1958 Grand National

The 1958 Grand National was the 112th renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree near Liverpool, England, on 29 March 1958.

1958 Grand National
Grand National
LocationAintree Racecourse
Date29 March 1958
Winning horseRepublic of Ireland Mr. What
Starting price18/1
JockeyEngland Arthur Freeman
TrainerRepublic of Ireland Tom Taaffe Sr.
OwnerDavid J. Coughlan
ConditionsSoft
External video
video icon Highlights of the 1958 Grand National (British Pathé)
video icon British Movietone

From an initial entry of 56 [1] The field of 31 runners competed for record prize money of nearly £14,000. The race was won by 18/1 shot Mr. What, by a distance of 30 lengths. The eight-year-old was ridden by jockey Arthur Freeman and trained by Tom Taaffe Sr., and became the fifth Irish winner of the Grand National since the Second World War.

Race Card

Thirty two runners were declared to run with Top Twenty, to be ridden by Shortt being withdrawn on the day of the race after bursting a blood vessel when finishing fith in the Topham Chase two days before the National.[2] There were no late jockey changes from those declared on the race card.

Mr What's trainer Tom Taffe left it until five days before the race to engage Arthur Freeman, as he had wanted his son Tosse to partner his entry. However Tosse was expected to ride the highly fancied Sam Brownthorn and with options for a replacement running out, Taffe booked Freeman, who himself had been left without a mount after losing the ride on Athenian to Derrick Ancil, having two other engagements withdrawn, and losing his standby slot on Never Say When as the injured Stan Mellor was passed fit a week before the race. Although Tosse Taffe did become available to ride forty-eight hours before the race when Sam Brownthorn was withdrawn, Taffe senior stuck to his booking, leaving Taffe junior to partner Brookling instead.[3]

Finishing order
Position colours Name Jockey Age Handicap (st-lb) SP Distance
01 Maroon, Maroon and Yellow hooped sleeves, Yellow cap with maroon hoop Mr. What Arthur Freeman 8 10-6 18/1 30 Lengths
02 Maroon and Yellow halved, sleeves reversed, yellow cap Tiberetta George Slack 10 10-6 28/1 15 Lengths
03 Eton blue Green Drill George Milburn 8 10-10 28/1
04 Cerise Wyndburgh Michael Batchelor 8 11-3 6/1
05 White, Hay tartan cross belts Goosander Tim Molony 10 11-7 100/7
06 Green, white hoop and armlets ESB David Dick 12 11-12 28/1
07 Yellow, Green striped sleeves, quartered cap Holly Bank Peter Brookshaw 11 10-13 50/1 Last to Complete

Broadcasting and Media

With Mrs Topham continuing to refuse to allow the BBC to broadcast the race on Television, coverage of the race remained restricted to a thirty-minute radio broadcast at 3pm on the BBC Light Programme. This was the twenty-seventh consecutive renewal, dating back to 1927 to be covered by BBC radio.[4]

Filming the race remained the preserve of the two major newsreel services, Pathe and Movietone with both rapidly releasing their newsreels of the race as early as that evening in some local cinemas as a special in its own right, rather than as part of their normal newsreel service.

The Daily Mirror, Daily Herald, Daily Express and Daily Mail all carried extensive previews of the race

Non-finishers
Fence Colours Name Jockey Age Handicap (st-lb) SP Fate
02 Cream, Purple striped sleeves & cap Longmead Willie Robinson 8 11-1 28/1 Fell
05 Crimson, Old gold sleeves & cap Rendezvous III Johnny Bullock 10 10-3 45-1 Fell
05 Yellow, Black cap Princess Garter William Roberts 11 10-3 66/1 Fell
05 Chocolate with Yellow cross belts Valiant Spark Michael Scudamore 9 10-7 20/1 Fell
06 Dark blue with light blue hoop and sleeves, white cap Must Bert Morrow 10 10-1 50/1 Fell
06 Yellow with black belt & cap Sentina Pat Taaffe 8 10-11 18/1 Brought Down
06 Dark blue with pale blues sleeves & collar Frozen Credit Peter Ransom 12 10-12 66/1 Refused
07 Orange with black & white quartered cap Comedian's Folly Derrick Scott 10 10-0 66/1 Refused
11 Black with scarlet cap Glorious Twelfth Jumbo Wilkinson 9 11-3 28/1 Refused
13 Grey with black & white quartered cap Brookling Tosse Taaffe 9 10-3 28/1 Fell
15 Grey with scarlet sleeves, collar, braid & cap Ace Of Trumps Paddy Farrell 10 10-12 40/1 Pulled Up
16 Straw with pink sleeves & cap Richardstown James Morrissey 10 10-0 40/1 Fell
17 Grey with white sleeves & gold cap Moston Lane Taffy Jenkins 9 10-0 66/1 Refused
18 Yellow with white hoop & red cap Colledge Master Bill Rees 8 11-2 25/1 Pulled-Up
19 Chocolate with yellow collar, cuffs & cap Athenian Derek Ancil 9 10-11 22/1 Fell
19 Turquoise blue with pink hooped sleeves and cap Never Say When Stan Mellor 9 10-2 50/1 Fell
19 Pink with black hooped sleeves & quartered cap Southerntown Patrick Cowley 12 10-1 66/1 Unseated Rider
19 Madonna blue & brown quartered Springsilver Fred Winter 8 10-4 18/1 Refused
19 Blue & silver hoops with quartered cap Wise Child Stan Hayhurst 10 11-6 45-1 Pulled-Up
20 Purple with pink sleeves & cap with purple spots The Crofter Jimmy Power 10 10-0 40-1 Fell
22 Pale blue with tan sleeves & cap Pippykin Tim Brookshaw 10 10-5 22/1 Fell
22 Mauve with yellow sleeves, mauve armlets & yellow cap Sydney Jones Michael Tory 11 10-12 28/1 Brought Down
22 White with black hoop, armlet, collar and cuffs with quartered cap Hart Royal Peter Pickford 10 10-11 18/1 Refused
28 Dark blue with two pale green diagonal stripes and hoop on cap [5] Eagle Lodge Alan Oughton 9 10-0 18/1 Pulled Up

[6] [7] [8]

Pathe's footage of the race shows that Comedian's Folly refused twice at the sixth fence {Becher's Brook} clearing it only at the third attempt, while Sentina also appears to fall rather than being brought down.

Post Race

Trainer Neville Crump told the press after the race that his Goosander would not be entered again for the National. "I don't say that he will never run at Aintree again, but he obviously doesn't stay the full National distance." he stated after the horse finished a tired fifth.

Jockey Peter Pickford advised the same of Hart Royal, stating "He just hated the big fences all the way and I could never get anywhere near the leaders."

Bill Rees expressed similar sentiments of Colledge Master who he said "made a hole big enough in the seventeenth fence to walk through."

Derrick Ancil reported that his mount, Athenian's race ended at the nineteenth fence, stuck with "Forelegs on one side and hind legs on the other."

Mrs Topham was forced to defend the race after a combination of poor weather and moving from a Friday to a Saturday led to a notciably reduced attendance in the enclosures and out in the extremes of the course. However, she blamed the Tote, claiming that their "4s minimum stake to get into the enclosures puts people off. If the Tote would reduce this to 2s then people would come flocking back, not just to the Grand National but to all race courses."

References
  1. Daily Mirror, Friday 10th January 1958, page 14, column 1, Headline: Ireland enter 11
  2. Daily Mirror, Friday 28th March 1958, Top Twenty breaks blood vessel
  3. Daily Mirror, Monday March 3st 1958: Article, luck always has the last word.
  4. Daily Mirror, Saturday 29th March 1958, TV & Radio Schedule
  5. Colours as described in the Daily Mirror race card, Saturday 29th March 1958
  6. The Grand National : the history of the Aintree spectacular, by Stewart Peters & Bernard Parkin, ISBN 0-7524-3547-7
  7. "1958 - The Grand National & Aintree 1946-1959". Fiftiesnationals.webs.com. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  8. "Past Winners of The Grand National". Grand-national.net. Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
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