It seemed that it may be a case of ‘After the Lord Mayor’s Show’ at Aintree Racecourse in 1997. In the end it was a case of the Lord’s procession in a unique running of the Grand National.
Following an IRA bomb scare the world’s greatest steeplechase had to be postponed and a mass exodus from the Aintree course took place to try and keep the participants and the racegoers safe. Just four years on from the ‘National That Never Was’ – the race which had to be voided because of issues at the start with several horses carrying on regardless – it appeared another running of the Aintree marathon would be lost.
But Aintree officials pulled out all the stops to reschedule the showpiece event to be run the following Monday – the one and only time it took place on the first day of the working week.
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Around 20,000 mostly Merseysiders made their way to Aintree, free of charge, to witness the latest chapter in the sporting story of the Grand National. And for jockey Tony Dobbin, at least, it was just another day at the office as he landed Grand National victory aboard the Steve Brookshaw-trained Lord Gyllene, coming home by a massive 25 lengths, having led almost from start to finish, hardly seeing another rival throughout the race.
A quarter of a century on from that success, Dobbin recalls how he won the Grand National. He said: “He (Lord Gyllene) was actually well fancied, but you can never be confident enough to think that you are going to win it.
“The thing with him, I rode him a few times. I had only ridden him two or three times before the National and he was a good jumper but he wasn’t amazing. He wasn’t one you would think, he’d be brilliant around the National (course).
“But when he got there he just took to them fences like you wouldn’t believe. He was just different class, which happens sometimes. Some horses just take to them. So he was just a different horse again when we got there. It was very exciting.”
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It was a dream success for the rider, who was at the top of his game and eventually landed more than 1,200 winners throughout his career, including several Graded races. But Lord Gyllene’s success in 1997 was the pinnacle. Dobbin said: “It is every young jockeys dream to just ride in it. I had only ridden in one before. It was only the second time riding in it.
“I can remember looking around at the Elbow and I was 20 lengths clear but I still thought this isn’t happening. I still thought something is going to come out and beat you.
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“I can remember I was turning in with a circuit to go and Jamie Osborne (on eventual runner-up Suny Bay) and Richard Dunwoody (who fell on Smith’s Band at the 20th fence), they were behind me and I could hear them talking and the two of them were saying we are going to fast. I’m thinking to myself are they saying that just to make me go slower, because I knew my horse would stay all day. I went even faster.”
Apart from him having almost a race on his own out front, it was a surreal experience with the race being run on the Monday for the one and only time in the history of the Grand National. And Dobbin recalls the Saturday when any dreams of glory where thrown into the air due to the IRA bomb warning.
Dobbin, unlike many of his other jockeys, was able to go home on the Saturday when the race was called off – while others partied the night away at the Adelphi Hotel in the city centre.
On how events unfolded, he recalled: “We were all getting prepared, tying our caps. And then the fire alarms went and we were told you are all going to have to leave the weighing room. We thought for f***’* sake this is going to be mean a delay for a while. So we just left our stuff and walked out with our racing colours on. We will back in there in 20 minutes, we thought, some drunken idiot has pressed the first alarm.
“But then it became apparent when we got out there this isn’t going to happen. We were being evacuated. I actually got home. A friend of mine drove down from Cumbria and we walked up to the M58 motorway roundabout and he picked us up. So I was quite jealous to be honest because all the other jockeys were getting to stay and have parties in the Adelphi (hotel) for two nights. I missed out on that and maybe thank God because I was the only sober one there!”
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And on his return to Merseyside for the rescheduled race on the Monday, he added: “It was quite surreal. We are going for the Grand National and it is 5 o’clock at night and it is just one race. It was quite weird. But there was still 20,000 people there or something. It was still a great atmosphere. It was fantastic, well for me it was.”
At the end of the race, Dobbin was overcome with emotion and recalls what it meant to be finally be able to call himself a ‘Grand National-winning jockey.
He said: “I hardly saw another horse. When we actually passed the winning post, well it you watch the replay, you will see me just put my head down on his neck and give him a bit of a hug. It was just for that split second – it was just him and me. And then you just realise what’s actually happened. And when I lifted my head the first lad who ran up to congratulate me was a lad called Donal, who used to work at Greystoke in Gordon Richards’ (stable). Gordon Richards’ horse (Buckboard Bounce) finished fourth and he was the first man to say well done. Then it was just madness after that.
“I was doing quite well as a jockey at that stage of my career. Mr (Stanley) Clarke, who owned the horse, he sponsored me after that. So that was nice to have nice car to drive round in. But as a jockey I was going well anyway, so it didn’t really change. I had a good job – I was Gordon Richards’ stable jockey and that didn’t change.
“But it (winning the National) profiles you. That was the 150th Grand National and I won it. It was Peter O’Sullevan’s last National and it was on a Monday, so it was all quite surreal. It is something that I am privileged and very lucky that I have done it.”
Aintree was a special and a ‘lucky’ place for the former jockey. As well as his Grand National victory, he enjoyed plenty of other successes at the Merseyside track with the likes of Monet’s Garden, Barton and Turpin Green. Dobbin said: “I loved it at Aintree. I hated (the) Cheltenham (Festival ), if I am honest, like Northern jockeys do. You go down there and you are making up the numbers. Brian Hughes hates it and didn’t go this year.
“But Aintree is different. Cheltenham is a huge thing that you are expecting your horses to run well. But Aintree is different. Most of them have been to Cheltenham and the pressure is off, if you like. I was lucky enough to ride a lot of winners there. But over the National fences I rode four winners. It was a lucky place and I love it.”
Dobbin, who will turn 50 on May 1, is now assistant trainer to his wife Rose at their Hazelrigg stable in Alnwick in Northumberland. And he would love to find another horse who could compete in the Aintree showpiece again. He said: “It would be amazing to get a Grand National horse. All the Grade One and graded races are great. But to get a National winner, or even a runner it it, would be a dream, amazing.”
This interview was taken from the Liverpool ECHO's 2022 Grand National Special, which is priced at just £2, and is in shops now. The 40-page unmissable guide to the world's greatest steeplechase is on sale in most supermarkets, high street retailers and independent newsagents. You can also order a copy now from our online shop, just click here
