conor Orr	20/1

The 2023 Grand National saw Any Second Now just edge favouritism at 15/2 from the well-backed pair, Run Wild Fred at 8/1 and 2021 winner, Minella Times at 9/1.

The going was good-to-soft and the race was run in bright sunshine.

As usual the pace of the field run down to the first fence belied the fact that the race was being run over four miles and two and a half furlongs. The cavalry charge to get a good early position saw Two For Gold, Coko Beach, Lostintranslation and Escaria Ten all vying for the lead as they touched down over the first fence. The last named made quite a bad mistake and Mount Ida and Enjoy D’Allen both unseated their riders.

At the third fence, Eclair Suf fell and brought down Anibale Fly.

The first big test in the Grand National is Bechers Brook, which is the sixth fence. Two For Gold and Coko Beach were the first two runners over Bechers, which all the remaining field managed to navigate safely.

Before the Canal Turn (eighth fence) Deise Aba was pulled up. The Canal Turn usually turns out to be the most difficult fence on the course and so it proved on the first circuit where Death Duty, De Rasher Counter and Run Wild Fred all parted company with their jockeys. 

The ninth fence is Valentines and this fence saw the end of Minella Times’ effort to win back to back Grand Nationals. School Boy Hours pulled up here after making a bad mistake. Agusta Gold fell at the tenth fence.

The twelfth fence is the last fence before the Melling Road and at that point Coko Beach was the clear leader from Two For Gold, Longhouse Poet, Cloth Cap and Lostintranslation. Discorama was pulled up after the twelfth fence.

The Chair (fifteenth fence) is the biggest obstacle on the course and this fence saw Two For Gold take the lead. Domaine De L’Isle, Burrows Saint and Kildisart all unseated their riders here.

There were no fallers at the sixteenth fence, the Water Jump, but one of the big fancies for the race, Snow Leopardess, was pulled up at this point.

The seventeenth fence saw the start of the second circuit, where Two For Gold and Coko Beach were still vying for the lead.

Fence nineteen was omitted on the run towards Bechers Brook and before this fence Cloth Cup was pulled up. This big fence saw Two For Gold and Coko Beach still battling for the lead, closely followed by Lostintranslation, Longhouse Poet, Freewhellin Dylan, Escaria Ten and Noble Yeats. There were no fallers at Bechers Brook but Mighty Thunder was pulled up before the following fence.

The Canal Turn (fence twenty-four) finally saw a change in the lead as Two For Gold and Coko Beach did not take the fence well and ended up going very wide on the course. This allowed Longhouse Poet to lead over Valentine’s (fence twenty-five). Dingo Dollar unseated his rider here and Poker Party was pulled up just after this fence.

Coko Beach fought back to regain the lead over fence twenty-six but Two For Gold was starting to drop back. Freewheelin Dylan joined the grey Coko Beach for the lead over the twenty-seventh. Good Boy Bobby was pulled up after this fence and Fortescue unseated his rider.

The twenty-eighth fence is the third last and at this point Coko Beach, Freewheelin Dylan and Longhouse Poet were all closely matched at the head of the race with Noble Yeats close behind in fourth and Escaria Ten in fifth. Brahma Bull, Top VIlle Ben  and the gallant early leader, Two For Gold all called it a day here. 

There were ten horses in contention as they made their way down to the second last. Coko Beach’s exertions appeared to be taking their toll but he was still up there and he was joined by a wall of six other horses as they jumped the penultimate fence. Noble Yeats, Longhouse Poet, Fiddlerontheroof, Freewheelin Dylan, Any Second Now and Delta Work were all within half a length of each other at this point.

Noble Yeats, Any Second Now and Delta Work pulled away from the others going down to the last fence where Any Second Now just touched down in front of Sam Waley Cohen and Noble Yeats and this pair started to battle it out towards the finish. 

Noble Yates had just grabbed the lead at the Elbow but there was precious little between the two and the gallant horses fought all the way to the line with Noble Yeats just gaining the advantage at the line by two and a quarter lengths.

Noble Yeats provided Sam Waley Cohen with a remarkable winner on his final ride as a jockey. The seven-year-old gelding also ended an eighty-two year wait for a winner of his age.

The winner was returned at 50/1, with Any Second Now,  the 15/2 favourite, in the runner-up spot. The front two had pulled twenty lengths clear of the third placed horse, Delta Work whose SP was 10/1. The other places were filled by the staying on Santini at 33/1 and Fiddlerontheroof at 12/1.

Great scenes were witnessed in the winner’s enclosure with the victorious owner, Robert Waley-Cohen, eulogising about winning trainer, Emmet Mullins and, of course, about the riding skills of his jockey and son, Sam.

The owner had only bought the horse just over a month before this famous victory and a return trip back to AIntree next season looks very much on the cards.