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MY nominations would be Greenhill Hall in 85 all its wins had been over not much more than 2 miles and carried masses of overweight.
Hated it all to boot as well.
Never Tamper in 83 gets my boxing above its weight prize .Another way out of the handicap yet still going and not too far behind before he cried enough.- Total Posts 17716
The worst horse ever to run in the National? What a nutty idea for a thread
You been drinking too much horlicks? 
I suppose Popham Down a 66/1 shot who cause the mellee in Foinavon’s year fits the bill…….he was near on useless and he popped them down OK all bar 1.
I got Greenhill Tearaway in the pub draw one year, and when I saw it’s record I felt somewhat robbed of my £1; it did, however, lead the field for quite a way before disappearing without race, so I felt I’d got my quids worth in the end!
Big Brown Bear in 1987 ran a lot better than a 200-1 shot had the right to. I think Art Prince has the worst National record of all with two falls at the first…
I suppose Popham Down a 66/1 shot who cause the mellee in Foinavon’s year fits the bill…….he was near on useless and he popped them down OK all bar 1.
Fist
The ‘near on useless’ Popham Down was winner of the Scottish Grand National in 1964. I fancy your judgement has more to do with one well publicised incident than anything else.
Rob
- Total Posts 17716
True but that was 3 years prior to him running in the 1967 Grand National when he started at 66/1 which would probably be 800/1 these days on Betfair
Johnny Haine who rode him at Ayr but was on my old fav Rondetto for Bob Turnell in 67 and would almost certainly have won the race that year with a little luck. He was the only other horse apart from Foinavon to get over the fence only to be knocked out of the sadlle when a lose horse cannoned into him.
Cerium last year – One of Fergus Wilson’s lot. Finished 5th at massive odds with a fractured skull.
Astonville – Another Wilson horse. 150-1 +, this former useful frenchhorse was 11 and had run in the Champion Hurdle AND the Gold Cup and been terrible in both. At pretty stupidly high weight he was in the Grand National and many claimed he was wasting a decent spot for someone else. However – as happens – the National brought the horse to live and he actually put in a great front line performance when sadly, whilst 4th, his jockey thought he had gone lame after a circuit as he changed his action. He was pulled up. Will never know how he would have gotten on!
Others for me – Merry People (200-1) – Coming upsides the leaders when fell 2nd last in 1999. Camelot Knight (was only ever good at Aintree). Hell Amberleigh House didn’t have a right to be any good did he? Wasn’t up to much elsewhere, and eventually got his win as a 12 year old running on like the horse version of Scurlogue Champ!
Cerium last year – One of Fergus Wilson’s lot. Finished 5th at massive odds with a fractured skull.
Astonville – Another Wilson horse. 150-1 +, this former useful frenchhorse was 11 and had run in the Champion Hurdle AND the Gold Cup and been terrible in both. At pretty stupidly high weight he was in the Grand National and many claimed he was wasting a decent spot for someone else. However – as happens – the National brought the horse to live and he actually put in a great front line performance when sadly, whilst 4th, his jockey thought he had gone lame after a circuit as he changed his action. He was pulled up. Will never know how he would have gotten on!
Others for me – Merry People (200-1) – Coming upsides the leaders when fell 2nd last in 1999. Camelot Knight (was only ever good at Aintree). Hell Amberleigh House didn’t have a right to be any good did he? Wasn’t up to much elsewhere, and eventually got his win as a 12 year old running on like the horse version of Scurlogue Champ!
I will accept when people put down a Wilson owned horse (besides the awesome Back Bar), but i will not sit idley by while someone says Amberleigh House had no right to be good! Sure Aintree was where he shined, but to be able to jump those fences as many times as he did without fault (to my knowledge he jumped 245 of those big fences) surely puts him down as a good horse?
It would need a lot of research to find the worst horse, Foinavon would have been 1000 on Betfair and looked like a donkey.
One that punched above his weight and would arguably have won with a better ride was Just So from 22lbs out of the weights plus 3lbs overweight. Of course he got his ground on the day and was returned only 20/1.i will alwaya remember when my mum put me a bet on the race, i wanted bonanza boy, she wouldn’t let me have it and put me chatam, in the race that never was
chatam for me would fit this bill lol
It would need a lot of research to find the worst horse, Foinavon would have been 1000 on Betfair and looked like a donkey.
One that punched above his weight and would arguably have won with a better ride was Just So from 22lbs out of the weights plus 3lbs overweight. Of course he got his ground on the day and was returned only 20/1.Wasnt Over the Deel a good 3rd at about 100-1 and about 25lb out the handicap in royal athletes race too?
I dunno about worst horse but worst jockey has to have the "Village Idiot" Marcus Armytage in its top ten!! Mr Frisk was a damned good horse on decent ground and he just sat on it!!
And talking of jockeys would Spartan Missile have won with a proper jockey on?? I am not sure but plenty say it would have!!
Big Brown Bear in 1987 ran a lot better than a 200-1 shot had the right to.
Ahhhh, Big Brown Bear – think my dad had his 50p each-way on him that year!
The gelding was part of that entire "brown bear" axis either owned or trained (in earlier instances both) by G B Barlow, wasn’t he? Big Brown Bear himself was a half-brother to former Edward Hanmer chase winner Golden Friend, I notice.
Barlow also owned Little Brown Bear (half-brother of Free Gift and Bally Conn) and Brown Teddy – the last-named of whom was still arseing about (runs: 11, wins: 0) in East Anglia Area point-to-points for Alex Embiricos until recently.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I dunno about worst horse but worst jockey has to have the "Village Idiot" Marcus Armytage in its top ten!! Mr Frisk was a damned good horse on decent ground and he just sat on it!!
Operative words being "sat on" rather than "rolled off". Mr Armytage ultimately didn’t have a lot to do when getting that armchair ride in the 1990 National, especially after Uncle Merlin crashed out before his stamina could be proven, but any inference that Mr Frisk won in spite of his human accomplice seems just a little far-fetched from where I’m sitting.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
If we’re talking about "worst horse" from a ratings point of view, then no renewal since 1990, when the minimum requirement of a 110 rating was introduced, can rightfully count.
1989-1990 was also the season when the whole ratings ladder for jumps racing was reformed, though the "reform" in practice primarily amounted to adding 75 to the existing figures.
Hence, The Thinker’s rating of 91 when top-weight for the 1989 National equated to an actual rating of 166.
A glance at the
Post
‘s result for that race (http://www.racingpost.com/horses/result_home.sd?race_id=29353&r_date=1989-04-08&popup=yes) would infer that everything that year ran off at least 67, i.e. 142.
That’s emphatically not the case – the poundage out of the handicap just hasn’t been archived, and I’m pretty sure either Mr Chris or Mr Baker was the very last horse in the published weights list yet still got a run (it was a case of exactly 40 standing their ground that year).
What weight the horse I’m thinking of had in the long handicap I’d need to check, but it was somewhere in the region of six stone, i.e. 56lb out of the handicap. By my maths, that would have put him on a mark of (67 – 56 + 75 =) 86 in new money – 24lb below the minimum rating requirement the following year.
The quest for me, then, is to find the horses that fell furthest short of the 110 rating (when converted from the pre-1990 ratings system) and see how much they over- or under-performed. I love a challenge, me.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Tough one Raymo, I’ll sit on the fence with that one! If pushed I’d say it made no difference. It was the perfect 1-2 in my opinion. As for Marcus Armytage, I can see where you’re coming from in the respect that, on that day, the horse was exceptional, however, he did ride Romany King to be 5th in 95 as well!
As for previous postings, on prices alone, I agree with Merry People and Cerium, for having boxed above their weight. Merry People would have hacked up, though I suppose jumping is the name of the game. Must have been gutting for connections though! As for Cerium last year, it was an amazing display, especially with his injury.
As for worst horses, too many to mention, could give you 2 or 3 for each race from the last 30 years, not that I mind the no-hopers in there, would be boring without them. Art Prince has been mentioned for falling at the first 2 years in a row, a feat also achieved by Bishops Hall in 95 & 96 (unseating Marcus Armytage). I’d like to make a special mention for Hettinger though, first fence faller in 88, before performing miracles to make it to Bechers with Ray Goldstein in 89. A brave man!
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