Gay Trip was a racehorse noted for winning the

1970 Grand National The 1970 Grand National was the 124th renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree near Liverpool, England, on 4 April 1970. Gay Trip won the race by 20 lengths, giving jockey Pat Taaffe his second winner. Only seven horse ...

. Gay Trip was a small bay gelding owned by Tony Chambers and trained by

Fred Rimell Thomas Frederic Rimell (24 June 1913 – 12 July 1981), better known as Fred Rimell, was a British champion National Hunt racing jockey and horse trainer. He was champion jockey three times and leading trainer five times. Rimell was the fi ...

. Formerly a

flat racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, 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 basic pr ...

horse, Gay Trip was switched to

National Hunt In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: ...

racing as a five-year-old and won the

Mackeson Gold Cup The Paddy Power Gold Cup is a Premier Handicap National Hunt chase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham over a distance of a ...

in 1969. In the 1970 Grand National he was ridden by

Pat Taaffe Patrick Taaffe (9 March 1930, Dublin - 7 July 1992, Dublin) was an Irish National Hunt jockey who is best remembered as the jockey of Arkle. The pair dominated National Hunt racing in the mid-sixties, winning the Irish Grand National, the King ...

after his regular jockey

Terry Biddlecombe Terry Biddlecombe (2 February 1941 – 5 January 2014) was an English National Hunt racing jockey in the 1960s and 1970s. He was Champion Jockey in 1965, 1966 and 1969. Biddlecombe was born in Hartpury, Gloucester on 2 February 1941. He rode 1 ...

was ruled out of the race by injury. Gay Trip carried top weight of 11 stones five pounds despite previously never having won a race longer than miles and started at odds of 15/1 in a field of twenty-eight runners. He took the lead at the second last fence and drew clear to win by twenty

lengths Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...

. Since 1970 only

Red Rum Red Rum (3 May 1965 – 18 October 1995) was a champion Thoroughbred steeplechaser. He achieved an unmatched historic treble when he won the Grand National in 1973, 1974 and 1977, and also came second in the two intervening years, 1975 ...

has won the Grand National carrying top weight. It was Fred Rimell's third national winner having previously won with E.S.B. and

Nicolaus Silver Nicolaus Silver was a racehorse noted for winning the 1961 Grand National. Nicolaus Silver, a grey horse was bred in Tipperary, Ireland, by James Heffernan. He was by Nicolaus, out of another grey, Rays of Montrose. After racing in Ireland, hi ...

. In 1972 he finished second in the Grand National, ridden by Biddlecombe.

References

{{reflist Grand National winners Thoroughbred family 19 Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom National Hunt racehorses 1962 racehorse births