Tiger Roll parades at Aintree on Saturday

Tiger Roll joins Aintree Hall of Fame

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Sat April 15, 2023 · 2y ago

Tiger Roll, who won the 2018 and 2019 renewals of the great race, is the latest Grand National Legend to be inducted into the Aintree Hall of Fame.

The diminutive champion joins the likes of Red Rum and Aldaniti, as well as human Grand National stars such as Ginger McCain, Jenny Pitman and JP McManus in having a plaque celebrating his achievements placed on the wall of McCoy’s Bar at Aintree.

Ridden by Davy Russell, trained by Gordon Elliott and owned by Gigginstown Stud, Tiger Roll, now 13, led the Parade of Legends around Aintree’s paddock immediately after the ceremony.

Bred to be a Flat race performer and originally purchased on behalf of Godolphin, Tiger Rol0l won on his only start for West Country handler Nigel Hawke before being sent to the Brightwells Sale at Cheltenham in December 2013, when he was purchased by agent Mags O’Toole on behalf of Gigginstown House Stud and sent into training with Gordon Elliott.

As well as his two Grand National victories, Tiger Roll won five races at the Cheltenham Festival - the 2014 Triumph Hurdle, the 2017 National Hunt Chase, and the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase in 2018, 2019 and 2021. He was the first horse since Red Rum in 1973 and 1974 to win back-to-back Grand Nationals.

He was retired in 2022 after finishing second in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham.

Elliott said: “Tiger Roll has been the horse of a lifetime. He’s been such a big part of mine and Davy’s careers, and it is great that he is still in such good form.”

Russell added: “Small as he is, he’s a massive part of our lives. He changed things dramatically for me. We all know how big the Grand National is, but I don’t think you can realise how big it is until you win it. It travels the world - it’s an amazing race and connects you to so many people. I think Liverpool should be very proud of what it has here - you can’t replicate it. It took us a long time to figure it out [how to win the race] but Tiger was the component that we needed to get it done.

“He’s very brave. He’s got a huge, huge engine and fair play to Gordon for figuring out how to plan his year so that he came to both Cheltenham and then here to Aintree in such tip-top shape. What he achieved was exceptional. He wasn’t always the easiest horse to deal with - he has his quirks - and Gordon and his team did a remarkable job with him.”

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