1994 Grand National
| Grand National | |
| Location | Aintree Racecourse |
|---|---|
| Date | 9 April 1994 |
| Winning horse |
 Miinnehoma
|
| SP | 16/1 |
| Jockey |
 Richard Dunwoody
|
| Trainer |
 Martin Pipe
|
| Owner |
Freddie Starr
|
| Conditions | Heavy |
|
← 1993 (void)
1995 →
|
|
 All the 1990s Grand Nationals in full Racing UK, BBC Sport, YouTube |
The 1994 Grand National (known as the Martell Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 147th official renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree near Liverpool, England, on 9 April 1994.
It was won in a time of 10 minutes 18.8 seconds, and by a distance of one-and-a-quarter lengths by 16/1 shot Miinnehoma, ridden by Northern Irish jockey Richard Dunwoody, his second Grand National victory. The winner was trained by Martin Pipe of Wellington, Somerset, and carried the red jacket with yellow star and sleeves and cap with red star of comedian Freddie Starr. The winning owner collected £115,606 of a total prize fund shared through the first five finishers of £194,000. A maximum of 40 competitors were permitted but only 36 ran. All of the horses returned safely.
Moorcroft Boy was installed as favourite on race day after an impressive season which had seen him finish first or second in nine consecutive long-distance chases, including a victory in the Warwick National in January and a second place to Master Oats in the Greenhalls Gold Cup at Kempton in February. This impressive run and very lenient treatment from the handicapper, who allotted him nine stone and 8 lbs and ensured he would not be giving weight to any of his rivals, led the public to back him down to 5/1 at the off. Adrian Maguire who had partnered him in the most recent four of those nine outings took the mount as his second ride in the National, having also been part of the previous year's void race. Maguire was also the leading rider at the meeting with three wins going into the National, although he had been handed a three-day riding ban after the first race of the day for over use of the whip. The ban would not take effect at the Aintree meeting however.
Maguire kept the horse out of trouble in mid-division for most of the race before gradually moving through the fallers and tiring horses to lie fifth at the second jump of Becher's Brook. The favourite moved up to join the three leaders turning for home and jumped the second-last disputing the lead with Miinnehoma. When Maguire asked the horse to quicken into the last fence he jumped two lengths clear, but weakened on the 494-yard run-in to finish 21 lengths back in third. After the race it emerged that Moorcroft Boy had broken a blood vessel within strides of the last fence and raced up the run-in choking. He later suffered a broken neck when falling in the Becher Chase the following November but was nursed back to health to win the 1996 Scottish Grand National, his final race before retiring.
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