Who won the last Grand National in 2022?

The Grand National returns to Aintree Racecourse this Saturday (April 15), with 40 jockeys and horses ready to race in one of the world's most popular steeplechases.

The National is one of the last races of the three-day Grand National Festival in Merseyside, which takes place from Thursday to Saturday. Racers will be taking on the course's 30 Grand National fences over the course of four miles, or two and a half furlongs.

The total prize fund is £1 million, but the winner could expect to come away with just over half of the amount. Runners-up, meanwhile, will get a percentage of money in proportion to their finishing positions.

Some 150,000 fans are expected to attend the Grand National Festival over its three-day duration, making it one of the biggest horse racing events on the planet. Globally, it is thought that some 600 million people watch the Grand National in more than 140 countries.

Last year, Sam Waley-Cohen made history with his horse Noble Yeats, becoming the first amateur jockey to win the race in more than three decades. He returned at 50-1, defeating 15-2 Favourite Any Second Now by two and a quarter lengths with Delta Work (10-1) third and Santini (33-1) fourth.

Jockey Sam Waley-Cohen with his children and father Robert Waley-Cohen at Aintree (Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)

He became the first amateur to succeed since Marcus Armytage won on Mr Frisk in 1990. Sam was also the first amateur jockey to ride the winner of the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup - he won Cheltenham Gold Cup on Long Run in 2011.

Sam announced his retirement from racing two days before the Grand National at Aintree last year. "That's definitely it now, I'm done," he said. "I always knew when I had second thoughts about getting out of bed to go and ride one it would be time to call it a day and I couldn't think of anywhere better to go out than this. The reason I kept coming back here year after year is to have a feeling like that."

As Sam is an amateur, he didn't actually receive any prize money for winning the world-famous race last year. However the owner of the horse is his dad, Robert, who watched on as his son and Noble Yeats won the Grand National. The horse is trained in Ireland by Emmet Mullins.

Robert spoke to ITV after the win, gushing: "It's a dream come true. Just fabulous. It's a team and thank God it has really worked. He has so much dedication and puts in so much hard work."

Away from racing, Sam 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.