It is 42 years since Grittar became the most recent British point-to-pointer/hunter chaser to win the Grand National.
Ridden by the late Dick Saunders, the father of current Point-to-Point Authority chairman Caroline Bailey and at 48 the oldest rider to win the race, Grittar was bred, owned and trained by Frank Gilman, who saddled him to win the Cheltenham and Aintree Foxhunters’ Chases one year before his National bid. In the months before the National he won easily at Leicester and was considered good enough to tackle the Gold Cup, in which he finished sixth. At Aintree he was sent off the 7/1 favourite and duly rewarded his backers, becoming just one of eight to complete the course.
His victory in 1982 came 12 months after another famous hunter chaser, for some the greatest of all time, Spartan Missile, carried his breeder/owner/trainer John Thorne into second place in the Grand National behind Aldaniti. Thorne was 54 – and at that time the fences were stiffer, the drops bigger and the maximum field was 40.
Tomorrow another high-class hunter chaser bids to follow in the hoofprints of those legendary horses when lining up in the £1m Randox Grand National. Latenightpass, bred and owned by Pippa Ellis, trained by her son Tom and ridden by his wife Gina Andrews, has won and been placed in Aintree’s Foxhunters’ Chase, and this season he has shown himself a proper talent over Cheltenham’s cross-country course.
Grabbing the opportunity to train a family-owned Grand National runner, five-time champion point-to-point trainer Ellis has taken out a full licence and Latenightpass will be his first representative.
Latenightpass (Gina Andrews) returns to Aintree for the world's most famous steeplechase
Adding further interest in the big race for fans of point-to-pointing will be the sight of three amateur riders who have taken part in British point-to-points joining the line-up. In addition to Gina Andrews property developer David Maxwell partners Ain’t That A Shame for the Henry de Bromhead stable and Tom Hamilton is booked to ride Run Wild Fred for Gordon Elliott. Hamilton was born and raised in Scotland, but now lives and rides predominantly in Ireland. Lucy Turner was also set to ride in the race, but Chambard has been withdrawn.
Despite the challenge ahead, Ellis was looking chilled at Aintree on Thursday evening when he offered his recent Thorpe Lodge winner Is This For Real at Goffs’ Aintree Sale. The four-year-old was knocked down to Fergal O’Brien for £80,000.
Ellis said of final preparations for Latenightpass: “It’s all going well and it seems as if the rain has stopped at last. He’s in very good form, 100 per cent - he’ll travel up here on Saturday morning.
“Gina’s fine at the moment, showing no nerves. She knows the horse better than anyone and we’re all really looking forward to it. There’s no point in worrying about anything now.”