A 100-1 outsider winning the National is great news for the bookies, the worst damage reportedly being a £100 each way bet. It is the least fancied winner since Foinavon in 1967.
I used to live near Foinavon's stables and an amusing little tale is told of the background. The horse was owned by a wealthy lady who, the day before the race, turned up and treated all the workers to a bet on her horse, £1 here, £5 for the senior lads, which was serious money in the 1960s. They of course all knew that Foinavon was a hopeless nag and put the money on the favourite.
As we know at one of the last fences, now called Foinavon, almost the entire field fell, unnerved by some riderless horses, and Foinavon, well to the back, had enough time to pick a safe part of the fence and sail over while the rest were trying to remount.
One of the stable lads said the worst thing wasn't missing out on all that money, it was having to thank the lady for her gift the following day as she arrived in triumph.
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