Year

1994 Grand National Result

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1994 Grand National – Full Finishing Results

Date: 9 April 1994
Course: Aintree Racecourse
Going: Heavy
Distance: 4 miles 4 furlongs 856 yards
Runners: 36
Finishers: 6
Winning Time: 10 minutes 18.8 seconds

• Winner: Miinnehoma (trained by Martin Pipe, owned by Freddie Starr)
• Winning Jockey: Richard Dunwoody
• Winning Margin: 1¼ lengths over Just So
• Favourite: Moorcroft Boy (5/1) – finished 3rd
• Prize for 1st Place: £115,606

In the wake of the infamous ‘Race That Never Was’ in 1993, in 1994, for the first time in a decade, the Grand National attracted fewer than the then-maximum 40 runners. Just 39 entries stood their ground overnight and, with the going at Aintree rendered ‘heavy’ by torrential rain, three late withdrawals reduced the final number of starters to 36. For once, there was no previous winner in the field and the market was headed by confirmed mudlark Moorcroft Boy, trained by David Nicholson and ridden by Adrian Maguire.

Amid heightened security at Aintree, the favourite made a decent showing, too, leading over the second-last fence and only weakening from the elbow, halfway up the run-in, to finish third, beaten 21¼ lengths by the winner. Victory, through, went to Miinnehoma, owned by comedian Freddie Starr, trained by Martin Pipe and ridden by Richard Dunwoody. Sent off at 16/1 after finishing seventh in the Cheltenham Gold Cup on his previous start, the 11-year-old cruised past the weakening Moorcroft Boy on the run-in and ran on under pressure to hold off the renewed challenge of Just So in the closing stages and win by 1¼ lengths.

Just So, owned and trained by Henry Cole and ridden by Simon Burrough, had finished fast when sixth in the 1992 Grand National, from 17lb out of the handicap but, from a further 5lb out of the handicap this time around, did remarkably well to finish as close as he did to the winner. Just six horses completed the course, with Ebony Jane 25 lengths behind Moorcoft Boy in fourth, Fiddlers Pickle – ridden by ‘The Galloping Granny’, Rosemary Henderson – nine lengths further back in fifth and Roc De Prince a distance behind in sixth and last place. Unsurprisingly, the winning time was a rather pedestrian 10 minutes and 18.8 seconds, the slowest since 1955.

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1995 Grand National Result

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1995 Grand National – Full Finishing Results

Date: 8 April 1995
Course: Aintree Racecourse
Going: Soft (Good to Soft in places)
Distance: 4 miles 4 furlongs 856 yards
Runners: 36
Finishers: 15
Winning Time: 9 minutes 29.9 seconds

Race Summary

• Winner: Royal Athlete (trained by Jenny Pitman, ridden by Jason Titley)
• Winning Margin: 7 lengths over Party Politics
• Favourite: Master Oats (5/1) – finished 4th
• Prize for 1st Place: £115,606

For the second year running, the 1995 Grand National, run on good going, featured fewer than the maximum allowed number of runners, with just 35 horses heading to post. The weights and the betting were headed by the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Master Oats, trained by Kim Bailey and Norman Williamson; despite the welter burden of 11st 10lb, the nine-year-old was sent off 5/1 favourite to become the first horse since Golden Miller, in 1934, to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season.

He didn’t, weakening on the run-in to finish seventh, 15¾ lengths behind the winner, Royal Athlete, trained by Jenny Pitman and ridden by Jason Titley. One of six Pitman-trained entries, Royal Athlete, a 12-year-old, was sent off at 40/1, having been beaten on all five starts since winning a handicp chase at Cheltenham, off a 6lb higher mark, the previous November. However, having led or disputed the lead from early on the second circuit, the Roselier gelding ran on strongly approaching the final fence and was driven clear to win by seven lengths. As BBC commentator Sir Peter O’Sullevan put it, “They’re coming into the final hundred yards and Royal Athlete is sprinting! Royal Athlete cannot be caught now.”

Party Politics, the 1992 winner, chased Royal Athlete from halfway up the run-in, but could make no impression in the closing stages. He still finished clear second, six lengths ahead of 100/1 chance Over The Deel, who just got the better of Dubacilla, Romany King and Into The Red in a three-way photograph for third place.

At the time of his death, in 2003, Pitman said of Royal Athlete, “…he was as brave as a lion, and if he ever landed over the last in front, he was never beaten.”

1996 Grand National Result

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1996 Grand National – Full Finishing Results

Date: 6 April 1996
Course: Aintree Racecourse
Going: Good to Soft
Distance: 4 miles 4 furlongs 856 yards
Runners: 27
Finishers: 17
Winning Time: 9 minutes 29.9 seconds

Race Summary

• Winner: Rough Quest (trained by Terry Casey, ridden by Mick Fitzgerald)
• Winning Margin: 1¼ lengths over Encore Un Peu
• Favourite: Rough Quest (7/1) – won
• Prize for 1st Place: £189,180

Red Rum, the only horse to win the Grand National three times, died on October 18, 1995, and was duly buried at the finishing line at Aintree with his head facing the winning post. His final resting place was chosen such that, when the Grand National winner crosses the line, the sun casts a shdow over his graze. On the first occasion since his burial, on March 30, 1996, said shadow was cast by the 7/1 favourite, Rough Quest, trained by Terry Casey and ridden by Mick Fitzgerald.

Fresh from a second-placed finish in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, behind Imperial Call, just over two weeks previously, Rough Quest moved into fourth place, travelling notably well, crossing the Melling Road for the final time. Encore En Peu, trained by Martin Pipe and ridden by David Bridgwater, still led by four lengths at the final fence, but Fitzgerald delayed his challenge until passing the elbow, switching to the outside and soon taking the measure of his toiling rival.

Having hit the front, Rough Quest hung left, causing Bridgwater to momentarily stop riding, which attracted the attention of the stewards. At the line, Rough Quest was just a length-and-a-quarter ahead, but well on top and, following the subsequent stewards’ enquiry, the result was allowed to stand. The well-fancied Superior Finish, trained by Jenny Pitman and ridden by Richard Dunwoody, stayed on well on the run-in to finish third, albeit 16 lengths behind Encore En Peu, and just held that position by a short-head from Sir Peter Lely, who was, in turn, just three-quarters of a length of the fifth horse home, Young Hustler.

On going officially described as “good”, the winning time, of 9 minutes and 0.80 seconds, was 9.20 seconds faster than the Racing Post standard time and remains the third-fastest in the history of the Grand National.

1997 Grand National Result

Admin October 25, 2025 No Comments

1997 Grand National – Full Finishing Results

Date: 7 April 1997
Course: Aintree Racecourse
Going: Good
Distance: 4 miles 4 furlongs 856 yards
Runners: 36
Finishers: 17
Winning Time: 9 minutes 5.9 seconds

Race Summary

• Winner: Lord Gyllene (trained by Steve Brookshaw, ridden by Tony Dobbin)
• Winning Margin: 25 lengths over Sunny Bay
• Favourite: Rough Quest (10/1) – finished 14th
• Prize for 1st Place: £189,180
• Notes: This was the “Monday National,” run two days late after a bomb threat forced evacuation of Aintree on the original Saturday.

The 1997 Grand National was originally scheduled for Saturday, April 5, 1997, but following two coded bomb threats from the Irish Republican Army (IRA), received an hour or so before the proposed ‘off’ time, Aintree Racecourse was evacuated and the race was postponed for 48 hours. Bomb squads subsequently carried out controlled explosions on two suspect packages at the course, although both turned out to be innocuous.

Over 20,000 spectators reconvened for the so-called ‘Monday National’, rescheduled for 5.00pm on Monday, April 7. A total of 36 horses went to post, but it would be fair to say that the winner, Lord Gyllene, barely saw a rival for most of the four and a half miles. Owned by the late Sir Stanley Clarke, trained by Steve Brookshaw, in Telford, Shropshire and ridden by Tony Dobbin, Lord Gyllene led from the second fence and, jumping well, drew clear from two out to win by 25 lengths. He did give his supporters one anxious moment, through no fault of his own, when badly hampered by a loose horse approaching the water jump at the end of the first circuit, but thereafter never really looked like being beaten.

Second favourite Suny Bay, trained by Charlie Brooks and ridden by Jamie Osborne, chased the winner for most of the way, but a blunder at the third-last fence finally put paid to his chance and he was soon left behind. Camelot Knight, a 100/1 outsider, stayed on to finish third, two lengths further behind, with 40/1 chance Buckboard Bounce a similar distance back in fourth place.

Sent off at 14/1, Lord Gyllene completed the Grand National Course in time of nine minutes and 5.9 seconds. Brookshaw, who, at the time, was in just his second year as a National Hunt trainer, later said of his victory, “It was my 15 minutes of fame.The biggest day of my life.”