It’s the kind of sporting rush that every professional athlete would dream of, but Waley-Cohen did it as an amateur rider, the first to win the 1 1m race from Marcus Armytage to Mr Frisk in 1990. On Monday morning he will be on Zoom phone calls and will deal with the day-to-day operations of the Portman Dental Care company, which has 200 clinics in five countries and employs 4,000 people. But in the coming years it will be possible to consider a career full of such success that most of the salaried are jealous. Noble Yeats (right), a 50-1 shot, wins the Grand National at Aintree on Saturday afternoon Jockey Sam Waley-Cohen lifts the trophy after his great victory in the National Waley-Cohen’s father, Robert, owns the Noble Yeats and was overwhelmed with emotion at the victory This includes two victories in the King George VI Chase as well as the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Long Run, which like Noble Yeats belongs to Waley-Cohen’s father, Robert. Sam’s two-and-a-quarter-long victory over 15-2 Any Second Now was the first in seven years since Bogskar won in 1940 and was also a huge feather in the hat of young Irish gelding coach Emmet. Mullins, who had his first runner in the race and just third in the Aintree. But the drama that took place in front of a crowd of 70,000 on the 174th race track was about the rider, who made his 10th ride of the race and finished second at the 2011 Oscars. The memory of Thomas’s late brother, who died of cancer at the age of 20 in 2004, has been an inspiration to Sam throughout his career. His initials are sewn on Sam’s saddle. Sam said: “When you love someone and you lose them when you are young, you try to make the most of life, to appreciate it and to approach things with an open heart and you try to put a lot of energy into each day because I do not know if it will be your last. “It definitely made me want to make the most of my opportunities and thanks to my dad I had incredible opportunities.” Waley-Cohen definitely did it on Saturday, gradually getting to the controversy, as Noble Yeats did not make the start he wanted and found the early rhythm too hot. Gradually he began to choose opponents, planning a brave route inward. Crossing Melling Street for half a mile, Noble Yeats was in the line of three fellow Irish pacemakers – Longhouse Poet (sixth), Freewheelin Dylan (seventh) and Coko Beach (eighth) – and they were doing badly. Amateur rider Waley-Cohen was racing in his last race before retiring Waley-Cohen will not receive any prize from his victory due to his status as an amateur Until the last fence, the third Delta Work remained to be challenged only to run out of fuel, leaving a dash at the finish line between Noble Yeats and last year’s Third Any Second Now. He was in balance up to the elbow 150 yards from the line when Noble Yeats was clearly forged. Saturday was just the third time Wei-Cohen had sat on the Noble Yeats. The second was when gelling had no place at the Cheltenham Festival last month. He said the learning experience was vital and had set cheeks to sharpen Noble Yeats concentration. Wei-Cohen said: “I pulled him out and asked him, he gave me much more than I expected. I know he has a lot of toes, so as soon as he picked it up, I thought, “he’s gone – he has it.” Waley-Cohen’s memories of Aintree date back to eating ice cream on the track as a young man. His father also bought him a silk riding cap – red with white polka dots in the colors of the regular National Auntie Dot runner – which he wore at the Pony Club. His own children – Max, 9, Scarlett, 7 and Zander, 2 – were with him on the winner’s podium along with his wife Bella. It was an emotional ocean with Father Robert gushing. Noble Yeats belongs to Waley-Cohen’s father, Robert (left), who was overwhelmed with emotion Wei-Cohen enjoys admiration immediately after his amazing triumph But the only thing Wei-Cohen was adamant about was that winning the most famous steeplechase in the world was not going to change his mind about leaving. “That would be the gold of the fool,” he said. ‘I’m determined. I had the dream ride. I always wanted to ride for my love. One of the reasons I wanted to quit now was when you do not want to go every day and enjoy every race you have to quit. “When you take such a walk and it goes as well as it did, it is wise to stick to what you said.” Perhaps the best way to assess how Sam and his father felt was the man they had hit – Ted Walsh, Any Second Now trainer. He won the race in 2000 with the Papillon driven by his son Ruby. Walsh said: “It’s great for them and hard luck for us – it was 20 lengths back in the third.” It was an Irish 1-2-3 with Santini being the first British horse home in fourth place. The chances of last year’s hero Rachael Blackmore ended at the ninth fence when the Minella Times mountain was blocked and knocked down. There was a sting in the story about Wei-Cohen. He was sentenced to nine days in jail and fined 400 400 for using his whip excessively after the final fence. But this will be a quickly forgotten footnote today that will long remain in the memory of him and his family.
