1958 Grand National: Results, Runners & Fallers

Mr What won the 1958 Grand National for Ireland, their fifth win in the race since the Second World War. He won the race at 18/1 on soft ground in a contest where seven of the 31 runners would complete the course.

Tom Taaffe Sr, from the big and successful Taaffe racing family in Ireland, was trained by Tom Taaffe, but it wasn’t a family member who rode the winner. Jockey on the day was Englishman Arthur Freeman, who was given the ride a week before the race when he was available.

He wanted son Tosse Taaffe to partner the horse, but he was unavailable until just 48 hours before, as he was planned to be on another runner. However, when Tosse became available, Tom Sr decided to stick with his plan and let Freeman keep the ride.

Just seven runners would finish the race, with Mr What recording a winning distance of 30 lengths, back to Tiberetta, who was in second.

Appetite to Watch Grand National Grows

The ban on televising the race live, implemented by Mrs Topham, owner of Aintree Racecourse, was still in place this year, but we were definitely seeing a growth in terms of the appetite to watch the race, from those who couldn’t get to the racecourse.

Filming of the race was only allowed by Pathe and Movietone, who would release newsreels of the race to be shown later.

But alongside this, we also saw many local cinemas showing the race in the evening, with special screenings allowing people to get closer to the action than they had ever done before.

This was the year when it became apparent that live coverage of the race on TV was edging closer, as more and more people around the country were trying to find a way to watch the race as soon after the event as they could.

Results

Non Finishers