Awkward to break in, bloody-minded at times and with a life full of rich tales, Grittar was the Cheltenham and Aintree Foxhunter Chase winner who went on to land the Grand National.
Yet his Aintree victory in 1982 is not remembered for being the most recent occasion when a hunter chaser won 'the National'. Greater historical note revolves around the age of his amateur rider, Dick Saunders, who at 48 became the oldest person to ride a National winner, a record that remains intact 38 years later. Saunders announced his retirement as he dismounted from the horse.
His daughter and son-in-law, Caroline and Gerald Bailey, remain familiar faces on the Jump racing and point-to-point circuits.
Becher's Brook first time round, Grittar is brilliant as Saunders sits back
Saunders' role in the success will never be underestimated, and after he retired the horse failed to win in another two seasons of racing despite assistance from some of the best professional jockeys, yet Grittar's life revolved around his owner/breeder/trainer Frank Gilman, a man of many parts but with his heart in Britain's smallest county, Rutland. Gilman, who died at the age of 78, 11 years after Grittar's great Aintree triumph, remains the most recent permit holder to win the National.
Few have better memories of the man and his famous horse than Gilman's daughter-in-law Libby Gilman, who married Frank's son Egerton. Libby, who has held a number of administrative roles in pointing and was a steward until the end of the 2018/19 season, says of her father-in-law: "He was a big-hearted person and a very kind man who at Christmas loved giving people boxes of chocolates and turkeys. He was a showman, who loved doing things for other people."
Caroline Bailey, who had a role in converting Grittar from moderate pointer to national hero, says of Gilman: "Frank was a huge character, very popular in the area [around Leicestershire and the East Midlands] and a keen supporter of hunting, racing and cricket. People did not begrudge him having such a wonderful horse."
Frank Gilman, a generous man, popular with the locals
Grittar was foaled in 1973, a son of the stallion Grisaille out of Tarama (Tamerlane), one of the first mares bought by Gilman. Libby says: "Frank would not pay a lot in stallion fees, reasoning you had no idea what you would get and the foal might die in a week. He bought Tarama and her full brother at Doncaster sales, having taken advice from someone that the Tamerlane line was the one. The brother was difficult – I took him to Leicester races one day, he got loose in the paddock, escaped through a door in the [adjacent] wall and headed into the city.
"Frank's interest in horses had begun in the late 1940s early 1950s when he contracted polio. During three months in hospital he was told that playing golf or riding would help strengthen his legs. He played two rounds of golf, threw his clubs away and went into horses.
"One he bought was noticed by someone who said, 'He's too good just to hack, he should go racing', and Frank started to dabble. He soon found he couldn't buy the [race]horses he wanted and so tried breeding."
Grittar's name was derived from Grissaille and Tarama, although Gilman's business enterprises, which involved farming, potato merchant and four butchers shops, also included a stone quarry. The quarrying business led some to assume it had a connection to the horse's name.
An awkward foal
As a foal Grittar was "awkward" according to Libby, who says: "Quite a few Taramas were like that. I remember Steve Marshall and Derek Lane who worked for us saying Grittar was difficult to break in, and that was probably why he was sent to licensed trainer Walter Wharton at Melton Mowbray."
Wharton ran Grittar as a two-year-old although he failed to make the frame in two outings, and when returned to Gilman his first assignments were in novices' hurdles. He ran 16 times over hurdles between the ages of three and five, winning twice in big fields and making the frame on half a dozen occasions. Libby says: "Terry Casey, who later trained Rough Quest to win the National, rode Grittar at that time, but the horse went sour, probably from running on firm ground. After that Frank rarely ran any horse under the age of five."
Switched into point-to-pointing at the age of six, Grittar was no quick hit, although Mackenzie & Phillips' annual form book noted that Gilman's horses were 'out of sorts' in the 1979 season. After four uninspiring efforts – the best of which was a third place at Garthorpe under Peter Greenall, now Lord Daresbury – Gilman offered the ride to Dick Saunders' daughter Caroline. Libby says: "I think the idea was to put Caroline on to sweeten him up," and the resulting second place behind classy ladies' open horse Clonmellon was a clear improvement.
Another second was followed by a lesser effort when Grittar pulled up, and Gilman turned to the rider's father. Caroline recalls: "I think Frank said, 'We want Dick on him – he's stronger than you', which he obviously was, and after that we shared the ride for a while." Dick's debut, at an end-of-season Garthorpe meeting resulted in victory in a five-runner confined race which Grittar won by a distance.
In 1980, despite recording an unseat on his first start in a hunters' chase the progression continued. Caroline won on the horse at Wetherby, Dick was in the saddle for a Southwell victory, Caroline was at the reins for a couple of placed efforts in Cheltenham hunters' chases – beaten each time by the useful Welsh Borders' mare Cedor's Daughter – before Grittar scored at Garthorpe under Dick to complete his season. Few could have realised the progress Grittar would make as an eight-year-old in 1981.
Fifth on a get-fit season's debut at Wetherby, Grittar then clocked up four straight hunters' chase victories starting at Leicester, continuing in Cheltenham's Foxhunter Chase, then Aintree's equivalent and finally at Southwell. At Cheltenham he beat Honourable Man (Geordie Dun) and Sun Lion (Robert Waley-Cohen) by 12l and 20l in a time only five seconds slower than it took Little Owl to defeat legends Night Nurse and Silver Buck in the Gold Cup, while at Aintree Grittar was in a different league, cantering home by 20 lengths and one and a half lengths from Sydney Quinn (Paul Webber) and Flexibility (Martin Bosley).
Ten bottles of 'champagne'
Libby recalls of the Cheltenham win: "We took the enormous trophy home, where Frank found a champagne bottle, ran it under a tap and started filling the trophy with water to find out how many bottles it would hold. However, the press put out a story that he had filled it with ten bottles of champagne."
Watch a grainy recording of the Cheltenham win by clicking here.
Libby adds: "We had a bit of an argument about whether to go to Aintree for the Foxhunters'. We weren't sure if it was right for the horse, but Dick was very keen to ride him round there, pointing out that 'Grit' was a very good jumper. His only reservation was one other horse in the race – at a time when there were few restrictions on which horses ran – had not even won a point-to-point, and he said, 'If that horse brings me down I'll shoot its owner'."
The concluding stages of that Aintree win can be viewed by clicking here.
After two outstanding performances at Cheltenham and Aintree the logical step for Grittar as a nine-year-old was the 1982 Gold Cup and Grand National. Conceding weight he made a promising start when third and then second in handicap chases at Leicester and Ascot, was then switched back to hunter chasing for victory in a three-runner jog around at Leicester and then took his place in Cheltenham's feature race. Sixth place behind winner Silver Buck was not quite up to expectations and Libby recalls: "Frank was disappointed, but Dick said 'If I had pushed him any harder he wouldn't have recovered in time for the National,' and the National was the aim.
"By that time masses of people had rung up trying to buy the horse, but he wasn't for sale at any price. I don't think Frank would have sold him for £1m."
Although Grittar had shown he could handle Aintree's fences his rider was wavering when pondering the responsibility and offered to step aside for a professional jockey, but Gilman would not consider the proposal. Caroline recalls that her father – whose first ride in a point-to-point came at the age of 17, but who then focussed on farming until picking up the bit again for racing in his early 30s – was only riding in one or two races a week, and had almost retired a couple of years earlier after puncturing a lung in a heavy fall at Uttoxeter.
Libby says: "Before the National Dick nearly gave up. He had endured a terrible time pointing and his yard had two or three horses go wrong. Then his friend John Thorne died [in a point-to-point less than a year after finishing second in the Grand National on Spartan Missile] and he said 'I don't think I can do this'."
Years later Saunders recalled: "I said to Frank that he ought to get the best professional available, but he turned round and said, 'If he runs then you ride'."
Dick Saunders with a memento of his National win on Grittar
While Dick and his wife Pam drove to Aintree Caroline took "about six horses" to a point-to-point at now-defunct Newton Bromswold where she rode a winner. Libby travelled with Frank and his wife Joan plus her 12-year-old son Pete, leaving Egerton to watch the race on television at home with their daughters Alex and Kim aged nine and seven.
Despite a hefty 11st 5lb on his back, an amateur rider of 48 and a Rutland farmer as his trainer, Grittar lined up as the 7/1 favourite, and while it took a few seconds for Gilman's lilac hooped colours to emerge from the mists of a 39-runner field in full tilt towards the first fence, from that point on favourite backers had a clear view of the horse carrying their money. Libby says: "All the way through Dick had him in contention, and right on the inside. He reasoned that since the drops were bigger there the worst jumpers would be going wide."
Tight to the inner at Becher's Brook
At Becher's second time round, as his professionally-ridden rivals spread towards the outside of the fence, Grittar took the shortest route, coped with the steep drop which existed in those days and took up the running. At the Canal Turn Saunders made little attempt to jump the fence on the angle and let his horse run wide, reasoning it was a less-risky option when he had plenty in reserve.
Libby says: "Frank had told Dick to get to three from home and let him go," but Grittar had changed the plan and with a smooth passage throughout had no trouble holding off a challenge from Hard Outlook (rec.18lb) who delivered a long, but fruitless chase up the home straight before giving best to the hunter by 15 lengths. The remounted Loving Words came home a distance behind in third, and Saunders told the waiting media: "I did nothing – Grittar did it all. He was going so well at the end I thought I had another circuit to go." The winning time of 9m 12.6s was the second-fastest in the race's history to that point behind the figure achieved by Red Rum in 1973 when carrying a stone less.
Some way back down the track another moment of sporting history was being made as Geraldine Rees became the first woman to complete the race when finishing eighth and last on Cheers.
At Newton Bromswold there was pandemonium. Caroline says: "They had a break so people could watch the National and we packed into a marquee. Being a local horse and rider everybody was cheering for Grittar – everyone in Leicestershire must have backed him. They would have heard us in Northampton.
"It was quite surreal to watch my dad winning the National. When we got home my brother Toby found a bottle of champagne and we had a party."
Telegram sent by the Queen Mother to Saunders after his Grand National triumph
Libby says: "After Grittar won there was a scramble to reach the winner's enclosure, and in the packed crowds Pete went missing. Before the race Frank had said, jokingly, 'If anybody gets lost we'll meet in the winner's enclosure – Ha ha!" and so when Pete became separated he found a policeman and asked to be taken to the winner's enclosure.
"On the way home we stopped at a motorway services and I remember Frank sitting at the back of the car, drinking a cup of tea and eating a jelly which he had just bought. He'd won the National, and he was eating jelly! We eventually got a meal at a restaurant we used regularly at Husbands Bosworth, and they stayed open late for us. The following day I took my children to a cross-country event, where Pete was so tired he fell asleep on his pony in the collecting ring."
Meanwhile at the local pub, the White Horse at Morcott, villagers joined the media in welcoming Grittar on a Sunday victory parade with jockey and trainer. Libby says: "The landlord knocked down a wall so Grit could go round the back and into the bar."
Grittar parading in the pub car park with Frank and Dick
To watch the 1982 Grand National click here.
Grittar failed to win in another two seasons of racing while invariably attempting to defy the burden of top weight. A fine second under 12st 4lb at Nottingham when ridden by John Francome saw him start favourite for the 1983 National in which he was joint-top weight with 11st 12lb, and, ridden by Paul Barton, ran a sound race to finish fifth behind Corbiere. One year later he went back for a third National and again completed the course, carrying Francome into tenth place behind Hallo Dandy.
Pulling a back tendon off his hock in that race put him on the easy list, and while attempts to get him back to the races were tried old injuries flared up and he was retired. He had run in 49 point-to-point or Jump races, never fallen, unseated once and pulled up once.
Dick Saunders did not take it easy after giving up race riding, continuing to run a farm, taking senior positions within The Jockey Club – including chief steward at Aintree – and becoming chairman of Burghley Horse Trials and a coordinator of the Royal International Horse Show. He assisted Caroline's fledgling training career until his death at the far-too-young age of 68 when he was claimed by cancer.
The boss to the very end
Grittar was not keen on a quiet old age, living until he was 25 and proving a useful field companion to Gilman's young stock, although he "bossed them ruthlessly" says Libby – and he hated hunting.
While Grittar was a young horse he had laid down in a ditch with Terry Casey rather than jump it, and Caroline recalls taking him hunting and becoming "the laughing stock of the Cottesmore" when he refused to jump. She says: "He would not jump a pole at home, but take him to the races and he was brilliant."
Apparently averse to hounds, he would gather up the other horses in the field if he could hear the local hunt coming through, drive the youngsters into a yard, and stand guard at the entrance. At feeding times in the field it was a suicide mission for any horse that went to the manger before him, and on one occasion he broke his groom's leg in two places after she entered his stable to tack him up. He reared up, she leant out of the way, but his front legs caught her as he was coming down.
Yet he proved uncannily passive on one memorable occasion. Libby says: "I helped out with the local Riding For Disabled in Stamford, and I was asked if they could bring a group to see the Grand National winner. Knowing his character and that some of the group were quite seriously compromised mentally and physically I suggested that would not be a good idea, but they insisted.
"When they arrived I was very worried, and said to Julie, who worked for us, stand near his back legs to prevent anyone getting too close. We brought him out of a stable and he was fantastic that day. He more or less walked up to the children and put his head in the lap of a girl in a wheelchair. She was excited and was cuffing him across the face and he just left his head in her lap."
All-time Greats - published each Friday! Do you have any recollections or fond memories of any of the 'Greats' (Double Silk, Baby Run, Teaplanter, Spartan Missile, Cavalero and Grittar) featured so far? If so, we would love to hear them (email: [email protected]). The best may feature on this website in coming weeks!