Nick Gaselee spent a lot of time in racing, beginning as an amateur jockey and ending as a racehorse trainer. He had success at the top level in both parts of his career while never really reaching the big time. Winners included horses at the Cheltenham Festival, both as a trainer and jockey, but his biggest day came when training Party Politics to victory in the Grand National of 1992.
Born on January 30, 1939, Gaselee trained a horse that would turn out to be one of the most popular Grand National winners with punters because of his name. The horse won the Grand National just five days before the UK 1992 General Election, so many punters backed him because of his politically themed name.
Gaselee took out his training license and in 1976 and retired from training in 2004.
Nick A Gaselee Grand National Wins
- 1992 - Party Politics ridden by Carl Llewellyn
Full Results
| Year | Horse | Result | Prize Money | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Party Politics | Fence 3 - Fell | - | Carl Llewellyn |
| 1996 | Bavard Dieu | Fence 1 - Unseated Rider | - | Jason Titley |
| 1995 | Party Politics | 2 | £44,586 | Mark Dwyer |
| 1993 | Party Politics | Fence 17 - Pulled Up | - | Carl Llewellyn |
| 1992 | Party Politics | 1 | £99,943 | Carl Llewellyn |
| 1990 | Bob Tisdall | 20 | - | Kevin Mooney |
| 1983 | Keengaddy | Fence 11 - Fell | - | Steve Smith-Eccles |
| 1980 | So and So | Fence 6 - Fell | - | Richard Linley |
| 1979 | Purdo | Fence 6 - Fell | - | Bob Champion |
First Grand National Winner With Party Politics
Most people will remember Grand National winner Party Politics for his name, a timely victory and the reason why thousands of people up and down the country would choose to bet on the horse. Five days after the race, the UK General Election would take place, so the political name instantly caught the eye.
Away from that, though, the story of Party Politics was all about a strong staying horse who flew up the run-in at Aintree to claim glory. Ridden by Carl Llewellyn, giving him the first of two Grand National victories, this horse came home to win by two and a half lengths, with a big gap of 15 lengths between the second and third horses.
This wasn’t a tough National by any means, from the 40 that started the race, 22 managed to complete the course, so although the test of more than four miles is not easy, conditions certainly didn’t make it any tougher on the day.
The win came at the fifth attempt for Gaselee, some trainers spend their entire career trying to win this race, and although his attempts were across many years, doing it in five is impressive. Three years later, in 1995, Party Politics almost completed what would have been a fairytale double when he nearly won the race again, finishing second behind Royal Athlete.
In total, Nick Gaselee had nine Grand National runners, Party Politics was responsible for three of those runs, finishing first and second to give Gaselee his best performances in the race.
Famous Horses Trained by Nick Gaselee
Here are some of the bigger names trained by Nick Gaselee during his career.
Party Politics
Berlin
Bolands Cross
Private Views