Former Edinburgh University student and dental tycoon Sam Waley-Cohen was riding high yesterday after guiding 50-1 shot Noble Yeats to victory in the Grand National.
The posh amateur jockey – who is a friend of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – is also the great, great-grandson of the founder of oil giant Shell.
Noble Yeats is owned by Sam’s dad Robert and the Aintree showpiece was the 39-year-old’s last race as he announced last week that he is retiring.
He dedicated the victory to his wife Annabel and called it a “fairy tale”.
Sam, who runs a chain of 200 dental practices in the UK and Ireland, said: “I’m so choked up. It’s a dream, a fantasy, something I could never have imagined.
“You go to sleep hoping – and wake up to a cold, wet morning and reality.
“It’s unbelievable and has been hope beyond pragmatism really.”
He added that his late brother Thomas, who died of cancer, was with him in spirit.
Sam said: “I think Thomas is sitting on my back. I ride with his name on my saddle.”
Robert said: “It is astonishing.
“We have won so many good races and he [Sam] is extraordinary over these fences. If you could bottle it, you would.”
William and Kate were among the first to greet Sam, posting on Twitter: “Huge congratulations for winning the Grand National. What a way to retire.”
The victory capped Sam’s hugely successful racing career. In 2011 he became the first amateur since Jim Wilson in 1981 to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Yesterday’s race was the first time in three years that spectators had gathered at Aintree to watch the world-famous jump race due to the pandemic.
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