Few jockeys have had more of an affinity with the Randox Grand National fences than Sam Waley-Cohen. And it seemed fitting that the retiring amateur rider bowed out of racing with a seventh success over the big Aintree fences as he partnered 50-1 outsider Noble Yeats to a dream first victory in the world's greatest steeplechase.
As the sun shone and the returning racegoers at Aintree Racecourse roared them home, Waley-Cohen – who formed Portman Healthcare in 2008, a dental practice – wore the biggest smile on Merseyside.
Having won the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Long Run, he claimed victory in the Aintree showpiece on his final ride of 23 years in the saddle, becoming the 42nd amateur rider and the first since the now Daily Telegraph journalist Marcus Armytage partnered Mr Frisk in 1990.
Waley-Cohen had already landed victories over the National fences in the Foxhunters' Chase three times with Katarino (2005 and 2006) and Warne (2014), two Topham Chases aboard Liberthine (2006) and Rajdhani Express (2015) as well as the Becher Chase with Oscar Time (2014).
Until Noble Yeats' triumph, Oscar Time had come closest in Waley-Cohen's nine rides in the Aintree marathon to providing the 39-year-old with the victory he wanted more than any other, when second to Ballabriggs in 2011.
But Waley-Cohen used all that experience over the National fences to have a dream ride throughout the extended 4m2f contest. He bided his time just off the pace before coming through to challenge for the lead coming over the final fence alongside the Ted Walsh-trained 15-2 favourite Any Second Now – who had been third last year. The pair were well clear of the rest.
But sporting the now famous brown and orange colours of his father Robert, Waley-Cohen summoned up his all to power to drive Noble Yeats home to score by two-and-a-quarter-lengths from the JP McManus-owned Any Second Now.
Gordon Elliott's Delta Work (10-1) was 20 lengths back in third to bring home another Irish-trained one-two-three. Polly Gundry's Santini (33-1) was the first UK-trained runner to finish, a length-and-a-quarter back in fourth, with Colin Tizzard's Fiddlerontheroof (12-1) eight lengths back in fifth and Longhouse Poet (12-1), from the Grand National-winning stable of Martin Brassil, two-and-a-quarter-lengths further adrift in sixth.
But it was all about the winner and especially the retiring jockey, who will turn 40 next week.
A delighted Waley-Cohen said:“It’s a dream! It won’t sink in for weeks – it feels like a fantasy, and I just don’t know what to say.
“I’m beyond words. He ran for me. He couldn’t go the early pace, and I was trying to find pockets to give him a bit of space to run into, and I found myself up the inner and I was going more forward than I wanted to.
“He loved seeing his fences, so I kept trying to find a spot where he could see them. If I asked him, he came, but if I just half-asked him, he wasn’t confident, so I was really trying to sit against him.
“He likes the bit in his mouth and your legs on him, so I was just trying to get him in that nice rhythm, and he just ran. As soon as I asked him, he went.
“Jumping the last, I thought, ‘I’ve gone too early!’ I really didn’t want to get there then, but at Cheltenham I was struggling to stay with them all the time, but when I pulled him out and asked him, he gave me way more than I expected, so half when I went for him, I thought he’s got plenty - I know he’s got plenty of toe, so as soon as he picked up, I thought, ‘he’s gone – he’s got this’.
“It’s ridiculous. I have to say thanks to Dad - he’s supported me unwaveringly, lovingly, when others said put someone else on. We’ve had a partnership, we haven’t had one cross word – it’s only been for fun.
“We came here thinking, well, you know, the sun’s out, it’s my last ride, go and have a nice day with no instructions, no expectations, just enjoy. Today Liverpool comes out, Liverpool shows its love, and honestly, you feel like you travel on goodwill at this place.
“You just feel a wave of support and goodwill. These days are big family days, and obviously Thomas isn’t with us, so you always think about him on these days. I still always ride with his initials on my saddle, and these are family days.
“I was travelling too well – I just kept trying to fill him up and take my time, and in a way he got there too early, but when he got there he came alive, so I thought, well, you’d better go now. It’s amazing.
“When I rode Oscar Time I was on fumes all the way, there was nothing, whereas with him he kept finding and kept going. When the other horse came to me, I was, like, come on! And he picked him.
“I always wanted to go out on a high, and I thought Thursday was going to be that high. It doesn’t get better than this, and that’s it now – out!
“You need a lot of luck (over these fences), and you need to be on the right horses, and I think, relatively, I’ve ridden these fences a lot more than some of the other jockeys, and experience does help.
“Honestly, I think it's luck. If you are on the right horse, and things go right for you, or don’t go wrong for you…
“This could literally be a moment that I wake up from. It really couldn’t be better.
“One of my earliest memories is of trying to ride the Grand National on the rocking horse we have at home, just knowing a few of the horses’ names and remembering them.
“We used to come here as kids and there was an ice cream stall where you could get free tasters, and we’d be up and down every race getting free tasters, so it’s been part of my childhood, and what’s probably kept me trying to ride year after year after year is trying to come back and have a feeling like that.
“I turn 40 next Friday. I’ve always wanted to ride for the love of it, and one of the reasons I wanted to stop now is because I’ve always felt when you don’t want to go every day and you don’t enjoy every race, wherever you come, you should stop, and the days when you don’t want to go travel three hours for a small race, no matter where you come, it’s time to stop - that’s it. Busy family, busy work - enough. That’s it.
“Thinking about doing this again is fool’s gold – I’ve made up my mind, I’ve had the dream ride, and what a way to go out.
“I’ve always believed… but I could barely hope. I never really bought the seven-year-old story I thought a seven-year-old could win, because not many seven-year-olds run in it, so there aren’t many stats, but you can talk yourself into anything when you’re sitting on a seven-year-old.
“I’ve only really sat on him three times - once at Emmett’s, once at Cheltenham and once today. I learnt a lot about him at Cheltenham, and I think without that ride at Cheltenham I wouldn’t have had that ride today.
“We were looking for a horse – we were going to run Jett, but he wasn’t going to stay the trip. We’d gone up to Wetherby for a hunter chase and we saw Noble Yeats run, and thought, ‘that’s an interesting one, and he’s qualified for the National now – I wonder if they might be interested in doing something’.
“We went and spoke to Emmett, and really liked him - he’s a great trainer – and we thought, ‘why not? Let’s have a crack at it’, and one thing led to another.
“I’ve been so lucky with all the horses I’ve ridden, and in a way, all those rides build up to today; you keep learning, experience, background – if I hadn’t had those days where things haven’t gone right, I wouldn’t have had today.”
A proud Waley-Cohen senior added: "It's a dream come true. I can't speak, I shouted too much!
"You can't go round without the horse but the horse can't get round without the jockey.
"Sam used to ride the National on his rocking horse, that's how far back it goes!"
Noble Yeats was the 28th Irish-trained winner giving County Carlow Mullins a first National victory with his first ever entrant. He was also the first seven-year-old to win the Grand National since Bogskar in the last race before its hiatus before the Second World War in 1940.
And a delighted Mullins said: "It was a long-term plan and it seems to have come off in the end somehow, I don't know how!
"We were probably more confident a month ago. The closer we got to it, everyone else seemed to be talking up their chances and we went cold.
"The form behind Ahoy Senor, a Grade One winner yesterday, that was a great run at Wetherby and the performance there (gave us confidence)."
Polly Gundry was another trainer having her first runner in the Grand National and was hugely proud of fourth-home Santinii's efforts. She said: "This was such an amazing thrill with a beautiful old fashioned horse and I'm so pleased to see him come back. To show the courage to avoid the carnage, I feel honoured to train him.
"He got better and better as the race developed, but we are also thrilled for the Waley-Cohens who come from the point-to-point world like us. It's just a fairytale ending."
There were 15 of the 40 horses finishing with another Tizzard-trained runner Lostintranslation coming home last.
Last year's winner Minella Times, who had helped Rachael Blackmore become the first female rider to win the race, fell. While Becher Chase heroine Snow Leopardess, was pulled up.
But the 174th running of the world's greatest steeplechase was all about the retiring Waley-Cohen, who rode off into the sunset as a Grand National winner.
