No regrets: Nigel Hawke happy to see his £10,000 buy Tiger Roll become a legend

It could have all been so different. A cursory glance at Tiger Roll's pedigree reveals a horse who should have become a middle-distance type on the Flat, not a dual Grand National winner.

A son of Authorized, Tiger Roll was first purchased for 70,000gns as a foal in November 2010 by John Ferguson on behalf of Godolphin.

The anticipated Flat career failed to catch on, so nearly three years later Tiger Roll was back at the sales, this time fetching a more modest £10,000 and joining Nigel Hawke in Devon.

"I like buying from Godolphin as there are a lot of well-bred, nice horses who come from that area and they can be a little bit big and backward or a little bit slow," Hawke said on Sunday.

"Tiger Roll ticked all the boxes. He was well bred and correct. He wasn't the biggest in the world but the plan was to buy him, bring him along to run well in a mile and a half bumper and sell him on."

However, that plan was tinkered with when Tiger Roll was presented with hurdles. Market Rasen on Sunday November 10, 2013, was the starting point for the then three-year-old's career and there were embryonic signs of his nimble jumping ability and powerful engine as the 12-1 chance won by three and three-quarter lengths.

Hawke added: "We went straight to a juvenile hurdle because his jumping was so good. It's rare a horse wins a juvenile first time out having never been on track before but he was capable of doing it. He was a natural jumper."

With that successful outing in the books, Tiger Roll found himself back under the auctioneer's hammer the following month, when Mags O'Toole was the purchaser of lot nine at the Brightwells Cheltenham sale for £80,000. He joined Gordon Elliott and the rest, as they say, is history.

Hawke does not stay awake long into the night wondering what could have been. He takes the opposite view, and was cheering him on at home on Saturday.

"I thought he was tailor-made for the Fred Winter," Hawke said. "They went the Triumph route but he was a perfect four-year-old hurdler. You'd never visualise three or four years down the line he'd achieve what he has. He's got racing in his comfort zone and has never stopped improving.

"It's just a pleasure to think I was a small cog in all of it. It's an incredible story and the horse is an absolute dream."

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