A Grand National fairytale came true with Sam Waley-Cohen steering Noble Yeats to success on his last ever ride.
Waley-Cohen, an amateur jockey who turns 40 next week, confirmed earlier in the week at Aintree that he will retire after Saturday’s big race.
“I think that might be my 40th time riding here and Saturday will be my last ride,” Waley-Cohen told ITV. “I'm going to retire, hopefully in the Grand National.
“I've had such an amazing time. I'm 40 this year and I couldn't have imagined the days I've had and I'd love to do it at Aintree. The course has been so special to me, so it felt like this was the right moment.”
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Waley-Cohen’s mount Noble Yeats - a 50/1 shot - powered home, seeing off the favourite Any Second Now, ridden by Mark Walsh.
He becomes the first amateur to win the race since 1990 and retires having won seven races on the Grand National course, making him the most successful course jockey of the modern era.
He has also won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, on Long Run in 2011 and won the delayed 2010 King George VI Chase in January 2011 on the same horse.
Away from racing, Waley-Cohen is a successful entrepreneur and owns a chain of dental practices under the Portman Dentalcare umbrella.
By 2020, the Portman Group had grown to over 160 practices and expanded to operate across Europe and he was nominated for the Spears young entrepreneur of the year award in 2011.
Waley-Cohen said: “I've been so spoiled and so lucky and it's been great doing it with dad (trainer Robert Waley-Cohen). We've been a real partnership. It's been wonderful, I've had some incredible days, more than I could ever have hoped to imagine.”
Waley-Cohen’s younger brother Robert died just days after his 20th birthday, following a battle with bone cancer which lasted almost a decade.
“We gave the trophy for the Foxhunters' in memory of my brother and it's a course I've had so much fun at, it felt like the right moment,” said Sam.
“I'm lucky to have a ride on Saturday and that's what's kept me going year after year, trying to turn up at Aintree and compete in the big races and the Grand National is the biggest of them all.”
He added: “I'm going to miss it hugely but there are plenty of other things going on in life.
“People don't believe he's got a chance because he's seven but if you take that away you have higher convictions so we'll see if he can break that hoodoo.”
Noble Yeats, who trained in Ireland by Emmet Mullins, is the first horse aged seven to win since Bogskar in 1940.
