Grand National: what was said at the post-race press conference

Patrick Mullins, the winning jockey on Nick Rockett in the 177th Randox Grand National, said at the post-race press conference: “It doesn’t get any better than this. I just remember, when I was five or six, reading a book on the history, and going back to The Lamb, Lottery, Abd-El-Kader, I know the history going back 200 years. I know names because they won the Grand National, so to put my name on that is mind-blowing.

“I ended up on Nick Rockett because he had enough weight for me, first. Obviously Paul [Townend] was going to ride I Am Maximus, and I just saw Nick Rockett - he won the Thyestes and he had 11 stone 8lbs, and I thought he had every chance.

“If I wrote the race myself, I couldn’t write it any better. I went down to the first thinking I am too forward, spent the first lap trying to get him back a bit, crossing the Melling Road the first time I had Brian Hayes beside me, and he asked me how I was going. I said very well - he was third, so he went well. Between Becher’s and the Canal Turn I thought maybe I had dropped too far back and so I snuck into the race. Going to the second-last I had a host in front of me, winged the second-last. I thought he could pull up in front, so I am sitting to the last hoping something would come and join me. It was Paul and Danny for a while, but when we jumped the last I was thinking, I’ve just got to get to the Elbow before I raise my stick, because I remember Richard Pitman telling me that he should have got to the Elbow on Crisp before he raised his stick. We’ve gone clear, and then I remembered John Oaksey saying that he got Nemesis at his knee, and I’m waiting for Nemesis to arrive and it doesn’t. Magic.

“Willie’s 69 but he’s not 69, you know; he put in new barns last year and wants to put in new barns this year, he keeps wanting to get bigger, keeps wanting to win more. When Gigginstown left I thought he could have consolidated and become slightly smaller. You read of trainers retiring - I don’t see Willie retiring, I just see him dying at some stage, like my grandfather; he trained til he died. It’s not a job, it’s what he is.

“I’m 6ft 1in and I wake up at 11st 7lbs stripped every day. 11 stone 2lbs is the lightest weight I can do over jumps, so that’s why I had to sweat a bit more before the bumper. What I do with my weight is no different to what a professional does, it’s just that they are a stone less. I get too grumpy at lighter weights!

“I was never going to be a professional. Willie told me when I started riding that I might ride until I was 21 - that was the whole thing, that I probably wouldn’t ride for very long. It’s never been a thing, being professional. In the special position I’m in, I get the best of both worlds - to get to ride in the really good races, but I don’t have to do professional weights week in, week out, to make an income.

“It was a pity I couldn’t ride back in on Nick Rockett, but he was fine, he just got a bit warm - I was a bit warm myself. There was no sign of Willie for the first 20 minutes - I think he was off crying somewhere, someone said - but it was great to see my mother, and my girlfriend Sarah. It was emotional to see my Dad, because he’s not very emotional [Patrick then welled up himself visibly] - so yeah, it was nice.”

Asked about the past year - riding Willie’s 100th winner at Cheltenham etc - Patrick replied: “It’s been an unbelievable year, but I also had no winner at Cheltenham this year and no winner at Punchestown last year! No, it’s been an incredible year. But I ride for Willie Mullins - anything’s possible.

“My daughter Winnie is six months old.

“I feel a bit bad for Dan Skelton now, to be honest!”

The winning trainer Willie Mullins said: “Just with my son riding the winner I just lost It completely.

"Coming off the stand, I didn't know what finished third, fourth, or fifth. People told me afterwards first, second, third.

"I thought I Am Maximus nearly went to beat Nick Rockett and just when Patrick had straightened up and got the weight on his left side, I knew that was it.

"With 100/ 150 yards to go, I just lost it completely.

"Being the lucky day that can lead your son up on a Grand National winner.

"It must be like being the manager of a World Cup team and having your son score the winning goal.

"In our world, in racing, I don't think I can do any better than that.

"To me, that was just an all-time achievement.”

How did you assess the chances of the winner coming into the race?

"Nick Rockett has done everything right. He won the Thyestes and the Bobbyjo. What more can you ask for?

"I was amazed. The other thing that amazed me afterwards I saw he returned at 33/1. I couldn't believe it. To win the Bobbyjo, I thought he's halfway there, and I don't know why he went out at 33/1.

"I thought he was a horse that had every chance going into the race."

"I knew Sadie when we were in fourth class. Oh, babies and senior infants, and first class, not fourth class.

"And we had our first communion together, but I hadn't met her for over 60 years and I happened to meet her at the sales one day in Cheltenham at the races. We sat down and had a cup of tea, just chatting about who was still alive and who wasn't and where they were living.

"And getting up to go home she just said to me, 'Maybe you might buy a horse for my husband, Stewart?' And we did, and the horse turned out to be Nick Rockett.

"Sadie asked me to run the horse in November, I think it was, which we never do with our bumper horses. We never run them that early. I said, 'OK, I'll do that.' We ran the horse half-ready and he finished fourth. In the meantime, from the time she asked me about entering the horse to when the horse ran, she fell ill.

"Not dreaming, of course, that she wouldn't be getting better. She got to see the horse run and died shortly afterwards. Her name is still on the race card and it's very poignant every time he runs and wins a big race.

"For him to win the Thyestes, our local track, that was a big day in itself. We never dreamt we'd be here celebrating that.

"As Stewart said, she is here alright."

"We have to challenge, like we did last year. Once we didn't win the first two races yesterday I thought that was our challenge over. Even if we did win the National, because I thought we needed to finish in one, two, three, or four. We needed to get a big chunk of money out of the National - and we did.

"We'll see you in Ayr, Perth, Carlisle, wherever there is a race meeting between now and Sandown. We'll give it a good crack."

"I'm putting in a few extra stables at the moment. I've got to do it."

How does this Grand National victory compare to your first two Grand National wins?

"Hedgehunter was fantastic. I was on Cloud Nine for a year afterwards.

"The only disappointment was 365 days later because someone else won the National. I was disappointed that day.

"That's the way I treat the National. It's the race we all want to win. Watching it on TV. It holds a special place in any racing person's mind.

"But now, this is way off the scale to have your son ride the winner. It's way off the scale."

For people who tune in once a year to watch the racing - is this achievement on the scale of Frankie Dettori going through the card at Ascot?

"It must be. Last year we went out with the same amount of horses and for luck I Am Maximus won. But the other horses finished nowhere. I was hoping one of them might win this year.

"The National is such a tough race to get around. You need luck, you need to be able to jump well and this year it all seemed to come together, which was unbelievable.

"I was watching them jumping Canal Turn and I saw Nick Rockett put in a tremendous jump. He stood way back at it. I said, 'Wow, he must have a lot in his engine.'

"Then I'm looking at all the other horses around him, our ones. I'm trying to pick ours out. I said, 'He has a chance, he has a chance.'

"I'm looking and thinking, 'Jesus, hopefully one of them is going to win.' And I thought mine were going as well as the others.

"At the start of the race I thought, 'How am I going to watch all these runners?' And I just thought, watch your son. He's the most important one because he's your son. Not because he's on the best chance or anything. At least then I can focus on him and make sure he didn't fall. I just had my eyes on him the whole way and it turned out to be the right one.

"But that was because he was my son and, to me, he was the most important one. That was a father looking at his son, not a trainer looking at his horses.

“When I saw Patrick going so well three out I thought, this could happen, this could happen and then when it did happen I think I just broke down completely. I don’t think I’m ever going to have a day like this again. To put your son on the winner of a National winner……. I’ve put him up on winners at Cheltenham and things like that. But to win a Grand National, in our world it can’t get better than that.”