Jody McGarvey Grand National Wins
Jody McGarvey has never won the Grand National.
Their best finish to date was in 2021 with Alpha Des Obeaux who came 11th.
Full Results
| Year | Horse | Result | Prize Money | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Cape Gentleman | Fence 13 - Pulled Up | - | John Joseph Hanlon (2) |
| 2021 | Alpha Des Obeaux | 11 | - | Denise Foster |
It is fair to say that Jody McGarvey has taken a slower route through racing than some others do, but that hasn’t stopped success at the higher level. He rode his first winner as a 21-year-old, which came at Down Royal in February 2012.
It wasn’t until five years later, in April 2017, that McGrvey really hit the heights and started to get people noticing him. The reason for that is because it was when he landed his first Grade One success, coming on board Great Field in the Ryanair Chase at the Punchestown Festival.
At the time, he was picking rides up for Willie Mullins, not as a stable jockey, but as one of the handful that Mullins decides to call upon when he has multiple runners in a race, which happens with great frequency, even at the highest level.
Further success at Graded level followed in the future, and while McGarvey was never really a first-choice jockey for any yard, he managed to carve out a career as being a jockey to rely on for the third or fourth string runners that big yards had.
Playing this role is how he came about his first ride in the Grand National. This came in 2021 for trainer Denise Foster, who was in charge of the Gordon Elliott yard at the time, while Elliott was serving a suspension, so although the name of the trainer says Foster, it was part of McGarvey’s partnership with Elliott.
In 2021, the yard sent four runners to the Grand National, with McGarvey picking up the ride on Alpha Des Obeaux. The pair managed to complete the course and would finish a respectable 11th position in the race, giving McGarvey a completion on his first attempt and something to build on in the future.