Toby Balding

The late Gerald “Toby” Balding, who died in 2014 at the age of 78, had the distinction of winning the Grand National twice, with Highland Wedding in 1969 and Little Polveir in 1989. Indeed, in his long and distinguished career, he saddled over 2,000 winners, including Beech Road and Morley Street in the Champion Hurdle, in 1989 and 1991, respectively, and Cool Ground in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1992.

His first Grand National winner, Highland Wedding, had completed the National Course twice before, finishing eighth behind Anglo in 1966 and seventh behind Red Alligator in 1986. He arrived at Aintree in 1969 fresh from his third victory in four years – the 1968 renewal was abandoned – in the Eider Chase, over 4 miles and 122 yards at Newcastle in February and, in the absence of regular jockey Owen McNally, was ridden by Eddie Harty.

By now a 12-year-old, Highland Wedding was known to be as stubborn as a mule, on occasions, at home, but as Balding later explained, “He wasn’t a villain, just a bit independent so there was no question of us bullying him. We just had to wait for him.” In any event, on firm going, Highland Wedding consented to put his best foot forward and came home 12 lengths ahead of 50/1 outsider Steel Chance, ridden by Richard Pitman.

Little Polveir, too, had previous experience of the National Course, having finished ninth behind West Tip in 1986, but had fallen at the Chair and unseated his rider at Valentine’s Brook on the second circuit in two subsequent attempts. He didn’t join Toby Balding until January, 1989, but was ridden on his first two starts by young amateur rider Philip Fenton which, according to his trainer, “he enjoyed enormously after the pros had knocked lumps out of him in the past”.

Ridden in the National by professional Jimmy Frost, at 3lb overweight, Little Polveir took the lead at the final fence on the first circuit, the water jump, and led, or disputed the lead, for the rest of the way. In fact, after Becher’s Brook second time around he was never headed and, with a riderless horse for company, came home 7 lengths ahead of West Tip. Balding said later, “I don’t think any of my horses ever left for the races in better shape than Little Polveir as he headed for Aintree.”

Grand National 2022

The 174th running of the Grand National is scheduled for Saturday, April 9, 2022 which, at the time of writing, is nearly four months away. Indeed, the weights for the world famous steeplechase won’t be announced until February and, when they are, may interest the connections of Tiger Roll more than most.

Of course, Tiger Roll won the Grand National in 2018 and 2019, but was denied a historic hat-trick attempt in 2020, when the race was cancelled because of Covid-19. In 2021, owners Michael and Eddie O’Leary, took exception to an ‘unfair weight burden’ and withdrew him, but Tiger Roll is a top-priced 33/1 for the 2022 Grand National, so we’ll see. Trainer Gordon Elliott was realistic in his appraisal of the 11-year-old, saying, ‘…it’s not going to be any easier for him [to win a third Grand National] as he’s not getting any younger.’

A return to Aintree is the main plan for last year’s history-making winner Minella Times (20/1), with trainer Henry de Bromhead planning a campaign in ‘better graded races’. The 8-year-old made an inauspicious reappearance in the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown in December, falling at the third last when well behind, but was entitled to need that run, his first since April. That said, he is already rated 162 in Britain and, therefore, almost certain to carry top weight in the Grand National, so he’ll need to be better than ever to win again.

Others to note at this early stage include the ante-post favourite, Galvin (16/1), who won the National Hunt Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival in 2021 and divided Frodon and Minella Indo in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Patrick on his most recent start in October. He is trained, like Tiger Roll, by Gordon Elliott and could yet prove the natural successor to his illustrious stable companion.