Tommy Carberry Tommy Carberry Tommy Carberry (15 September 1941 – 12 July 2017) was a National Hunt jockey who was twice overall champion Irish jockey and five times champion national hunt jockey. He rode in his first race in 1958, and was crowned champion apprentice in 1959. He retired in 1982, after which he began training. He won the Grand National as a jockey on L'Escargot in 1975 and as a trainer with Bobbyjo in 1999. Carberry also rode L'Escargot to successive Cheltenham Gold Cups in 1970 and 1971. In 1970 Carberry rode L'Escargot to victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup by
Grand National was passed fit to ride in the Grand National. He rode Aldaniti, a horse deprived in its youth and which had only recently recovered from chronic leg problems. Despite a poor start, the pair went on to win four-and-a-half lengths ahead of the much-fancied Spartan Missile, ridden by amateur jockey and 54-year-old grandfather John Thorne. Champion and Aldaniti were instantly propelled to celebrity status, and within two years, their story had been re-created in the film "Champions", starring John Hurt. From 1984 to 1991, Seagram sponsored the Grand National. The Canadian distiller provided a solid foundation on which the race's