The 1966 Grand National was the second leg of a famous double for winning trainer Fred Winter, who landed back-to-back Grand National wins after winning the 1965 race.
This time around, the winner was Anglo, who took the race at odds of 50/1 on soft ground. It was the first attempt at the race for both the horse and his jockey, Tim Norman.
Trainer Winter was having his second Grand National runner ever, his first won a year earlier, and Anglo made it two out of two with a 20 length success.
47 horses ran in the race, with 12 finishing and amongst those was the hot favourite Freddie. He finished second in 1965 and was heavily backed to go one better here but could only manage the same position, again behind a runner trained by Winter.
Tim Norman Dramatically Keeps Ride Despite Crash
There was much talk about trainer and jockey before and in the aftermath of this race.
Winter made it two from two and was beginning to make the Grand National look easy, but it was jockey Norman who grabbed the main headlines due to an incident that took place two days before the big race.
Norman was injured in a car crash two days before the race and almost missed out on the ride due to his injuries. However, he was better and clearly fit to ride in the race, allowing him to take the mount in what was his first attempt at the Grand National.
That attempt was a winning one, and a win in very impressive fashion, coming away to win by 20 lengths. But it could have all been different for Norman. He almost had to give up his first Grand National ride due to the crash.
It was the first of four rides in the race for him, and this winner was the only time he completed the course, failing to get around in the other three attempts. It could have almost never happened for him, he was lucky enough to recover just in time to keep the ride, which turned out to be a winner.
Results
Result | Horse | Starting Price | Age | Handicap | Prize Money | Jockey | Trainer |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Anglo | 50/1 | 8 | 10-00 | £20658 | Tim Norman | Frederick Thomas Winter |
2 | Freddie | 11/4 | 9 | 11-7 | £2504 | Pat McCarron | R Tweedie |
3 | Forest Prince | 100/7 | 8 | 10-8 | £1252 | Gerry Scott | Neville Franklin Crump |
4 | The Fossa | 20/1 | 9 | 10-8 | £626 | Terry Biddlecombe | Thomas Frederic Rimell |
5 | Jim's Tavern | 100/1 | 9 | 10-00 | - | Nick Gaselee | J Hicks |
6 | Quintin Bay | 100/1 | 10 | 10-00 | - | Jackie Cullen | Aubrey Brabazon |
7 | Norther | 100/1 | 9 | 10-00 | - | Peter Jones | D Jenkins |
8 | Highland Wedding | 15/1 | 9 | 10-00 | - | Owen McNally | G B ‘Toby’ Balding |
9 | Vulcano | 25/1 | 8 | 10-1 | - | Josh Gifford | Henry Ryan Price |
10 | Gale Force X | 50/1 | 9 | 10-00 | - | Bobby Coonan | Dan L Moore |
11 | Big George | 33/1 | 11 | 10-00 | - | James Morrissey | W D Francis |
12 | Loving Record | 50/1 | 12 | 10-00 | - | Ben Hannon | T Taaffe |