Rough Quest ~ 1996 Grand National Winner
The photo above shows jockey Mick Fitzgerald riding the 1996 Grand National winner Rough Quest.
Rough Quest became the first favourite for 14 years to win the Grand National, going off at odds of 7/1. Afterwards, the gelding had to survive a lengthy stewards’ enquiry because when beating Encore Un Peu, in a tight finish, Rough Quest appeared to drift across in front of Encore Un Peu on the run in after hanging left in the closing stages. In his previous start Rough Quest narrowly missed out on the 1996 Cheltenham Gold Cup when he finished runner up to the winner, Imperial Call.
Overall, the 1995/6 season was memorable for Rough Quest and his trainer. He took the Racing Post Chase at Kempton Park in February 1996, finished runner up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup a month later before going on to win the Grand National.
Despite his winning form, the young horse had been plagued by a constitution so fragile that he often appeared ungenuine in the heat of a close finish, which is what happened at the Grand National. The fault was diagnosed as a muscle enzyme disorder and Rough Quest's diet was subsequently loaded with carboyhdrates and vitamin E to help counteract the problem.
After his Aintree win, he returned for the 1996/7 season at Folkestone, taking the Lympne Novices Hurdle but he never re-captured his old form and went on to win only one more race, a hunter chase at Newbury in 1999. His retirement was announced later that same year.
Jockey ~ Mick Fitzgerald
Born on May 10th, 1970, Mick Fitzgerald is the Irish National Hunt jockey who hails from Cork but who spent most of his left riding in Great Britain and most famously on the winner of the 1996 Grand National, Rough Quest.
His career had two notable partnerships, the first a retainer with the prolific Lambourn trainer Nicky Henderson which reaped rich dividends and the second with Paul Nicholls which brought him Cheltenham Gold Cup glory in 1999 aboard See More Business. He was leading rider at the Cheltenham Festival that year, and repeated the trick 12 months later.
A second Grand National win escaped him, when in 2008 he was riding L'Ami and fell at the second fence. Resulting spinal injuries and age (38) forced his retirement on 7 August 2008. But if he looks familiar to you then it's probably because he now works as a presenter on At The Races and occasionally for the BBC and Channel 4 Racing.
Trainer ~ William Terence Casey
Terry Casey, the prolific racehorse trainer who hailed from Co. Donegal, Ireland, was born on 2 June 1945. He began his racing life as an apprentice jockey in Ireland before moving to Britain in the mid-1970s where he successfully rode 46 winners, including a hurdles success on Grittar, who subsequently went on to win the 1982 Grand National.
When he switched from riding to training, he started out as head lad to the renowned Paddy Mullins in Ireland, then training his first winner in his own name in 1983. He then moved back to Britain to help the businessman John Upson set up his own stables in Northampton. It was during this time that he trained two notable jumpers in Nick the Brief and Over the Road, one of two winners for him at the prestigious Cheltenham Festival.
By winning the 1996 Grand National with Rough Quest, he achieved what can be best described as the pinnacle of any National Hunt trainer's career. He sadly passed away at Barrington, Somerset 24 July 2001 after a long battle with cancer.
