Jenny Pitman: Breaking Barriers With Her Two Grand National Triumphs

If you love a good underdog story, then settle in because Jenny Pitman’s journey from a muddy Leicestershire farm to the winner’s enclosure at Aintree is the stuff of racing legend.

She’s the woman who made the Grand National her own, not once but twice, and did it with a wit and grit that would make even the toughest old-school trainers tip their hats in respect.

Let’s take a canter through the life and times of Jenny Pitman: the first lady to train a Grand National winner, a two-time Gold Cup victor, and a pioneer whose story is as much about resilience as it is about racing.

Early Days: From Hoby to Horses

Born Jennifer Susan Harvey on June 11, 1946, in the rural sprawl of Hoby, Leicestershire, Jenny was the fourth of seven children.

Her father, George, ran a small, ramshackle farm where electricity was a luxury and horses were a way of life.

Jenny was riding ponies almost before she could walk, with her earliest memories involving more mud than most people see in a lifetime.

Her chores were less “tidy your room” and more “muck out the stables” and by 15, she’d swapped schoolbooks for stable work, landing her first job at Brooksby Grange.

The pay? £3 4s 5d a week and all the horse hair you could swallow. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was the start of something big.

Finding Her Feet In Racing

Jenny’s career and her personal life galloped forward when she met jockey Richard Pitman.

Their first encounter was less “love at first sight” and more “who’s this lunatic cyclist spooking my horse?”

But fate (and the racing circuit) had other plans. They married young, had two sons, Mark and Paul, and began building a life around horses, first in Wiltshire and then at the now-famous Weathercock House in Lambourn.

But life wasn’t all clear rounds and blue ribbons. After her marriage to Richard ended, Jenny found herself at a crossroads.

Rather than retreat, she doubled down, buying out Richard’s share of the yard and transforming it from a relic into a five-star home for racehorses.

If you ever need proof that adversity breeds champions, look no further.

The First Grand National Win (1983)

April 9, 1983. The Grand National at Aintree. The field was packed, the ground was soft, and the favourite was last year’s winner, Grittar.

But Jenny Pitman had a secret weapon: Corbiere, a chestnut gelding with a big white blaze and even bigger heart.

Corbiere had already won the Welsh Grand National the previous December, so he wasn’t just making up the numbers.

Ridden by Ben de Haan, Corbiere jumped his way to the front after Valentine’s Brook on the second circuit.

As the field thundered down the run-in, the Irish challenger Greasepaint loomed large, but Corbiere, with his ears pricked and legs pumping, held on to win by three-quarters of a length.

BBC commentator Peter O’Sullevan’s call still gives goosebumps:

“It’s Corbiere from Greasepaint, and Corbiere’s won it!”

With that, Jenny Pitman became the first woman to train a Grand National winner.

The glass ceiling at Aintree was well and truly shattered, and Jenny’s name was etched into racing history.

Corbiere wasn’t a one-hit wonder, either. He finished third in both the 1984 and 1985 Nationals, and though he never won again at Aintree, his place in history, and in Jenny’s heart, was secure.

Cheltenham Glory: Gold Cup Triumphs

If Aintree was Jenny’s breakthrough, Cheltenham was her coronation. Less than a year after Corbiere’s National, she sent out Burrough Hill Lad to win the 1984 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The big, bold gelding, already a Welsh National winner, stormed home under Phil Tuck to give Jenny another “first” as a female trainer.

But she wasn’t done. In 1991, her son Mark rode Garrison Savannah to Gold Cup glory, making the Pitmans the first mother-son duo to win the sport’s blue riband event.

The Second Grand National: Royal Athlete’s Day (1995)

A dozen years after Corbiere, Jenny returned to the winner’s circle at Aintree with Royal Athlete in 1995.

The build-up was classic Pitman: she had three runners—Garrison Savannah, Royal Athlete, and Esha Ness (who, in a twist worthy of a sitcom, had “won” the void National in 1993 after a false start fiasco).

Royal Athlete, ridden by Jason Titley, wasn’t the favourite, but he ran the race of his life.

As they jumped the last, Royal Athlete surged clear, holding off all comers to give Jenny her second Grand National win.

For a trainer who’d already made history, it was the perfect encore.

Major Wins and Racing Milestones

Jenny wasn’t just a National and Gold Cup specialist. Her roll of honour includes:

• Welsh Grand National: Three wins—Corbiere (1982), Burrough Hill Lad (1983), and Stearsby (1986)
• Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup and King George VI Chase: Both with Burrough Hill Lad, cementing his status as one of the greats
• Irish Grand National: Mudahim’s win in 1997 made Jenny the only trainer other than Martin Pipe to win all four major Grand Nationals
• The “Grand National That Never Was” (1993): Esha Ness finished first in the void race

In total, Jenny retired with 797 winners, just three shy of the magic 800 mark.

Life Beyond the Track

Jenny’s story isn’t just about horses. After her first marriage ended, she found love again with David Stait, her training assistant and partner of 20 years, before they finally tied the knot.

Their relationship is the stuff of rural romance: he fixed her windows, she made him bacon and eggs, and somewhere along the way, they built a life together.

She’s also a survivor, having battled thyroid cancer in the late 1990s. True to form, she faced it head-on and came out the other side, later becoming a patron of the British Thyroid Foundation.

Since retiring in 1999 (and being awarded the OBE for services to racing), Jenny has reinvented herself as a bestselling author, penning novels and an autobiography that’s as down-to-earth and entertaining as the woman herself.

If you ever get the chance to hear her speak, don’t pass it up – her stories are as sharp as her tongue, and her warmth is unmistakable.

The First Lady of Racing

Jenny Pitman’s impact on racing goes far beyond her two Grand Nationals and Gold Cups.

She broke down barriers for women in a sport that, until she came along, was very much a man’s world.

She did it with hard work, a refusal to be intimidated, and a sense of humour that could brighten even the darkest winter morning in the yard.

Her son Mark carried on the family tradition, and her books have brought the world of racing to a whole new audience.

But perhaps her greatest achievement is the inspiration she’s given to anyone who’s ever been told “you can’t.”

So next time you watch the Grand National, raise a glass to Jenny Pitman: the stable lass who became a legend, the trainer who changed the game, and the friend you never knew you had, cheering you on from the rails.

“People keep wondering, and I tell them that I have had lots of affairs, but that all but two of them have had four legs.” – Jenny Pitman

Now, if that doesn’t make you smile, you’re probably not mucking out enough stables.