The 'nearly' horses - which Grand National losers deserve to be remembered along with the winners?

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It's not really Grand National week until you've taken the time to watch some old Nationals and marvel at all the details you'd forgotten. There are lots of other races where basically just one thing happens, but a good National is packed with surprising developments and plot twists.

It occurred to me that, while we provide enduring fame for the winners, the names of those who finished quite close behind naturally drift into obscurity. There's no fighting it but it's an injustice, considering how much those horses contributed to the drama of the race.

I've been working on a list of National runners who most deserve to be remembered. Like a few of my lists in this area, it can't go back before 1984 because that's when I started paying attention.

My final five are below and hopefully lots of you liked these horses as well. If I've committed any shocking omissions, please let me know by emailing frontrunner@racingpost.com.

Romany King only narrowly missed the cut, having been second to Party Politics, third in the void race and fifth to Royal Athlete. State Of Play and Cappa Bleu kept their lucky owners, the Ruckers, involved year after year.

Blowing Wind could easily have made the cut. Slim Pickings was placed on both attempts at the National. Black Apalachi damaged the crossbar. Oscar Time, Saint Are and Delta Work were all considered. I'd have liked to include Young Hustler. In the end, though, these five seemed more deserving. 

Greasepaint

Is any praise high enough for a horse who was runner-up in consecutive Grand Nationals? In the half-century since Red Rum, Greasepaint is one of only two horses to do that. And he was already the winner of the Troytown and the Kim Muir before having a go in 1983.

Brushing through the final fence seemed to sap his momentum while Corbiere pinched a lead, but then Greasepaint rallied so strongly he was closing down the winner at the line.

By the following year, he'd been sold and moved from Michael Cunningham to Dermot Weld. The public made him 9-1 favourite but, with 11st 2lb on his back, sending him to the front at second Valentine's might have been slightly too aggressive. Hallo Dandy, carrying a stone less, stalked him to the second-last and went past.

Greasepaint was even shorter in 1985, 13-2 joint-favourite with West Tip, and fared better than that one in finishing fourth to Last Suspect. It looked like hard work, though.

He had a final go in 1986 and it was grand to see him up there in the early stages. There was no fairy-tale victory but he went all the way round for a fourth consecutive year, in an era when that was absolutely not to be taken for granted, and finished tenth, one place behind Little Polveir, whose big day was still three years away.

Durham Edition

"A proper horse, so neat and nimble," was how jockey Chris Grant described this gritty Northerner from the stable of Arthur Stephenson. He'd already had a fruitful career before he showed up as a 20-1 shot in the Grand National of 1988, winning a stack of races at Ayr, Kelso, Newcastle and elsewhere.

He got the ideal ride, hacking along in midfield, gradually working forwards on the second circuit as others fell away, saving every ounce of energy. When Rhyme N Reason made a cod of the second-last, there was really no option but to go past and make the best of it. Sadly for Durham Edition, there was just enough ground left for the other horse to rally past him.

He wasn't a strong stayer at 4m4f and faded into fifth in 1989, when the going was heavy, but a much quicker surface gave him a chance the next year. After another cool ride, he tried to reel in Mr Frisk from the second-last and got to within a length. At the elbow, it looked like he might stay on past, but it just didn't happen.

He had a final go at the age of 13, carrying more weight than he'd ever had in the race and starting at bigger odds than before at 25-1. Even so, he gave his many fans real reason for hope, creeping into a close fourth as the field crossed the Melling Road for the last time. He was sixth in the end, a length and a half shy of getting prize-money for a fourth consecutive year.

Suny Bay trails Lord Gyllene in the 1997 Grand NationalCredit: Healy Pat

Suny Bay

Along with the rest of the field, this hefty grey spent the 1997 National in forlorn pursuit of Lord Gyllene. Though he was second, he was beaten 25 lengths and there was never really a moment when victory would have seemed likely. But he'd survived a bone-shuddering mistake at the fourth-last that would have meant End Of Race for most horses and got the better of a long battle in the last half-mile with Master Oats, a Gold Cup winner two years before.

Seven months later, Suny Bay hacked up in the Hennessy, destroying his handicap mark. By the time he was back at Aintree in the spring of 1998, he was 18lb higher than he'd been the year before, with 12 stone on his back. It was a huge burden on really testing ground; on the other hand, he was built to carry weight and also to roll through the mud.

He'd have beaten a lot of National fields but the '98 race contained Earth Summit, who also loved mud and was carrying 23lb less. They pulled miles clear of everything else on the run back from Valentine's and Suny Bay kept it competitive until the run to the final fence. It was as tough a weight-carrying performance as you could hope to see.

How bad was that ground? The race took almost 11 minutes to run. Since the 19th century, only one Grand National has been slower. Despite all that weight, he kept his legs churning. What a hero.

Clan Royal

Talk about an Aintree specialist! When Clan Royal turned up for the 2004 National, he'd won his two previous races, both over the big, green fences: the Topham and the Becher. No wonder he was 10-1 co-favourite, but, sadly, this was where things fell apart.

It's easy to get racing too early in the National and, in hindsight, Clan Royal and Hedgehunter pressed on a bit too aggressively on the final run back from Valentine's. Hedgehunter was so tired, he fell at the last and didn't immediately get up (he won it the next year). Clan Royal took a wayward course up the run-in and couldn't resist the late charge of Amberleigh House under Graham Lee.

Never mind! Just 6lb higher, he could have another go the next year, with AP McCoy aboard. What a sight he made, bounding over fences on the run to second Becher's, tanking his way into a clear lead. And then ... thousands of punters cried in simultaneous agony as two loose horses carried him out of the race, the second most dramatic exit from a National ever, beaten only by that one in 1956. His backers will feel they were robbed, though surely he was going to have trouble staying the trip after racing so freely.

In 2006, Clan Royal was a big part of the story for a third consecutive year, keeping Hedgehunter company at the front as they raced back from Valentine's, but neither of them could go with Numbersixvalverde after the last.

What a specimen he was. He just needed a bit of restraint to go with it.

Clan Royal and Tony McCoy after refusing at Becher's in the 2005 Grand NationalCredit: Getty Images

Any Second Now

The Kim Muir winner of 2019, Any Second Now was a victim of bad timing. He was at his peak in the spring of 2020, ready to run a mighty race in the National - except there was no Aintree that year, because of Covid.

The next year's race boiled down to two JP McManus-owned horses, him and Minella Times. It might have been a famous battle to watch, except that Double Shuffle fell directly in front of Any Second Now at the 12th fence and nearly brought him down. He was beaten eight lengths in the end, which must have been about the amount of ground he'd lost in the incident.

Back he came in 2022, half a stone higher in the ratings and carrying 11st 8lb. This time, his fans got a real run for their money as he led over the last, but he was giving 12lb to Noble Yeats and it was too much to ask. He stuck at it, though, right to the line.

Read these next:

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What's on this week: Grand National headlines stellar three days at Aintree - with the Dubai World Cup making it a super Saturday  

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