1882 Grand National: Results, Runners & Fallers

The 1882 Grand National is one of the more interesting races from the time and has a few different talking points around the race. The winner was Seaman, who was sent off with a starting price of 10/1 and generally pretty unfancied in the race.

Going on the day was described as heavy, although that only tells part of the story about the conditions that the runners and riders had to endure.

Twelve runners would go to post, a small field, and the reason for that is because many were put off running in the contest because of the weather conditions.

These were some of the worst we’ve ever seen in Grand National history, with heavy snow falling and freezing temperatures on the day. It was wet, icy, and cold, and an already tough test was made close to impossible, which is why so many decided to pull out and not risk running in the race.

When the race began, many of the more experienced riders decided to sit back and start slowly, behind other runners, in a bid to see how those in front would handle the track. This led to a very strange race overall, but for some, was the only way that they believed would get them around, indicating just how bad things were.

Near the end of the race, Cyrus moved to the front and looked the clear winner, with Seaman in second place, and tiring very quickly.

However, in the final couple of hundred yards, Seaman found something from nowhere, driven home by jockey John Manners, and to the amazement of all of those at Aintree who braved the weather to watch, he would somehow get up and win the race by a head.

It was a dramatic contest, racing on a backdrop of wild conditions and a last-gasp win, with Seaman getting up on the line to take the race.

As mentioned, John Manners was the winning rider, an amateur with little experience or success as a jockey. This would be his one and only ride in the Grand National. In the build-up to the race, he spent as much time as possible getting rides in amateur races to build his experience.

Three weeks before the Grand National, he would win the Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown, his first big race win.

The winning trainer was James Jewitt, and this would be his second career success, also his final one. He would first win the Grand National in 1876 with Regal, which was his first-ever Grand National runner. He would also have two second-placed finishes in the race to further enhance his record.

Seaman Enters Grand National Due to Friendly Wager

The story of Seaman is wild enough already, winning in heavy snow by a head when looking like he was beaten, but when you add into the story the process of how he got into the race, it takes it to a whole new level.

Seaman was bought by John Manners just four months before the race because of a wager he made with a friend about the race. He bet that he could buy and then ride the winner of the 1882 Grand National, which led to him buying Seaman from an Irish vendor for £1900.

At the time of the sale, the vendor who had Seaman apparently held strong reservations around the horse’s ability to run in a test like the Grand National, but that didn’t stop Manners from making the purchase.

After buying the horse, James Jewitt was brought in to help train the horse, which Manners also helped with, and they began their quest to the Grand National. Manners would spend a lot of time in the saddle, few believed he was good enough to win the race, and given how many rides he took in the build up, he must have thought the same.

But it would all pay off in the end. Seaman would win the 1882 Grand National, he was ridden by Manners, and the bet he made became a winner.

After winning the race, Seaman would never race again and retire from the sport to live with the Manners family for the rest of his life.

Results

Non Finishers