Let's talk about... Tiger Roll | What makes the dual Grand National winner so special? Get involved in the discussion

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Sun March 29, 2020 · 5y ago

Our series takes on a distinctly Grand National feel this week and where better to kick off than with the reigning dual Aintree champion, Tiger Roll.

We want your input as well. Just how good is Tiger Roll and what makes him great? Check out details of how to contact us towards the foot of the article - and the views from our racing team.

Matt Brocklebank - Apple doesn't fall far from the tree

Authorized was a superb racehorse. I clearly recall standing on the turf in front of the grandstand at York as the 2007 Dante and Derby hero regained the winning thread in the Juddmonte International in front of a packed Knavesmire crowd.

He'd previously been nabbed by an enterprisingly-ridden Notnowcato in a memorable Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, after which trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam said that the horse hadn’t seen his rival down by the hedge and that he thought he’d won.

Like a prize fighter caught by a low blow, in spite of defeat this classy colt still felt he was the true champ – a mark of the influence of his own sire, Montjeu, no doubt.

Authorized went up in my estimation even further after hearing that and although he completely bombed out when a hot favourite for the Arc de Triomphe on his final racecourse outing, he’s since made quite the impression as a stallion.

He’s sired some tough cookies, notably Hartnell, Euchen Glen, Sir Chauvelin and Stayers’ Hurdle winner Nichols Canyon.

But no matter how the rest of his stud career pans out at Haras du Logis, he may never produce anything with the public profile of dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll, a gelding once described by his owner as a ‘little rat of a thing’.

Diminutive in stature, Tiger Roll never made it to the track after fetching 70,000 guineas at Tattersalls in November 2010 but, soon after Nigel Hawke picked him up from a Darley dispersal for a paltry 10,000 quid, he made his debut in a juvenile hurdle at Market Rasen in November 2013 and won well despite a scruffy round of jumping.

He was almost immediately bought by Gigginstown House Stud (£80,000) and has been defying logic ever since, somehow taking his form to new levels after being switched to the larger obstacles. He’d played the role of also-ran in Grade One staying hurdles won by Cole Harden and Faugheen at Cheltenham (50/1) and Punchestown (33/1) respectively in the spring of 2015, before his attentions were first switched to fences.

Three more Cheltenham Festival victories - he'd won the Triumph Hurdle as a four-year-old - and two glorious Grand Nationals later, Tiger Roll is a household name and – for all the 2020 upheaval won’t help his cause in truly becoming the next Red Rum - he’s still going strong at the age of 10 and could hardly be in better hands when it comes to trainer Gordon Elliott.

This year's National being postponed may feel like a low blow for connections, but they've still got the Aintree champ and, given his bloodlines, you just half-suspect he knows it.

David Ord - Sporting immortality awaits

I never thought I'd see a back-to-back National winner.

It was always the dream. We had the VHS tapes (kids, ask your dad) of Red Rum's five Aintree outings at home - plus of all things an LP recording (vinyl now kids) of the radio commentaries of the same races.

The Red Rum LP was often on in the Ord household

Rummy was very special - even if my own attempts to see him in the flesh were thwarted when he was taken out of the 1978 renewal (I still have the racecard with him listed at the top of the field) at the eleventh hour.

His shadow is a huge one over any that follow - and there were some notable names along the way.

The likes of Aldaniti, Corbiere, Greasepaint, Grittar and West Tip picked up the early baton - but couldn't win two despite lighting up Aintree. Durham Edition failed to win one but ran huge races in four renewals.

And so we went on through the likes of Rhyme N'Reason, Party Politics, Bobbyjo, Papillon, horses who won the great race at an age which suggested they'd be back. They often were, but never won another.

And then came the Tiger. He arrived in 2018 as a three-time Cheltenham Festival winner but there were still questions to answer. Was the horse, affectionately, yes we'll go with affectionately, labelled the 'little rat' by owner Michael O'Leary be big and robust enough to handle the tremendous fences?

In the end it was the four-and-a-half miles that nearly broke him - not the obstacles - for having looked set for a clear-cut win at the Elbow his lead was a diminishing head at the line as Pleasant Company ravenously ate into it.

He returned last year in the form of his life and a fourth Festival win in the bag. He was never, at any stage of the race, going to be beaten. It was a performance of such authority that it was hard to think, as the sun went down in Liverpool, that he couldn't win a third.

Even Rummy didn't manage three on the bounce - and Tiger Roll will have to wait another year for his crack at it. Fingers crossed connections will get a clear run through the autumn which they were denied this time around and the boring will he-won't he run games are shelved.

If fit and firing he will run - he has to run. There's more than a third National on the line for the Tiger, there is sporting immortality.

Red Rum gained that, Frankel went some way towards it, and so has Tiger Roll.

He's already a Cheltenham and Aintree legend. This time next year Rodney, he might just be a sporting one.

Send us your views

Send your comments and contributions on Tiger Roll to racingfeedback@sportinglife.com and if you’ve any ideas for more topics you want covering over the coming days and weeks please let us know.