Bindaree ~ 2002 Grand National Winner
The photo above shows Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning jockey Jim Culloty charging to the winning post at the 2002 Grand National on Bindaree.
Bindaree put in an incredible performance and just when it looked like he was out of the race back he came in the final stages to win the2002 Grand National by one and three quarter lengths.
What's Up Boys had been well-backed in the market ahead of the race and looked set to become the first grey winner in 42 years. And the race looked as good as over as Richard Johnson and his mount led at The Elbow. Culloty drew every bit of stamina from the eight-year-old chestnut and the pair gradually ate into the lead before going on to take the £290,000 first prize by one-and-three-quarter lengths.
Culloty, who had never before managed to finish the world's greatest steeplechase, was handed the ride after Jamie Goldstein broke his leg earlier in the week. Record-breaking jump jockey Tony McCoy, on 8-1 favourite Blowing Wind, was 27 lengths back in third.
Jockey ~ Jim Culloty
Jim Culloty, the Irish jockey from Cork, first shot to international racing prominence as a jump jockey and had his first racecourse ride as an amateur on a horse called Midnight Madness in hunters chase at Exeter on 3rd May 1993 but it was in 1996 that his career well and truly took off with him riding a total of 44 winners in the seven months leading up until August, when he chose to turn professional.
His pro career lastest nearly a decade during which he rode a total of 394 winners up until his retirement in July 2005. He claimed a total of five wins at the Cheltenham Festival, including the 2000 Royal & Sun Alliance Chase on Lord Noelie and the 2004 Champion Bumper and will always be associated with the horse that provided him with his other three successes at the Cheltenham Festival, the incomparable Best Mate.
Trainer ~ Nigel Twiston-Davies
Nigel Twiston-Davies is more commonly known as one of the best horse trainers in the country but he started out rising as an amateur for 6 years for a range of trainers including Fred Winter, Fred Rimell and Kim Bailey.
He moved to the Cotswolds in 1981 and took out a permit to train with his first winner, Last Of The Foxes, at Hereford in 1982. The horse that did most to establish the yard in the early years was Mrs Muck and there's been a steady line of her relatives in training at Naunton ever since.
Since his full licence was granted in 1989, he has trained well over 1200 winners including two at the Grand National, three at the Scottish Grand National, two at the Welsh National and a further eight at the Cheltenham Festival.
Add successes in the Hennessey Gold Cup, Great Yorkshire Chase, Becher Chase, Midlands National, Sussex National, Scottish and Welsh Champion Hurdles and many other top prizes and his versatility and record with N.H. stock is self-evident.
His best season, judged purely by number of successes, was 2007/8 when Grange Hill Farm welcomed home 87 winners.
