What a shocking ride from Richie McLernon

Whatever anyone thinks of the ride overall I don't think anyone can argue with these facts:

- If Jacob doesn't break the rules he finishes 2nd.  Watch the finish again, he strikes Neptune at least 10 times (may be more when the camera isn't on him) after the last.

- If Mclernon had done likewise he would have won. He hit Sunnyhillboy once on the run-in & the horse responded.  Even one more strike would probably have won it.


It illustrates perfectly just how terrible the whip rule is in it's current form because it actively penalises jockey's who adhere to it & actively rewards those who break it.

They need to either get rid of the rule or disqualify jockeys who breach it. Anything else is unworkable & ludicrous.

Sorry to say yes he cost me 1200 quid ive re-watched the race he didnt try hard enough ok he took the horse wide and stayed out of trouble,but he ran at least 1/2 a furlong further than any of the others and he should have used his whip and ok got a ban is it not a million pound race ??

I think it's fair to say that he was on the best horse in the race.

Best handicapped maybe.

thanks richie for leting neptune win happy days i owe you.seven hundred pounds richer and paul nicholls trainers title again happy days.

6 grand off a 5er acca if sunny had won, im stuck for words

Still a better ride than the muppet on Planet of Sound.

done me out of 3 grand,i watched in my local so i never had a good view of race.
reading this is making me feel even worse

I think there is a few of points missed here:
1. First class ride by Maclernon to the elbow.
2. Jacobs hitis his horse 13 times from the last, Maclernon just twice.
3. Maclernon at least oncem and arguably twicem looks left to view the race on the big screen.
4. I don't think he realised Neptune was so close because he reacted 3 strides from the line but used his whip too late.

Just poor judgement in my opinionm and I didn't back it. Should have just got his head down and hit the horse another 4 times, simple asm would surely have won.

Tim

And I have a crap keyboard !!

Has Jacob had a ban? Not according to the BHA website, which suggests he didn't break the rules. Nor is there a report of a stewards enquiry.

stront
i backed sunnyhill,and i have no problem with jacob at all.
i have just watched the race again,i dont want to knock mclernon,but he should have done what mcguire did last year

Was there a Stewards and did he get a ban? I'm asking genuinely because I'd like to know. If he's hit the horse 9+ times there would have been.

The problem is that the whip rule in it's current form makes a jockey's job impossible. And means almost everyone will be dissatisfied.

Jacob broke the rules.  So you can call that cheating.  But he also out-rode Mclernon.

Mclernon adhered to the rules. And rode what most decent judges would consider a horrible finish that cost the better horse at the weights the win he deservered.

You can't apportion blame well there.  For a start, none of us know whether Jacob knew he was breaking the rules & couldn't care less.  Equally none of us know whether Mclernon mindfully stuck to the rules or was just too knackered to ride a decent finish.

Either way it's an ineffably crap situation brought on by a rule that was badly engineered from the start & only ever designed to appease people who were never going to be appeased anyway.  You think an animal-lover will say "oh OK then" if you say you're only going to flog a horse twice instead of three or more times after the last fence?

Ban the whip or don't.   But this rule is a joke & the longer it exists the worse it is for everyone.

I realise I'm in a tiny minority but I go back to more or less the 2nd round of new whip rules (everything but the x strikes in the final furlong) and I'd add that prize money should be forfeited by all connections for a whip offence. This should be appealable in case of strikes required for safety. The basic problem would be gone in 3 days.

stront,as far as im aware there was no inquiry held and havent heard anything of jacob been banned,slightly baffling considering he hit his mount 13 times after the last

That's odd OTS.

When you factor in the horrible publicity for the sport and the race if the winning jockey was penalised for whip abuse for a second successive year it's not that odd.  Horse racing closes ranks often.

Yeah, but surely the media will point that out. Selectively applying the rules is not an option in the highest profile race of the year.

It's timing though isn't it.

Applying the rules today would have been big news. Tomorrow less so.  Discussing this stuff in a week will be TML at best & anything beyond that won't register with the British Public one iota.

Jacob should certainly have received a whip ban there & then today & the fact he didn't is utterly unsurprising.

Fair points Wado.

But racing doesn't exist in a vacuum and the sooner it realises the better.

Just watched it again and i think he is knackered and its that simple
He should of hit the horse a couple of more times but when you watch from the camera above he couldn't even push the horse forward

I have been working today and have just got back and watched my sky plussed grand national. I had good money on sunnyhillboy and i am quite furious at the finish mclernon rode on the horse.

daryl jacob used the whip 13 times from the last on the winner
mclernon used the whip 3 times from the laston the runner up(only once from the elbow)

This is hard to take when the winning margin was centimetres. Some people on here are saying daryl jacob has broken the rules and mclernon stuck to the rules and been punished by finishing runner up. I cannot accept this arguement. He didnt come anywhere near the limit for strikes of the whip after the last. And whether he saw neptunes collonge coming or not why would you not ride for all your worth from the elbow in the national. Maguire won by further than he had to last year because he left nothing to chance after the last as have many recent winning jockeys in the national.

I understand all jockeys are of different styles and ability levels however mclernon did not ride to a competent level after the last fence for a jockey riding at that level imo. If anyone honestly disputes that just please watch the replay. It is shocking how animated the other 3 jockeys are in comparison to mclernon in the finish. Had he rode to nearly a competent level he would have been a grand national winning jockey and id be a few grand up.

rant over

I am a regular at Aintree and to me it looks as if Mc Lennon was watching himself on the big screen and didn't notice the grey coming up on his right. Once he seen it, it was to late. The question is why didn't he ride his horse to the line? Because he though he had it won and didn't see they grey until the last minute. Too late. But the media won't pick this up because it is bad publicity. What a tit. Anybody who knows Aintree will tell you he was watching the large TV instead of riding out his horse.

Not sure where 13 comes from - I just watched the BBC footage and I count 7 though there are a few seconds where NC is off camera.

I also thought that McLernon had perhaps glanced to the big screen and saw himself pulling away with Neptunes and Seabass looking laboured behind, and he knew Sunnyhillboy would be the strongest finisher in the race,. Somewhere in his head he thought it was all over and nothing would catch him. The biggest moment of his life/career gone forever. A bit like the jockey on Zenyatta!

Was the ride on Tatanen a disgrace? Andrew Thornton placed his mount in such a position that he was behind a wall of horses and if one fell in front of him he'd be screwed. Am I moaning about that? No. If Sunnyhillboy had stayed on the inside and been brought down by State of Play would you be bashing McLernon as a disgrace?

The National is such a lottery its a bonus just to get round, so anyone calling a ride in the National where the jockey got round and lost out in a finish by a head as a disgrace is laughable.

Yes, Jacob was stronger in the finish, but if AP was on board Sunnyhillboy would be near fav and not a 16/1 shot. The main thing is Sunnyhillboy will be back to fight another day next year;others weren't so lucky

Wellchief

All those riders you have mentioned would have used there whip to keep their horses going from the elbow, especially when you have already stayed on past everything to take the lead.

posing and showboating and thinking two or three hits is enough, we see it day in day out on the Flat. Shane Kelly has perfected the technique, Joe Fanning is the master of tickle it twice and hands and heels. They are actually trained by Richard Perham in the apprentice school to use the stick only as a last resort....it's costing punters thousands every day. It's a total rarity if a jockey uses up his 7 hits these days on the Flat.

Thought it was a weak finish seemed to panic and could not get himself balanced hence sunnyhill lugging to the left although it could have been down to tiredness

think you need to see the head on view. looked like SHB got slightly unbalanced for a stride or two when he was close to the rail. Anyone confirm that?

Richie had an excellent race, just had a very poor last 100 yards. Dont know whether horse emptied or whether he thought he had won it. He has riden this horse when third in irish national.
I had a considerable each way bet on this horse too, however it was also my opinion that the price was higher due to Richie being the jockey, and that is a factor that should be taken into account when deciding whether a horse is value or not.

The horse lugged to the rail after the 2nd whip in the home straight. I can only think that as the reason he stopped using it. I was a backer as well :-(

Can't really disagree with any of the seanog

mclernon got what he drserved,he knowns in his hearts of hearts he shoud have won.the fact is everyone who backed the horse knew mclernon was a serious negative,he blew it!

He's gave it a great ride, delivered him to jump the last in front and then simply lost it by thinking he had it in the bag.
I'm gutted as backed him to win £3.5k and it's fair to say any other top jockey, especially McCoy would have driven that horse out to the line with several more cracks of the persuader and won by five lengths or more! It's easy to say now but if Synchronised RIP hadn't run which was a questionable decision for a sketchy jumper, then JP would still have his Gold Cup winner for next season and the winner of the Grand National and we would'nt all be on here cursing our extremely bad luck. such fine lines!

I probably would not have backed Sunnyhillboy at 13/2 which is price he might have been with AP on him.

McLernon did all the hard work by plotting the horse safely into contention and produced him perfectly but perhaps the moment got the better of him, he must have got stage fright with everything that was happening, the crowd and the ultimate panic of almost being there!

Has he given any kind of interview since then?

Back at Market Rasen today.

I'd already backed him at 70/1 on here about two months before the race. Must admit at the time I thought McCoy would be on him as I didn't think there was any chance of Synchronised making the line up. It would be really interesting to see what McLernon has to say about it. Wonder if he'll hold his hands up admit it blew it in the last 150 yards.

well chief wat a first class plonker you are i backed the winer richie blew it big time. i was talkin to mates the night before the race every pundit said syc wouldn't jump round.sunny hill wud hav won if weights went up and tony on board wat wer they thinking he shud hav been kept 4 punchestown

Have to agree swordsone, it was an awful decision. Synchronised would of been a near certainty at Punchestown.

Produced the horse perfectly until the moment where he needed to drive him through the post. Unbelievable. Like others backed him at 75s...can't help but feel sorry for ourselves..and to be there watching as well.. A few whips towards the line would have changed the title of this thread to "What a Fantastic Ride from Richie McLernon".

You are spot on with your comments there, lucky22.

Have any of you seen the head on view ?

swordsone
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well chief wat a first class plonker you are i backed the winer richie blew it big time. i was talkin to mates the night before the race every pundit said syc wouldn't jump round.sunny hill wud hav won if weights went up and tony on board wat wer they thinking he shud hav been kept 4 punchestown

aftertiming,cretin,methinks.

did Sunny hit 1.01 ??

1.03 was the lowest price matched

1.03 was the lowest price matched

i dont think he will ever live that ride down to be honest,a case of "what if" for as long as he lives

The fact that he has not spoke publicly about almost winning the GN speaks volumes. His brain must have seized up to not smack SHB home.

It wouldn't be the first time in sport that pressure caused someone to crack or do something strange.

thanks tim


Had 50 on him and layed at evens on my phone, at home i always put up a 1.05 lay.


RE the ride, isnt that just him ???

Personally i dont think he did much wrong, to deliver a horse who is not the cleanest jumper  clear a few yards is worth some credit. just got out speeded, on another day he would had won......

jockeymanship is not just about getting a horse in a position to win,how to ride a finish is paramount.mclernon is incompetant and fcked it up.he shound stick to mickey mouse meetings and mucking out horse **** for o neil.

seanog 36.

how can u factor into your 16/1 on sunnyhillboy that mclernon will not use his whip on the run in? its impossible to do that! we're not exepecting a tony mccoy ride just a competent ride with a jockey using his whip on the run in!

seanog 36.

how can u factor into your 16/1 on sunnyhillboy that mclernon will not use his whip on the run in? its impossible to do that! we're not exepecting a tony mccoy ride just a competent ride with a jockey using his whip on the run in!

seanog 36.

how can u factor into your 16/1 on sunnyhillboy that mclernon will not use his whip on the run in? its impossible to do that! we're not exepecting a tony mccoy ride just a competent ride with a jockey using his whip on the run in!

sorry for the treble post my bad

sorry for the treble post my bad

im having a mare lol

what are you going call her ??

I wish bigben the horseman had been riding SHB.

He would have cracked it once and then repeated it twice, swapped hands and repeated a further 3 times!

bigben, you factor in the jockey skill and strength in your bet when taking the price. As others have said, Sunnyhillboy would have gone off favorite had AP been on board. I did back Sunnyhillboy straight after the Kim Muir thinking that AP would be on board and that Synchronised. But laid him earlier this week because I was uneasy about the constant drifting and paranoid that the horse was not 100%.

As others have said Mclernon rode a great race to get Sunnyhillboy in contention and give him a chance of winning, he just rode a weak finish. Mclernon is imo a weak jockey compared to a lot of the other jockeys out there and him on board SHB instead of AP was always going to be a negative. If I was a Sunnyhillboy backer too then I'd be annoyed too because even being on Neptune Collonges, Sunnyhillboy should have won...

It annoys me that their are other jockeys out there such as Will Kennedy who don't get used often, but would never have lost a race in the same position. I guess people are loyal and loyalty counts for a lot more in racing than actual talent.

To be fair to Richie, it was a great ride until the finish.

I'm not of the opinion that AP would have won the race had he been on SHB

Of course if AP had been involved in the exact same finish then yes he'd have won it, easy peasy.

But AP might not have got round, as he would have ridden a different race to Richie and may have been brought down or made a costly error.

That might sound strange logic, but I know exactly what I mean

I was on Sunnyhillboy to win, so yes, it cost me, but I'm over it now.

I'm more concerned with all the fallers and the two fatalities.

The supposed safety measures don't seem to be making it any safer for the horses.

i backed sunnyhillboy and whilst like the rest of us am gutted at getting done on the line i thought  R M  gave him a great ride unfortunately jacob was stronger in the finish but he jumped fantastically all the way round the only place he lost ground was at the canal turn 2nd time round i just wish after he hit him about 150 yards out causing sunnyhillboy to drift to the rail which he nearly collided with he could have pulled his whip through and give him a couple more but thats racing and gambling and after all we all could have typed in 1.5 or whatever lays in running in the eventuallity of getting beat close home unfortunately i didnt and i had 100 at 22's last year i had 200 oscar time at 25 looking forward to next year

to answer red adair the two fatalities were very unfortunate acc to pete brought down and synch breaking a leg while running loose the pace of the race has increased due to the classier type of horse now entering the horses going quicker resulting in more falls with making the fences more inviting to jump what they should do is add 2 inches to all the plain fences making the horses jump more carefully and therefore slowing the pace of the race i own 2 horses and love them to bits but they are bred to race and the national is the greatest race of all they cannot do any more than they have done to make it safer

I get what you're saying boy wonder, and I know what happened to Pete and Synch could have happened in any race, but to see so many fallers in one race is sickening.

It looked, as it does most years, like a battlefield.

At least, unlike a battlefield, the vets are on hand quickly to treat the horses, or end their suffering.

i thought there might be a small mention about it in yesterdays post--not a thing -obviously everything else overshadowed it

for the record i am far more concerned with the death of synchronized and pete that mclernons lack of strength. id have 24 runners max and no dropside fences as they are simply unfair on the horses. they cant mind read a drop on landing side. id say this would half the casualties.

He hit Sunnyhill Boy twice on the run in, who then became unbalanced.He put his whip down got the horse balanced, that cost him the race...but what else could he do? Maybe if he hadn't whipped him in the first place? Anyway, their split-second decisions, give the guy a break.

Today's RP had a small article about McLernon's ride in the National. He said he believes he did nothing wrong ! He said he put the whip down as the horse had become unbalanced and he reckons he was not responding to it (after hitting him a whole 2 times!). He also said he did know the other horse was there but thought the horse was responding better to hands and heels!!

I guess he wasn't going to say he f****d up but no matter what way you look at it he was totally outridden in the finish....he wasn't exactly balanced himself and looked as if he couldn't pull the whip through to the other hand??

As a jockey how many real chances do you get to win a national....McLernon threw his chance away

When the BBC showed the camera angle from inside the course, it looked to me like he thought he had it won and realised too late that NC was coming again.  He fecked up plain and simple, I'm only a casual punter so I'm not qualified to analyse him as a jockey, I agree with Markphisto he threw his chance away and I'm sure he feels worse than anyone who lost money on the race. 

I think any jockey from now on will ride out for all they are worth from the elbow in future, even if 10 lengths clear.

Souldancer, thats what I thought happened aswell. It looks like the horse got momentarily unbalanced on the run-in, which is why we need to see the head on view. If this is what happened, then the jockey did the right thing. You cant whip a horse when it is finding it's balance.

Sintonian, you're right. SHB was 'momentarily' unbalanced. But when he put the whip down SHB had shifted over to the rail and had that to run against. There was still time to use the whip again if he chose to do so. One extra strike even could have been enough to win. The fact that he didn't is something he will no doubt regret, probably for the rest of his career

Depends what his outlook on life is. It probably wont be in his top 10 death bed regrets. Its only a horse race when all is said and done.

He rode a brilliant race for 4m 3f and 110yds.

Maybe its just another horse race to you Angel but doubt AP McCoy would have agreed with you before he won it. National Hunt jockeys see it as the ultimate test and is the one they all want to win. To them its like winning Olympic Gold, did you see the emotion shown by Daryl Jacob. Then there's also their percentage of the £500K winners prize to consider too

McCoy would not have won on sunny - he would not have let it jump the fences like richie -

Hed have been pushing it for the last 2 miles - if it was still standing .

Lets remember the horses THE GREAT AP has fycked up on  -- denman , best mate , and very nearly on master minded .

So why would he have won on the less classy SHB ???

Richie rode a cracking race up until the last 75yds , and he knows it .

i thought richie gave SHB a perfect ride,but that is another reason why losing the way he did is so hard to take.
zealot.
SHB would have been there at the business end regardless of what jockey was on him.

agree,sunnyhillboy does nothing once he hits the front just idles thats why he looked out on his feet not a case of hitting the horse,no amount of whip would make it go any faster,just look at its previous races,its been odds on numerous times while being beaten,i had money on it and dont blame the jockey just one of those things,there is a lot of idiots on here who say hit the horse to get it going but that just wasnt the case with shb it just idles when it hits the front.

just watched the replay,he was pushing all the way horse was just not giving everything,you could see neptune stuck his head out sunny didnt,jockey not to blame

When has it been odds on and been beaten? Also "forged clear" on his previous start at Cheltenham. I think the jockey is being a bit hard done by because the horse did become unbalanced but he could have driven the horse stronger. He only became really animated very close to the line when it was too late.

jaja

Absolute bolliks -  so why did he try to ride it when he seen the grey coming on his outside with 5 to go ????

I like the lad , but hand on heart , he wishes he could ride that last 50 yards again .

Are you saying he'd ride it EXACTLY the same again ?????


I HOPE NOT !!!111

Watch the race again. RM hits Sunnyhillboy which sends him careering into the rail: clearly the horse was knackered and putting the stick down was the right thing to do.

Stop press: Crisp might have beaten Red Rum if Pitman hadn't used the stick.

And probably Seabass would have done even better had Katie Walsh not unbalanced him by using the whip.

Would Sunnyhillboy have won had McLernon done a better job of holding him together but I'm not sure how you'd prove it, but certainly the "belt the horse's arse off" pocket talkers are wrong.

Ha Ha, never heard so much s h i t in all my life!

@Fantastic Light -- you are right, of course. JP must have bribed the BBC to edit the race footage to make it look like a tired Sunnyhillboy veered left into the rails when McLernon hit him.

all this and the horse was injured and still not back at the stables, some of you have been very harsh and yes i backed SHB

all this and the horse was injured and still not back at the stables, some of you have been very harsh and yes i backed SHB

look he should have hit him more,regardless off the horse being dead on his feet,idiling or anything else.
nobody would be complaining then,even if neptune still won

FWIW Richie can take heart that his ride from the last was nothing like as bad as Liam Cooper's on Clan Royal in 2004, for the same connections, where "sat nav" failed.

i backed that as well

Worse pocket talking thread and animal cruelty thread I have ever seen

Mind you I backed Neptune Collonges.

Mclernon is best 10st jockey riding IMHO

Sunnyhillboy is set to return to training at Jonjo O'Neill's stables in the next month following his recovery from a serious leg injury.
The nine-year-old damaged his tendon when he was caught on the line by Neptune Collonges in the John Smith's Grand National at Aintree in April.
The horse was operated on by vets in Liverpool and has been recuperating at his owner JP McManus's Martinstown Stud in County Limerick.
"Everything is grand with him. He's still at Martinstown but hopefully he's due back in the next month or so. All the reports are good," O'Neill told At The Races.
"It was nasty enough. When the infection gets in under the tendon sheath it can be very dangerous, but he was in the right place at Aintree.
"They did a great job and we've got to be thankful to them."

So the horse was injured during the race...

.

How come none of us knew about the injury?

Communication Breakdown.......

Must say very funny some of the comments.
Having had much to say on Mclernon myself after that cruel finish,came to the conclusion that I got everything right but broke one golden rule.
Never back duff jockeys,irrespective of the horses chances.
If you look at Mclernons profile on the racing post under big race wins,its totally blank.
So we can moan all we like,but we all backed a decent animal that should have won but the jockey wasn't up to it.
Jacob is different class and made the difference,thats why he rides for nicholls

how fickle some people are, everyone complements Katie Walsh on a great ride to finish 3rd and the poor divil gets slated for getting mugged. For a small horse like sunnyhillboy to even get around aintree is an achievement.
b1ggots

Yeh we are aren't we?.
But at least instead of calling him every name under the sun I just gave an honest factual assessment of his abilities.
Useless c**t.

If this thread was about a poor jockey i'd agree. So this thread is about a poor jockey getting mugged on the line of a national. If everyone agrees he's poor it certainly wasn't a bad ride on ability. Its just after the fact maulla.

Big race wins 0
As said my error.