1955 Grand National: Results, Runners & Fallers

The 1955 Grand National saw a familiar face as the winning trainer, as once again Vincent O’Brien took the race. This was his third win in a row, after successes with Early Mist in 1953 and Royal Tan in 1954.

The race was run on heavy ground, which certainly had an impact on the result, but despite the tough conditions, 13 runners did manage to finish the contest, which was more than was expected given the conditions.

Quare Times was the winner of the contest, taking the race at odds of 100/9. He wasn’t the most fancied O’Brien runner though, Early Mist, who won the race in 1953, was back to try and win again, and was sent off as favourite, but he would only finish 9^th.

The winning jockey was Pat Taaffe, having his first win in the race, he would also later go on to win the 1970 renewal of the race, which would be his final Grand National ride.

Changes to fences, plus a move to omit the water fence due to the bad ground and weather, led for a race that perhaps wasn’t as testing as some we’ve seen before. But of course, the test is the same for everyone on the day, so while it may not have been as tough as before, the race still took plenty of winning, and Quare Times came out on top in that.

Hat Trick Win for Vincent O’Brien

Vincent O’Brien will forever be known as one of the biggest names and most influential people in horse racing, and the Grand National success he had was the start of that. In 1955, he would win this race for the third time in a row, a hat trick of wins no one else has ever managed to achieve.

O’Brien would be Champion Trainer under both codes, would go on to win the Epsom Derby six times, train the only Triple Crown winner since the Second World War, and is widely regarded as the best trainer of all time.

His first Grand National runner was in 1950, while his last came in 1957, as he would move on to flat racing. So everything he did within the confides of the Grand National, would all come within a time frame of just eight years.

Early Mist would be his first Grand National winner in 1953, he was followed up by Royal Tan winning the race in 1954. That all led to Quare Times winning this contest in 1955.

O’Brien was one of the first trainers to specifically target the race with multiple runners, he send four to the race in 1955, and Quare Times was not his most fancied, as both his previous winners were in the race too, and Early Mist was favourite.

It is fair to say that O’Brien enjoyed doing things in threes during his career. He won the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Cottage Rake three years in a row before doing the same in the Champion Hurdle with Hatton’s Grace.

Although it was with three different runners, he would add the Grand National to the list of races he won three times in a row. Arguably, this could be seen as the toughest to do, even with three different runners, due to the unique test of the race and the fact it’s a handicap, so essentially, each horse is given an equal chance to win.

Fence Changes & Water Omitted

Two separate issues led to this Grand National looking a little different to the ones we’d seen in the past. Firstly, there was an inquiry into the race a year earlier to look at the fences and, more specifically, the severity of them.

In 1954, there was four fatalities in the race, the most there has ever been in one singular year. The outcry would go further than normal groups, forcing the racecourse to take a look at some fences and make some changes.

Several fences saw their severity downgraded ahead of the 1955 race, making them easier to jump, either because of their size, the steepness of the fences, or looking at the landing zone after the jumps.

Secondly, the bad weather also played its part. This was the first time ever in the race that all 30 fences were not jumped, and this was because the water fence was omitted.

Due to heavy going, the fence and surrounding areas were deemed to be unsafe for the runners, so this was bypassed on the first circuit, the only circuit where the fence is jumped.

This meant that, for the first time in the race’s history, 29 fences were jumped, and some of those had seen changes to make them safer. For purists, this was the start of changes that would keep coming, making the race less and less of a test.

Results

Non Finishers