2021 Grand National: Results, Runners & Fallers

Results

After the virtual event in 2020, it was good to see horses back on the track in 2021, and a great celebration of racing took place at Aintree.

The 2021 Grand National will be remembered for two big news stories. The first is Rachel Blackmore, who became the first-ever female rider to win the race and not only that, but she did it on the back of being top jockey at the Cheltenham Festival a month earlier. The start of 2021 was a huge moment in the career of Blackmore, and she will no doubt have inspired many girls to follow in her footsteps.

Secondly, the race took place without fans in attendance due to restrictions surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. The one disappointing aspect of Blackmore’s success is that no one was there to cheer her home and into the winner’s enclosure. Minella Times was the horse that Blackmore won the race on, trained by her biggest supporter Henry de Bromhead and owned by JP McManus, one of the biggest owners in racing.

Results

Result Horse Starting Price Age Handicap Prize Money Jockey Trainer
1 Minella Times 11/1 8 10–3 £500,000 Rachael Blackmore Henry De Bromhead
2 Balko Des Flos 100/1 10 10-9 £200,000 Aidan Coleman Henry De Bromhead
3 Any Second Now 15/2 9 10-9 £100,000 Mark Walsh Ted Walsh
4 Burrows Saint 9/1 8 10-13 £65,000 Patrick Mullins Willie Mullins
5 Farclas 16/1 7 10-3 £40,000 Jack Kennedy Denise Foster
6 Blaklion 50/1 12 10-2 £30,000 Harry Skelton Dan Skelton
7 Discorama 16/1 8 10-6 £20,000 Bryan Cooper Paul Nolan
8 Jett 80/1 10 10-7 £15,000 Mr Sam Waley-Cohen Mrs John Harrington
9 Cabaret Queen 80/1 9 10-5 £10,000 Sean O’Keeffe Willie Mullins
10 Shattered Love 33/1 10 10-7 £5,000 Kevin Sexton Denise Foster
11 Alpha Des Obeaux 80/1 11 10-9 - Jody McGarvey Denise Foster
12 Hogan's Height 100/1 10 10-3 - Gavin Sheehan Jamie Snowden
13 Acapella Bourgeois 20/1 11 10-12 - Danny Mullins Willie Mullins
14 Sub Lieutenant 50/1 12 10-3 - Tabitha Worsley Georgie Howell
15 Class Conti 66/1 9 10-6 - Brian Hayes Willie Mullins

Non Finishers

Horse Fence Reason Starting Price Age Handicap Jockey Trainer
Lake View Lad 1 Fell 50/1 11 11-0 Brian Hughes Nick Alexander
Magic of Light 4 Unseated Rider 14/1 10 10-13 Robbie Power Mrs John Harrington
Minellacelebration 11 Unseated Rider 80/1 11 10-5 Benjamin Poste Katy Price
Double Shuffle 12 Fell 66/1 11 10-2 Jonathan Burke Tom George
Anibale Fly 13 Pulled Up 28/1 11 10-12 Denis O’Regan Tony Martin
Canelo 15 Fell 66/1 8 10-4 Thomas Bellamy Alan King
Ami Desbois 15 Brought Down 100/1 11 10-2 Kielan Woods Graeme McPherson
Takingrisks 17 Pulled Up 14/1 12 10-7 Sean Quinlan Nicky Richards
Mister Malarky 17 Pulled Up 12/1 8 10-12 Jonjo O’Neill Jr Colin Tizzard
Yala Enki 20 Unseated Rider 40/1 11 11-3 Bryony Frost Paul Nicholls
Vieux Lion Rouge 20 Fell 66/1 12 10-5 Conor O’Farrell David Pipe
Ballyoptic 21 Refused 66/1 11 11-1 Sam Twiston-Davies Nigel Twiston-Davies
Ok Corral 21 Pulled Up 80/1 11 10-8 Mr Derek O’Connor Nicky Henderson
Lord Du Mesnil 21 Pulled Up 50/1 8 10-6 Nick Scholfield Richard Hobson
Bristol De Mai 22 Pulled Up 25/1 10 11-10 Daryl Jacob Nigel Twiston-Davies
Potters Corner 22 Pulled Up 22/1 11 10-6 Jack Tudor Christian Williams
The Long Mile 23 Pulled Up 50/1 7 10-4 Luke Dempsey J P Dempsey
Talkischeap 26 Pulled Up 33/1 9 10-12 Tom Cannon Alan King
Chris's Dream 27 Unseated Rider 40/1 9 11-7 Darragh O’Keefe Henry De Bromhead
Cloth Cap 28 Pulled Up 11/2 9 10-5 Tom Scudamore Jonjo O’Neill
Give Me A Copper 29 Pulled Up 33/1 11 10-4 Sean Bowen Paul Nicholls
Definitly Red 29 Pulled Up 28/1 12 11-1 Ryan Mania Brian Ellison
Tout Est Permis 29 Pulled Up 100/1 8 10-12 Sean Flanagan Noel Meade
Kimberlite Candy 29 Pulled Up 20/1 9 10-10 Richie McLernon Tom Lacey
Milan Native 29 Pulled Up 50/1 8 10-6 Jamie Codd Denise Foster

What Happened In The 2021 Grand National?

After a year off in 2020, the Grand National was back for the 173rd time, though the big celebration that many had hoped for was not able to happen due to no crowd in attendance. Despite financial concerns for racecourses and the racing industry as a whole, prize money for the 2021 renewal matched that we saw in 2019, meaning the winner of the race took home £500,000. We saw 40 runners go to post for the race, maintaining the strong field we always have in the National and of those runners, 15 crossed the finishing line at the end.

Minella Times Caps Off Excellent Season For Blackmore

Minella Times was given the perfect ride by Rachel Blackmore, she had the horse in the perfect place throughout and that enabled him to jump perfectly. Held in midfield, to begin with, the eight-year-old made nice progress during the final third of the race, with Blackmore always looking like she had him in the right position and close enough to get involved as the race moved towards the end.

At every possible opportunity, Blackmore gave her horse plenty of time to see the fence ahead, and as others started to struggle with stamina, they began to make their move. With four fences to go, Minella Times was in second and looking good, by the time the leaders had reached the home turn, he was narrowly in the lead.

He was two lengths ahead at the last when the staying on Balko Des Flos made a mistake, leaving Minella Times and Rachel Blackmore to come home and win by six and a half lengths.

First Female Jockey To Win The Race

We have seen many females ride in the race, and some have gone close in the past. However, Rachel Blackmore finally broke the streak in 2021, cementing her place as not only the best female rider we have but potentially the best rider as a whole.

She arrived at the Grand National full of confidence after winning the top jockey award at the Cheltenham Festival just a month earlier. She rode six winners at that meeting, just one short of the all-time record, and as part of her victories, she took both the Champion Hurdle and the Ryanair Chase, two of the biggest races at the festival.

For many years, this Grand National will be remembered for Rachel Blackmore and what she achieved for women in the sport.

A 1-2 Finish For Henry De Bromhead

Not only did trainer Henry de Bromhead have the winner of the race, but he also trained the second home, Balko Des Flos. The 100/1 outsider didn’t enter the race with much hope of getting involved, but the stamina test and uniqueness of the course on offer was enough to catch his attention.

In his three runs prior to the Grand National, Balko Des Flos unseated rider and was beaten by 87 and 50 lengths, so this second-place finish was some performance from the 10-year-old.

Ireland Have The First Five Home

The 2021 renewal was one that Ireland completely dominated. Not only did they have the winner of the race, but they also had the first five home to take the vast majority of the prize money back home with them across the Irish Sea.

On top of that, it was more of the same when you look further down the finishing order. Just one horse out of the first ten home was trained in the UK, and that was Blacklion, who finished sixth for Dan Skelton. A total of 15 horses completed the race, with 12 of those being Irish runners.

Favourite Cloth Cap Pulled Up

The Favourite for the race was Cloth Cap, trained by Jonjo O’Neill. After a hugely impressive win at Kelso after the weights for the race were confirmed, he shot to favouritism and that remained the same on the day.

He was always close to the lead but as Minella Times began to move forward and look the likely winner of the race, Cloth Cap went backwards and struggled to maintain his position. A bad jump four from home saw him stumble, and that really knocked him, and soon after he was quickly pulled up by jockey Tom Scudamore.

Moments Of Note

  • Rachel Blackmore became the first female rider to win the Grand National
  • No spectators were allowed on course, with strictly only racing professionals allowed due to restrictions on gatherings at the time
  • Of the 40 runners in the race, 15 crossed the finishing line to finish the race
  • Day one of the Grand National meeting was dedicated to the NHS, who had been saving lives throughout the Covid-19 pandemic
  • Prize money across many of the big meetings and festivals was slashed in 2020 and 2021 due to financial uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, but the Grand National was run with the same prize money on offer as we saw in 2019