A fairytale of Aintree

Sam Waley-Cohen's achievements as an amateur jockey are unparalleled and his career ended on a perfect note when he won the 2022 Randox Grand National. Ben Cox caught up with Sam and his father Robert to discuss an unforgettable day and what the future holds...

If tasked with writing the script, few would dare. In the build-up to the 2022 Randox Grand National, Sam Waley-Cohen had announced that the 174th running of the world's greatest steeplechase would be his last race as a jockey Not since 1990 had an amateur rider won the race – when Marcus Armytage triumphed aboard Mr Frisk – and at 50-1, few gave Waley-Cohen's mount, Noble Yeats, much chance of repeating the feat. However, as the pair strode back into the winner's enclosure at Aintree Racecourse at around 5.30pm on Saturday 9 April 2022, the scene was fit for a Hollywood blockbuster with an ending verging on the ridiculous.

Except this was real life – the culmination of years of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, triumph, failure and everything in between. Noble Yeats had become the first seven-year-old to succeed in the Randox Grand National since Bogskar in 1940, while Waley-Cohen's name could be etched into the history books as the 42nd amateur jockey to win the race and the first of the 21st century

Waley-Cohen's own race riding statistics of 75 Jump winners under Rules in Great Britain, plus one on the Flat, one winner in France and over 100 point-to-point winners fail to accurately reflect his phenomenal achievements in the saddle Especially when you consider that those 75 UK Jump winners include four Grade Ones and a remarkable seven victories over the iconic Grand National fences at Aintree – a record many professional jockeys would swap their own for.

Waley-Cohen also retires with four victories at The Festival™, headed by Long Run's victory in the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup, horseracing's most prestigious contest. On the same horse, he claimed two victories in the Grade One King George VI Chase – making him the first amateur to succeed in Kempton Park's Boxing Day spectacular The combined achievements of Long Run and Noble Yeats also handed Waley-Cohen the unique statistic of being the only amateur jockey to ride winners of both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National.

So when Waley-Cohen zipped up his bag and walked out of the weighing room for the final time, it marked the end of an extraordinary career and one that he and his father Robert freely admit had begun 23 years ago, purely as ‘a bit of fun' Sam, whose first ride was as a 16-year-old in 1999, says: "We started out point-to-pointing to have a bit of fun, no more than that. I was always keen and dreamt of having a ride around the Grand National course and at the Cheltenham Festival, but my ambitions were never a whole lot more than that really."

After his famous Aintree victory earlier last year, Sam reflected on his amateur career and listed the However, he plans to maintain a close link with racing reasons he had not joined his weighing room and goes on: "I am still riding out and schooling with colleagues in the professional ranks. In the mornings, I just love horses and being out in the fresh air I want to make sure I stay in contact with racing, and of course, will still be talking all the time with my dad. It will be interesting to see what happens with Noble Yeats and if he can go and do it again in the Grand National.

"He is still a young horse, and hopefully, still has plenty left in him. We will look to the trainers to get the horses fit and use the best available jockeys – I won't be a backseat jockey! "I am also very interested in helping racing in any way I can and getting more young people into the sport. Racing has given me a lot and I would love to make a contribution and give something back."

While the 2022 Randox Grand National was certainly the perfectly timed crescendo that Sam Waley-Cohen's years in the saddle had built towards, there is no doubt we will continue to see him and his family on racecourses for many years to come