1985 Grand National horse, West Tip had been fortunate to survive being hit by a lorry in 1982, which left a huge scar in his hind quarters. Having recovered, he went on to show impressive form by winning four races in the buildup to the National, including The Ritz Club National Hunt Handicap at Cheltenham a few weeks before Aintree. His partner was Richard Dunwoody, the youngest rider in the contest and among thirteen riders making their National debut. Such was the interest in the pair in the days leading to the race that he was asked to appear on the Wogan show
Horse and Jockey was known simply as "O'Keeffe's", after the family which owned it. Another tentative suggestion is that, since the village was on a mail coach route, it may have been the location of one of the Bianconi Inns established by the transport magnate, Charles Bianconi, and that the name may be somehow connected with such an establishment, if it existed. If there was such an inn, it may what is indicated by the use of italics in the rendering of the name "The Horse and Jockey" on this 19th-century map, part of the Ordnance Survey First Edition 6" Series; if so,