Royal Athlete (1983 - 2003) was a British-bred racehorse whose most famous victory was the

1995 Grand National The 1995 Grand National (officially known as the Martell Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 148th official renewal of the famous Grand National steeplechase that took place at Aintree near Liverpool, England, on 8 April 1995. ...

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, northeast of Liverpool city centre. In 2011 the parish had a p ...

, ridden by 24-year-old Irishman Jason Titley at odds of 40/1. He had previously won several important races including the

Long Walk Hurdle The Long Walk Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of about 3 miles and half a furlon ...

, Reynoldstown Novices' Chase, Mumm Club Chase as well as finishing third to

Jodami Jodami (6 April 1985 – 1 December 2008) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. A specialist Steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechaser, he ran thirty-nine time and won eighteen races in a career which lasted from March ...

in the

Cheltenham Gold Cup The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlon ...

. The horse had been among the favourites for the

1993 Grand National The 1993 Grand National (officially the Martell Grand National Chase Handicap Grade 3) was scheduled on 3 April 1993 to be the 147th running of the Grand National horse race, held annually at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England. It was ...

but fell in the race, which was later declared void due to an unrecalled false start. In 1995 his trainer

Jenny Pitman Jennifer Susan Pitman OBE (''née'' Harvey, born 11 June 1946 "Jenny Pitman, The Autobiography") is a British former racehorse trainer and author. She became the first woman to train a Grand National winner when Corbiere won the race in 1983, ...

tried to talk the owners, Gary and Libby Johnson out of running him at Aintree, confessing to the BBC's

Des Lynam Desmond Michael Lynam (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish-born British television and radio presenter. In a broadcasting career spanning more than forty years, he has hosted television coverage of many of the world's major sporting events, pr ...

in a post race interview that she thought they were "Mad bringing him here 'cause he could win the Scottish National (scheduled to be run two weeks later) doing triple toeloops." As it was, Royal Athlete was pulled up in that race at

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

and was retired shortly afterwards. Royal Athlete returned to Aintree for the next seven years to take part in the parade of champions before his death in May 2003 at the age of 20.

References

{{Reflist 1983 racehorse births 2003 racehorse deaths Thoroughbred family 1-d Grand National winners Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom National Hunt racehorses Byerley Turk sire line