Red Marauder And The 2001 Grand National: The Slowest National In A Century With Only 4 Finishers!

Red Marauder’s 2001 Grand National is remembered as one of the most brutal, attritional renewals in modern Aintree history, producing just four finishers in bottomless ground and a winner who came home virtually alone.

The 2000–01 jumps season had already been ravaged by the UK foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, with fixtures lost and racing taking place under strict biosecurity measures.

Aintree’s National meeting went ahead behind enhanced precautions, but days of persistent rain turned the course into a quagmire, officially described as heavy and widely viewed as among the most testing Nationals of the modern era.

In those conditions, the 4m4f trip and 30 fences became a survival test rather than a conventional handicap chase, with stamina, balance, and sheer toughness far outweighing form and finesse.

Many within the sport later suggested the race might easily have been abandoned, yet the slow tempo meant that, despite the chaos, there were no serious injuries to horses or riders.

The Winner: Red Marauder

Red Marauder was an 11-year-old gelding, and trained in the north by owner‑trainer Norman Mason at his Sunderland base.

Sent off a largely unfancied 33/1 chance, he arrived at Aintree with patchy recent form and a reputation as a sketchy jumper, having fallen at Becher’s in the 2000 National and come down again at Haydock in the build‑up to 2001.

Mason’s stable jockey Richard Guest took the unusual role of trainer‑rider, partnering Red Marauder himself and later describing him, with some justification, as “the worst jumper ever to win a Grand National”.

Despite that assessment, the horse possessed deep reserves of stamina and courage, qualities that would become decisive once the race turned into a war of attrition.

The Field And Main Fancies

A maximum field of 40 lined up for the Martell‑sponsored Grand National at 3:45 on Saturday, 7 April 2001.

Joint favourites at the off were Edmond, the 1999 Welsh National winner, and Moral Support, both considered mud‑lovers and expected to relish the desperate ground.

The previous year’s hero Papillon, again ridden by Ruby Walsh for his father Ted, was solidly backed at around 14/1 to repeat his 2000 success.

Other notable contenders included Beau, a prominent staying chaser with strong credentials, and handicap perennial Blowing Wind, partnered by Tony McCoy.

Against that backdrop, Red Marauder was firmly in the supporting cast on paper, one of many double‑figure priced outsiders whose chances seemed slight in a deep, competitive handicap.

Chaos On The First Circuit

From the very start, the race developed into a demolition job. By the time the field reached the third fence, eight horses had already departed, either falling or unseating their riders in the testing ground.

At that point, Paddy’s Return, who had unseated Adrian Maguire at the third, became a loose horse and proceeded to wreak havoc at the Canal Turn on the first circuit.

Running down the fence across the path of the main group, Paddy’s Return effectively wiped out the chances of around eight more runners at the Canal Turn, further decimating the field.

Heading out into the country on the second circuit, only eight of the original 40 remained in the race, a remarkable rate even by National standards.

Second Circuit: A War Of Attrition

The drama continued after halfway. Another incident at the nineteenth fence reduced the field further, and when the well‑fancied Beau departed a fence later, the complexion of the race changed entirely.

From that point, the 2001 Grand National effectively became a match between Red Marauder and Smarty, the latter an eight‑year‑old carrying 10‑0 and ridden by Terry Murphy.

Red Marauder was far from foot‑perfect, and another mistake saw him briefly headed by Smarty at the fourth‑last fence, raising hopes for those who had backed the younger horse.

But where Smarty began to toil in the energy‑sapping ground, Red Marauder’s stamina kicked in, and he gradually clawed back the deficit as they approached the final two obstacles.

The Finish: Victory In A Crawl

Jumping the second‑last, Red Marauder drew alongside and then past Smarty, establishing a clear advantage turning for home.

He negotiated the last in isolation and was driven out by Guest to score by a distance, while Smarty, completely exhausted, slowed to a virtual walk up the famous run‑in but still held second.

The winning time was officially recorded as 11 minutes 0.1 seconds, around 1 minute 50 seconds slower than standard and it is still, to this day, the slowest renewal since 1883.

It was a landmark success for Mason, bringing a first National win to his small yard, and for Richard Guest, who joined the rare group of trainer‑jockeys to win the race.

Only Four Finishers

Of the 40 that set out, only four completed the course, and even that figure flatters the survivability of the race.

Red Marauder and Smarty were the only horses to get round without mishap, filling first and second, while the third and fourth home had to be remounted after falling.

Tony McCoy remounted Blowing Wind to finish third, and Ruby Walsh did the same on Papillon, who plugged on for fourth, both horses finishing a proverbial “country mile” behind the first two.

The prize money of £310,000 went to the winner and £110,000, £55,000, and £25,000 to the placed horses.

Aftermath And Legacy

In the immediate aftermath, Red Marauder was hailed as one of the toughest National winners of the modern era, though his jumping technique continued to divide opinion.

The combination of extreme ground, a decimated field, and the role of a loose horse in the pile‑up at the Canal Turn sparked debate about safety and whether the race should have been run at all in those conditions.

From Red Marauder’s point of view, the 2001 Grand National proved to be his peak. Persistent tendon issues restricted his career thereafter, and although he made it back to the track to finish fourth in a Newcastle handicap hurdle in February 2003, he was withdrawn from that year’s National and retired two days before the race.

He lived out a long retirement and died in 2016 at the age of 26, his place in Aintree history secure as the horse who out‑stayed, rather than out‑jumped, the field in one of the most punishing Nationals ever staged.