Owned by Andrew Wates, trained by Terry Casey and ridden by Mick Fitzgerald, Rough Quest won the Grand National in 1996 and, in so doing, became the first winning favourite since Grittar in 1982. The 10-year-old had his stamina to prove, having previously never won beyond 3 miles 1 furlong, but had finished 19 lengths clear of the third horse when second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup two weeks previously and consequently looked well handicapped under just 10st 7lb.

Fizgerald was having just his second ride in the race, after coming a cropper at the first fence on Tinryland the previous year but, having made steady headway throughout the second circuit, he produced the favourite to tackle the leader, Encore Un Peu, in the final 200 yards. As he took the lead, though, Rough Quest hung left, towards the inside running rail, slightly hampering the eventual runner-up. David Bridgwater, the jockey aboard Encore Un Peu, momentarily snatched up – somewhat theatrically, in the eyes of most observers – so, although Rough Quest stayed on to win by 1¼ lengths, a stewards’ inquiry was almost inevitable.

Having emerged, unscathed, from what is often billed as “the ultimate test of horse and rider in National Hunt racing”, Rough Quest and Mick Fitzgerald then had to survive a 10-minute stewards’ inquiry into possible interference in the closing stages. The general consensus was that the result would stand, which it did. Afterwards, Fitzgerald couldn’t wait to tell anyone who was listening, “I’ve not enjoyed nine minutes so much for a long time. Sex would be an anticlimax after that.”

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West Tip, owned by Peter Luff and trained by Michael Oliver, ran in the Grand National six times, winning once, in 1986, and finishing in the first four on three other occasions. Having won what is now the Ultima Business Solutions Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 1985, the son of Gala Performance was sent off joint favourite for the Grand National and was in the lead when crumpling on landing at Becher’s Brook and parting company with a then 21-year-old Richard Dunwoody. Nevertheless, the partnership returned to Aintree in 1986 and West Tip, who started outright favourite, made amends for his previous faux pas, mastering Young Driver on the run-in to win by 2 lengths.

West Tip ran in the Grand National for the next four years running, finishing fourth behind Maori Venture in 1987 and occupying the same position behind Rhyme ‘N’ Reason in 1988, before finishing second, as a 12-year-old, to Little Polveir in 1989. On his last appearance in the National, in 1990, West Tip was ridden by Philip Hobbs, with Richard Dunwoody preferring the well-fancied Bigsun, on whom he put up 2lb overweight. Bigsun finished a well-beaten sixth behind the winner, Mr. Frisk, with West Tip even further behind in tenth.

West Tip made his final racecourse appearance, aged 14, in the Christies Foxhunter Chase Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival in March 1991. After a happy retirement, West Tip died in 2001 at the age of 24. Richard Dunwoody said of him, “I owe him an awful lot; no other horse contributed to my career like he did.”