Michael Scudamore
admin The late Michael Scudamore was, of course, the patriarch of a notable racing dynasty. His son, Peter, was National Hunt Champion Jockey eight times between 1981/82 and 1991/92 and is now assistant to Grand National-winning trainer Lucinda Russell, while his grandsons, Tom and Michael Jnr., also maintain the family tradition, as a jockey and trainer, respectively.
However, after a public vote, Michael Scudamore was inducted into the Grand National Hall of Fame at Aintree Racecourse in 2012 by virtue of having ridden in the race 16 times, consecutively, between 1951 and 1966. He won the National just once, on Oxo, an eight-year-old bay gelding owned by John Big and trained by Willie Stephenson, in 1959.
Scudamore recalled that Tim Brookshaw, the jockey of Wyndburgh, shouted across that he’d broken a stirrup leather at Becher’s Brook on the second circuit. However, Brookshaw kicked his other foot out of the stirrup and rode the remainder of the race – which still involved negotiating eight more fences, including the Canal Turn and Valentine’s Brook – with no irons at all. The bold move almost paid off because Wyndburgh, who’d looked beaten at the final fence, rallied gamely on the long run-in and was eventually only beaten 1½ lengths.
Scudamore and Oxo, meanwhile, nearly came a cropper at the final fence, with the jockey forced to ride at the buckle end of the reins to keep the partnership intact. Scudamore, though, held Oxo together brilliantly well in the closing stages, despite the sound of thundering hooves creeping closer and closer. He later recalled, “I could hear Tim and Wyndburgh behind me all the time. It seemed a long time from the final fence to the finish.”