Grand National first jump, suddenly veered across the leading group at the 23rd, causing them to either stop, refuse or unseat their riders. Racing journalist Lord Oaksey described the resulting pile-up by saying that Popham Down had "cut down the leaders like a row of thistles". Some horses even started running in the wrong direction, back the way they had come. Foinavon, whose owner had such little faith in him that he had travelled to Worcester that day instead, had been lagging some 100 yards behind the leading pack, giving his jockey, John Buckingham, time to steer his mount wide of the
2009 Grand National 2009 Grand National The 2009 Grand National (known as the John Smith's Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 162nd running of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 4 April 2009. A 100/1 outsider, the French-bred Mon Mome, ridden by Liam Treadwell, won the race by 12 lengths from the previous year's winner Comply or Die (14/1) in a time of 9 minutes 34 seconds. Mon Mome became the first 100/1 shot to win since Foinavon in 1967. He also became the first winner of the race to have been bred