The 2022 Grand National (officially known as the 2022

Randox Randox is a Northern Irish health and toxicology company in the ''in vitro'' diagnostics industry headquartered in Crumlin, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, owned by Peter FitzGerald. The company develops diagnostic solutions for hospitals, cl ...

Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 174th annual running of the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...

horse race Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

. It took place on Saturday, 9 April 2022, at

Aintree Racecourse Aintree Racecourse is a horse racing, racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England, near to Liverpool. The racecourse is the venue for the Grand National steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase, which takes place annually in April over three da ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England. The event was sponsored by Randox Health. The race was won by Noble Yeats, trained by Emmet Mullins and ridden by

Sam Waley-Cohen Sam Bernard Waley-Cohen (born 15 April 1982) is an English entrepreneur and retired amateur National Hunt jockey. Horse racing Waley-Cohen was reported in the sports pages in 2007 when he came 5th on his father's horse Liberthine in the Grand ...

, with final odds at 50/1. Waley-Cohen became the first amateur jockey to win the Grand National since Marcus Armytage on Mr Frisk in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, while Noble Yeats became the first seven year old to win the race since Bogskar in

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

. The race was Waley-Cohen's last race before retirement.

Race card

The 40 runners were finalised at 1pm on Friday 8 April. Three horses declared to run at Thursday's 48-hour declaration stage (Easysland, Lord Du Mesnil and Phoenix Way) were withdrawn before the Friday confirmation, with reserves Commodore, Romain De Seman and School Boy Hours taking their places and racecard numbers. Horses trained in Ireland made up 21 of the 40 runners, the first time more than half the Grand National field were Irish-trained. * Died due to injuries sustained during the race.

Finishing order

Source

Non-finishers

Source Only 29 fences were jumped; what would normally have been fence 19 was bypassed, as medical staff were tending to a horse that had fallen on the first circuit.

Broadcasting and media

As the Grand National is accorded the status of an event of national interest in the United Kingdom and is listed on the

Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events The Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed & Designated Events is a series of regulations issued originally by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) then by Ofcom when the latter assumed most of the ITC's responsibilities in 2003, which is des ...

, it must be shown on

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

terrestrial television in the UK. The race was broadcast live on TV by ITV for the fifth time, and the second year in its current three year deal with the

British Horseracing Authority The British Horseracing Authority, also known as the BHA, is the regulatory authority for horse racing in Great Britain. It was formed on 31 July 2007, after the merger of the British Horseracing Board (BHB) and the Horseracing Regulatory Au ...

. The ITV coverage was presented by

Ed Chamberlin Edward Alan Chamberlin (born 6 February 1974) is an English sports broadcaster who has been working for ITV since January 2017. Presenting career Chamberlin was born in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. As a boy he attended Ludgrove School, where he ...

and

Francesca Cumani Francesca Cumani is a horse racing presenter working for ''ITV Racing'' and ''Nine's Wide World of Sports''. She has previously been part of the coverage of the Melbourne Cup with Seven Network and 10 Sport. Education Cumani was educated at Tu ...

. Analysis was provided by former Grand National-winning jockeys Sir Anthony McCoy,

Mick Fitzgerald Michael Fitzgerald (born 10 May 1970) is a retired Irish National Hunt jockey and current television racing pundit. Fitzgerald rode for the majority of his career in Great Britain and less often Ireland. Career as a Jockey Mick Fitzgerald's ...

and

Ruby Walsh Rupert "Ruby" Walsh (born 14 May 1979) is an Irish former jockey. He is the second child, and eldest son, of former champion amateur jockey Ted Walsh and his wife Helen. Widely regarded as one of the greatest National Hunt racing, National Hunt ...

. Reports were provided by Alice Plunkett, Luke Harvey and Matt Chapman, and betting updates were provided by Brian Gleeson. Oli Bell and

Chris Hughes Christopher Hughes (born November 26, 1983) is an American entrepreneur and author who co-founded and served as spokesman for the online social directory and networking site Facebook until 2007. He was the publisher and editor-in-chief of ''The ...

covered viewers' comments on social media. The commentary team was Mark Johnson, Ian Bartlett and Richard Hoiles, who called the finish for the fifth time. Following the race, Bell and Walsh guided viewers on a fence-by-fence re-run of the race.

Equine fatalities

Discorama and Eclair Surf were

euthanised Animal euthanasia (euthanasia from ; "good death") is the act of killing an animal humanely, most commonly with injectable drugs. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable (and especially painful) conditions or diseases, lack of resources to con ...

following injuries sustained in the race. Discorama was euthanised after being pulled up with an injury before the 13th fence; the horse was reported as lame and on Saturday evening trainer Paul Nolan confirmed the horse had been euthanised. Eclair Surf suffered a "traumatic head injury" after falling at the third fence; it was treated on track and at

Liverpool University The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University, it received Royal Charter by King Edward VII in 1903 attaining the de ...

before dying the following morning. Two other horses had died earlier at the meeting. Solwara One, who ran in the 1.45pm race on 8 April, was the first to be put down following an injury before Elle Est Belle suffered a suspected heart attack, when finishing fourth in the Betway Mersey Novices' Hurdle on 9 April, before the main race.

References

{{Grand National 2022 2022

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...